Reindeer herding instead of military service
Young men from indigenous peoples in Russian involved in reindeer herding can in the future be exempted from military service, says Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Putin says he will consider expanding the list over persons not subject to compulsory service when the number of personnel on contract reaches 450 000, B-Port writes, citing RIA Novosti.
Reindeer herders cannot be exempted from military service immediately, as Russia’s armed forces has trouble filling its ranks. Russian is in the process of reforming its armed forces by shifting the focus away from a largely inefficient body of conscripted soldiers toward a smaller professional army.
In line with the reform, the armed forces will be downsized to 1 million personnel by 2016. Deputy Chief of the General Staff Vasily Smirnov last year said that the reformed forces would be made up of 220,000 officers, 425,000 contract servicemen and 300,000 conscript soldiers, as BarentsObserver reported.
