Russian conscripts to serve far away from home - newspaper
MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) - The Main Organizational and Mobilization Department of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff has drafted a conscription proposal to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Izvestia reported on Wednesday.
The department proposes to restore the exterritorial principle of military service by conscription - young men drafted in one region must serve in another, the newspaper cited the General Staff.
Former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov cancelled the exterritorial principle. He thought it would be better for conscripts to serve near their homes.
"We are confident that conscripts drafted in one region must be assigned to another. Population density and number of eligible conscripts differ from one federation constituent to another, and the Armed Forces cannot be dependent on demographic peculiarities," a high-ranking General Staff representative told Izvestia.
Sergei Krivenko, member of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council, told the newspaper that Siberia and the Far East were unable to meet the personnel demand of locally stationed military units because of the relatively low population density.
"Hence, guys from western, central and southern regions will be assigned to military units in the Far East. Siberian and Far Eastern military units are already staffed with residents of the Caucasian republics and central Russia," Krivenko said.
