Russians in Tajikistan (photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko)
Conscripts or contractees? It’s difficult for the Russian Army to get the right kind of conscripts, where it needs them. But, over time, it hasn’t been any easier to obtain long-term contract enlisted either.
Last week, Izvestiya wrote about army plans to replace conscripts currently serving in its 201st Military Base in Tajikistan with contractees.
An officer in the formation told the paper it’s too costly to keep 3,000 conscripts in Tajikistan, and, by the end of 2012, the Russian Army will replace half with contractees. A GOMU source tells the paper replacing all 3,000 at once is “unrealistic.” Contractees will reportedly serve on three-year deals getting 30,000 rubles per month.
The situation for Russians in Tajikistan, the officer says, is strained, and Tajik authorities regularly detain conscripts for one reason or another. As an example, he cites the case of a conscript driver who killed three Tajiks last January. Thus, he concludes, it would be easier with “professionals” – contractees — who “know what they’re doing, and can be responsible for their actions.”
But there’s no reason to think contractees will avoid trouble any better than conscripts. The first contract experiment proved that. Contractees are more costly and just as difficult to control, if not more than their conscripted brother-soldiers.
According to Izvestiya, the 201st now has 5,500 personnel, including the 3,000 conscripts.
An old Krasnaya zvezda report says, in early 2007 – at the height of the first, failed attempt at introducing contract service – the military base had 7,000 servicemen in all, about 60 or 65 percent contractees. Its two maneuver units had 50 percent or fewer in their ranks.
Back then, the Defense Ministry daily said the military was all set to send conscripts in place of hired soldiers. It was hard to convince older, experienced men to go to Tajikistan because of the difficult living conditions and prospects for serving on contract in Russia.
As Izvestiya’s interlocutor intimated, relations between Moscow and Dushanbe are a bit strained right now, prompting some to wonder out loud if manning the 201st won’t become a moot issue.
Russian Defense Policy 