MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax-AVN) - An analysis shows that the federal law on the status of servicemen has been depreciated in the past few years, Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov, advisor to the Russian Prime Minister on social protection of the military, said in an interview with the Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozrenie newspaper, published Friday.
"About 28% of Russian servicemen are below the poverty line, while this index is 20 % for Russia as a whole. Moreover, given that the indexing of monetary allowances for the military was not carried out in 2004, and that a number of fringe benefits, earlier provided under the law on the status of servicemen, have been abolished, including the 50% discount on accommodation and telephone fees and the exemption from the income tax, as well as due to the fact that the level of their allowances has become dependant on the minimum wage, the social position of privates, sergeants, warrant officers and junior, senior and general officers, who undergo military service on the basis of contracts, has become far lower," Shamanov said.
According to him, the recent abolishment of free ride in municipal and regional kinds of public transport has aggravated the military's situation even more.
Shamanov thinks that these are not arguments in favor of the professional army and the prestige of military service. "With the prestige of the military service declining due to the abolition of fringe benefits and other issues, problems in attracting privates and sergeants for service are inevitable. Also inevitable is the flow of junior officers leaving the service," he added.
"I believe that we would have to either return to the discussions of the law on the status of servicemen in the near future, or elaborate certain measures to raise the prestige of the Motherland defender's profession," he said.
He also thinks that the present-day situation with the replacement of fringe benefits with monetary grants is becoming a political issue, rather than financial and economic only. And in this light the situation requires a political decision that would either place a moratorium on fringe benefits abolition, or introduce concrete measures to stabilize the situation.
Shamanov expressed his firm belief that riots among the military are unlikely, taking into account the mentality of the people in shoulder loops.