SUKHUMI. Oct 10 (Interfax-AVN) - The year of 2004 will be crucial for the Abkhaz army reform, Deputy Defense Minister Garri Kupalba said on Friday.
"This is related to general improvement of Abkhazia's financial situation, which makes it possible to allocate more subsidies for defense needs," Kupalba told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The reform concept has been worked out, and it is full-scale implementation started this year, he noted.
"Under the concept, the Armed Forces will have mixed manning - by both contracted personnel and active-duty servicemen, and the stress will be laid on the former. Mountain rifle units will form the core of the renewed army," the deputy minister said.
The Abkhaz Defense Ministry is planning to complete the reform no later than in five years, though the concept sets the deadline at 2010.
Kupalba declined to name the current and planned strength of the Abkhaz army. He stressed that "the Abkhaz military doctrine has a defensive nature and does not threaten adjacent states."