Russian Armed Forces will continue using a mixture of conscripts and contracted recruits for the next ten to 15 years, President Dmitry Medvedev has said.
“I believe that in the next ten to 15 years, our recruiting system should combine both conscription and contracting. We should do everything possible to make contract service attractive and prestigious,” he added.
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Russia is in the process of reforming its armed forces and will downsize to a million personnel by 2016.
Russian Deputy Chief of the General Staff Vasily Smirnov said the reformed forces would include 220,000 officers, 425,000 contract servicemen and 300,000 conscript soldiers.
The current military service for draftees is one year, while the shortest term of a military service contract is three years, according to RIA Novosti.
