MOSCOW. July 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry spends RUB300m (USD9.91m) annually on subleasing apartments for the servicemen's families who have no housing of their own, a source in the ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"The Defense Ministry's annual expenses on reimbursing servicemen's families who have no housing of their own for renting apartments exceed RUB300m. For instance, the expenses exceeded RUB350m (USD11.56m) in 2002, which equals the cost of building or buying 650 apartments a year," the source said.
The number of citizens who have retired from military service and have not got an apartment has fallen by only 25 percent from 167,000 to 124,000 over this period of time.
Thus, provision of housing to retiring servicemen may last for as long as 15 years if its current pace is preserved, the source said.
According to him, the long-standing housing problem in the Armed Forces "causes the growth of social tensions in military units, the decline in the military service authority, and additional expenses that have to be covered by the federal budget."
The housing problem has become much more urgent in the Russian Armed Forces over the past five years. The number of servicemen's families who need improvement of their housing conditions grew by seven percent from 162,000 to 174,000 by the end of 2002. The number of servicemen's families who do not have any housing, including those who need service housing, also grew by nearly seven percent from 135,000 to 146,000. As a result, the share of officers and warrants who do not have proper housing grew to 30 percent in 2002 from 22 percent in 1998, the source said.