Subversive Pessimist
21st August 2004, 14:36
Is it just me who finds this alarming?
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...s/1192143/posts
MOSCOW, August 12 (Itar-Tass) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russia would considerably increase its defence spending in 2005.
The increase will account for approximately 40% on this years spending, Putin told a meeting of the heads of Russian force and financial agencies. Putin said that the country was facing complex defence tasks, which require it to spend more on these purposes.
For his part, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who was also present at that meeting, said that the 2005 defence order was supposed to increase by 40%, an equivalent to nearly 70 billion roubles in money terms.
Kudrin noted that 30,000 young officers who have served in the army for three years and 25,000 warrant officers would receive money to their bank accounts as part of the housing mortgage credit system. He explained that the funds would accumulate in the servicemens bank accounts and would later serve as the basis for housing credits. Asked to comment how the Finance Ministry was solving the question of housing credits for the military in the next years budget, Kudrin replied to President Putin that the state would pay on those housing credits in future.
The Russian finance minister also pledged that monetary allowances for Russian military would increase from 50% to 120% in 2005.
Additional cash payments are going to be introduced to compensate the abolition of free fares in public transport. These payments will also be adjusted to inflation rate and growth in consumer prices, Kudrin said.
The minister also added that allowances for tough conditions of military service would also go up from 50% to 120%. The raise will account for 700 roubles on average and is going to range from 350 to 1,500 roubles in various regions dependent on the cost of living.
In the meantime, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was also present at the meeting, noted that the number of contract soldiers in the Russian army would increase to 50,000 people by 2005.
We intend to speed up the program of staffing the Russian armed forces with contract soldiers next year, the defence minister went on to say. We are transferring two divisions with a total strength of 25,000-27,000 men on a contract basis. Thus, the number of contract servicemen will approximately reach 50,000 in 2005, he stressed. Ivanov clarified that the program would end in 2007.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that his agency was increasing the financing of the Defence Ministrys program. Seventeen billion roubles will be appropriated for it in 2005.
Five billion roubles will be allocated for a program of developing the Russian state border. All steps designed to develop and create a new image of the Russian state border are going to be financed, Kudrin stressed. Other high-ranking officials who attended Thrusdays meeting with President Putin included Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref, Chief of the Russian General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, First Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Security Service Nikolai Klimashin.
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...s/1192143/posts
MOSCOW, August 12 (Itar-Tass) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russia would considerably increase its defence spending in 2005.
The increase will account for approximately 40% on this years spending, Putin told a meeting of the heads of Russian force and financial agencies. Putin said that the country was facing complex defence tasks, which require it to spend more on these purposes.
For his part, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who was also present at that meeting, said that the 2005 defence order was supposed to increase by 40%, an equivalent to nearly 70 billion roubles in money terms.
Kudrin noted that 30,000 young officers who have served in the army for three years and 25,000 warrant officers would receive money to their bank accounts as part of the housing mortgage credit system. He explained that the funds would accumulate in the servicemens bank accounts and would later serve as the basis for housing credits. Asked to comment how the Finance Ministry was solving the question of housing credits for the military in the next years budget, Kudrin replied to President Putin that the state would pay on those housing credits in future.
The Russian finance minister also pledged that monetary allowances for Russian military would increase from 50% to 120% in 2005.
Additional cash payments are going to be introduced to compensate the abolition of free fares in public transport. These payments will also be adjusted to inflation rate and growth in consumer prices, Kudrin said.
The minister also added that allowances for tough conditions of military service would also go up from 50% to 120%. The raise will account for 700 roubles on average and is going to range from 350 to 1,500 roubles in various regions dependent on the cost of living.
In the meantime, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was also present at the meeting, noted that the number of contract soldiers in the Russian army would increase to 50,000 people by 2005.
We intend to speed up the program of staffing the Russian armed forces with contract soldiers next year, the defence minister went on to say. We are transferring two divisions with a total strength of 25,000-27,000 men on a contract basis. Thus, the number of contract servicemen will approximately reach 50,000 in 2005, he stressed. Ivanov clarified that the program would end in 2007.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that his agency was increasing the financing of the Defence Ministrys program. Seventeen billion roubles will be appropriated for it in 2005.
Five billion roubles will be allocated for a program of developing the Russian state border. All steps designed to develop and create a new image of the Russian state border are going to be financed, Kudrin stressed. Other high-ranking officials who attended Thrusdays meeting with President Putin included Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref, Chief of the Russian General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, First Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Security Service Nikolai Klimashin.