MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian government, lawmakers and all other state bodies must do their best to better the image of professional service with the Armed Forces, a high- ranking official of the Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday.
"Transition to predominantly professional service with the Russian army is among the priorities of state authorities. That is why it is necessary to make contracted service as much attractive for those who have decided to become a professional military as possible," the official said.
This can be done through allowing contracted servicemen to get enrolled in higher educational establishments, even the most prestigious ones, after three years of service, without having to pay for the education, he noted.
"It is no secret that speculations about equal opportunities for all applicants to get enrolled in such educational establishments at the Moscow State University, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Leningrad State University, etc. are a lie. The way there is closed for poor people. Professional service with the Armed Forces opens it for this category of people," the official stressed.
Only 10 percent of people subject to conscription serve in the Armed Forces, he went on. "Young men from poor families, who cannot get higher education, constitute their overwhelming majority," he said.
According to the official, no army of the world has gone through such a large-scale reduction as the Russian Armed Forces. "The Russian army personnel was reduced from 2.7 million to 1.13 million in a decade," he said.