26.04.09

More than 40% of Russian men who face being drafted into the armed forces are physically unfit for military service, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

"It is a well-known fact that there are problems with the availability of young men who are fit for military service. They are not increasing but, unfortunately, decreasing in number. For the past 20 years their numbers have gone down one-third. Moreover, more than 40% of men fail to meet the health and physical development requirements of military service," Medvedev said at a meeting of the State Council Presidium.

The president also said that, under an approved strategy, Russia's armed forces would continue to be made up partially by draftees and partially by contract soldiers until 2020.

"Three of four servicemen are to be draftees. And it depends on their physical endurance, degree of responsibility and educational standards whether they will be able to operate modern equipment, stand the hardships of military service in a dignified way, and be ready for the threats that our country comes across and that the armed forces must respond to," Medvedev said.

The president called for organizing a pre-draft training system.

Pre-draft training was the subject of the Presidium meeting.

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Source: Interfax-AVN