"Starting from January 1, 2007, mandatory military service will be reduced to 18 months, whereas from January 1, 2008 to a year," General Nikolai Pankov said on Rossiya television, adding that conscripts would not be sent to serve in "hot spots."
Pankov also favors the idea of fewer military service deferment conditions, saying there were 25 types of deferment at the moment, which was unacceptable for the army, experiencing serious difficulties with conscription. He said the ministry planned to cut deferments to 19 starting from 2008.
Pankov said only 9%-10% of eligible population was conscripted today, compared with 50% in the 1980s. The rest of potential conscripts had legal grounds for exemption or deferment.
He said the moves would also help curb corruption in recruitment offices and would restore justice, when young men from villages and small towns with fewer opportunities "to use dishonest methods to avoid military service" were drafted into the armed forces, whereas men in large cities generally escaped that.
"Military service in all countries has never been all honey, but there is the Constitution, which is binding for all," Pankov said.
Pankov also acknowledged the low educational level of conscripts and said the plan would also help settle this problem by attracting educated men into the army.
There are four groups of deferments, used by many young men to escape service in Russia's hazing-hit army, at the moment: educational, social, professional, and medical. Social deferments will be reduced partially, whereas the number of medical deferments will remain the same.
