MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) Complete refusal of Russian citizens' conscription for military service is not advisable, head of the Russian General Staff's Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Burdinsky, said.
"Given the need to accumulate military-trained human resources for mobilization, and also taking into account the financial and economic capabilities of the state, a complete refusal of conscripting citizens for military service is not advisable immediately or in the long term," Burdinsky told the Krasnaya Zvezda ("Red Star") newspaper.
Burdinsky noted that in recent years the number of contracted soldiers had significantly increased. The contracted/conscripted ratio is now 1.7 to 1, he added.
In 2018, over 350,000 people served un the Russian army under contract as soldiers and non-commissioned officers, he recalled.
Last week, the chief of the Russian General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, said that the number of contracted troops would reach 475,000 by the end of 2025, and the need for conscription of citizens would be reduced.
