MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Federation Council is concerned about illegal infringements on servicemen's rights in the course of the federal budget development.
"Our main headache is the servicemen's money allowance. Under the law, it has to be increased in compliance with the inflation level. Unfortunately, the Finance Ministry does not envision such an increase in 2004, which is illegal," Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, said in an interview, published in the Trud newspaper on Friday.
He also noted that the draft federal budget did not allocate any funds for paying compensations to servicemen, envisioned by the law. For instance, he emphasized, people responsible for working out the 2004 federal budget decided to limit compensations for clothing, which servicemen had not received, to RUB3,000 (USD100) per month, while those for food rations to RUB20 (USD0.6) per day, although, under the law, the military are entitled to receive full compensation.
Ozerov said that the Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee would insist on allocating the necessary funds to the Armed Forces.