ST.PETERSBURG. July 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Thursday he was sure that the experiment on transition to professional service in the 76th airborne division will end successfully by the end of the year.
"The experiment continues. There are both positive and negative results. Only the person who does nothing does not make mistakes. But in general, the experiment is progressing in a normal way. And I am currently sure that it will be completed by the end of the year," Ivanov told reporters.
"We have made sure that professionals should be recruited when infrastructure for receiving them is fully ready," he said.
"Professionals should have all conditions for full-scale combat training. Then prerequisites will emerge for introducing a new manning principle and for reducing service terms," Ivanov noted.
A regiment of the 76th division is already manned by professionals by 100 percent and has started accomplishing combat missions in Chechnya, he said.
According to Ivanov, there are two permanent-readiness units on the Leningrad military district's territory. The 138th brigade will switch over to professional service in 2006 and the 200th brigade will do so in 2007.
"In addition, transition to a new manning principle is in progress in the Northern Fleet without any programs. The share of professionals in the positions of sailors and petty officers has already exceeded 50 percent on submarines," the minister said.