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#22 - JRL 2007-18 - JRL Home
Russian CGS on current strength, reform of army
Interfax

Moscow, 25 January: The numerical strength of the Russian armed forces as of 1 January 2007 was 1,130,900 servicemen, the chief of the General Staff, Army Gen Yuriy Baluyevskiy, said in an interview published by the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on 25 January. As many as 3,800 positions were made redundant in 2006, he added.

Forty-two military units have been switched to contract manning, 20 of them in 2006, Baluyevskiy went on to say. As many as 78,100 professional servicemen, or 92.8 per cent of the required number, have been recruited, he said. The programme of the armed forces' partial transfer to contract manning should be completed by the end of 2007, he said.

"We see the transfer from the existing system of military districts to the creation of joint regional commands on strategic theatres as the most rational and effective way to modernize the command system in the armed forces," Baluyevskiy said.