Russian military service halved to one year

MOSCOW, Mar 12 (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree reducing compulsory military service to one year from two years for conscripts called up after January 1, 2008, the Kremlin said in a statement today.

Thousands of conscripts are killed or injured every year, usually because of accidents or at the hands of fellow soldiers carrying out brutal initiation rites.

Only about 9 per cent of young men called up for military service report for duty, according to last year's figures. Many pay bribes to corrupt officials or exploit loopholes in the law to dodge the draft.

''This decree, it seems to me, has created one more substantial hurdle to the flagrant violations of the law linked to corruption ... during conscription campaigns,'' Viktor Ozerov, head of the Committee for Security and Defence in Russia's upper house of parliament, told Interfax-AVN (Military News Agency).

He said the decree would improve the ''quality'' of conscripts and their level of training.

Reuters MS DB2033