MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax-AVN) - Several hundred Russian citizens may be recruited for alternative civil service in spring 2004, Colonel General Vasily Smirnov, chief of the General Staff mobilization directorate, said on Tuesday.
"This primarily concerns citizens who have been authorized (to go for alternative civil service - Interfax-AVN) by court rulings. There are about 200 of them at the moment," Smirnov told reporters.
"According to our estimates, a total of several hundred people may be recruited for alternative civil service in spring," he said.
Smirnov forecasted that the number of recruits for alternative service may grow in fall 2004 and vary between 3,000 and 20,000. "This will not have a crucial effect on the manning level of the Armed Forces, as far as privates and sergeants are concerned, either," he said.
The general recalled that citizens have the right to apply for replacement of active-duty service with alternative civil service. Applications are to be submitted to the military commissioner's office where applicants are registered. The deadline is April 1 for those who are to be recruited for active- duty service in fall this year, and October 1 for those who are to be recruited in spring next year.
According the law, the duration of alternative civil service is 42 months, which is 75 percent longer than the duration of active-duty service. Graduates of higher educational establishments are entitled to a shorter service amounting to 21 months.