MOSCOW: Russian lawmakers passed yesterday a key milestone in planned reform of the armed forces, voting to cut the length of mandatory military service in half from its current two years to one year from January 1, 2008.
The measure was contained in a bill backed by President Vladimir Putin and adopted on a third and final reading in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, by a vote of 359 to 53, with one abstention.
The bill, part of a Kremlin campaign to modernise the country’s armed forces aimed eventually at establishing an all-professional military, now goes to the upper house, the Federation Council, where it was expected to win easy approval before being signed into law by Putin.
Under the terms of the bill, the length of military service will be reduced gradually to 18 months starting in January next year and to 12 months from 2008 for men between the ages of 18 and 27.
While halving the length of service, the Duma also voted to scrap a number of exceptions that most often result in exemption from military service, notably for rural doctors and teachers, fathers of one child under the age of three and men whose parents are handicapped or retired.
A separate bill also approved by the Duma closes a loophole under which some university students have obtained exemption from military service in exchange for taking weekly military course alongside their other studies.
Under the measures approved yesterday, that must also pass the upper house and be signed by Putin to become law, those students would be expected to serve for one year as officers following completion of their studies.
The Russian army today numbers around 1.3mn people, but mobilisation of conscripts has become increasingly difficult, in large measure because of criminal hazing and other abuses which remain widespread in the armed forces. – AFP