MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ivanovo- and Ulyanovsk- based Airborne Force units have been getting ready for transition to volunteer manning since the beginning of this year, Airborne Force Commander Alexander Kolmakov told Interfax-Military News Agency Wednesday.
"Two permanent readiness units - the 98th Airborne Division headquartered in Ivanovo and the 31st Separate Airborne Brigade headquartered in Ulyanovsk - have begun preparation for the transition to volunteer manning. To date the priority schedule has been developed. The priorities are building barracks for volunteer soldiers and repairing training centers and garrison infrastructure into a condition a professional army requires," the general said.
He said that these priorities were realized as a result of the volunteer manning experiment in the Pskov-based 76th Airborne Division.
"The Pskov experiment has shown that first should come good living and training conditions for volunteers, only then drafting," he added.
Kolmakov said that until 2007 five permanent readiness airborne units would become professional, and volunteers would first of all come from enlisted men terminating their conscript service with the Airborne Force.