November 28, 1995, Tuesday

MOSCOW. <06>

THE RUSSIAN ARMY NEEDS A CARDINAL REFORM, -- was the unanimous decision of the 'round table' "The Preelection Bloc's Stand in the Issue of Military Reform", which was held on November 28 in the Moscow Carnegi-Center. The conference was attended by Yury Lebedev, the retired general who represented the "Spiritual Heritage" movement, by colonel Vladimir Kurochkin, a representative of the Libera-Democratic Party, by Alexey Arbatov from the "Yabloko" coalition, and by Alexander Vladimirov, a retired general from the "My Motherland" coalition. According to the participants in the 'round table', a military reform can only be implemented in conjunction with the general economic reform in the country.

A.Arbatov believes that it is necessary to reduce the army forces, to adopt a law banning use of army forces in domestic conflicts, and to reorientate the Russian military doctrine from looking for enemies in the West to the South-East.

According to Alexander Vladimirov, the Russian army is being weakened by the fact that the military doctrin does not determine a particular enemy of the state abroad. Vladimirov believes that due to this fact there is "no point" in the existence of the army.

The participants in the event approved the proposal to form a professional army. However, they believe that owing to the financial difficulties, the process will for many years preserve the form of a mixed contract-conscription form.

In their discussion of an alternative army service (AAS) the politicians admitted that those due for call-up have the right to an AAS, but they also made certain reservations. According to representatives of the LDPR, of the "My Motherland" and "Spiritual Heritage" movements, the alternative service should be done in building batallions and other supplementary divisions. The "Yabloko" representative believes that the AAS should only be done in civic bodies.