For more than a 1,000 years, this city near Russia's northwestern border relied on conscript soldiers to repel foreign onslaughts. In a dramatic break from the military's age-old tradition of draft, it's now witnessing the birth of an all-volunteer force.
"I wanted to test myself by taking part in this experiment -- the first such thing in Russia," said 21-year old Sargent Yevgeny Voronov -- one of about 1,500 soldiers of the 104th airborne regiment -- the first Russian military unit made up almost entirely of contract soldiers.
The eventual transfer to a primarily volunteer army is a key part of President Vladimir Putin's efforts to turn the nation's bloated and underfunded military into a leaner, modern force. But the experience so far shows it won't be easy despite anger and resentment at the draft.
PHOTO: AP
The term of conscription is now two years -- compared to as much as 25 years under the czars in the 19th century -- but the draft remains highly unpopular. The vicious hazing of conscripts, miserable conditions and the prospect of serving in the brutal war in Chechnya have resulted in suicides, desertions and massive draft dodging.
Voronov already had served 18 months of his two-year draft obligation when he signed a contract for another three years last fall. He said he could immediately see the difference -- and liked it.
"The officers are treating us with more respect, and training is better," said Voronov, who was taking a break after practicing at a parachute simulator at the regiment's base near Pskov. "And when our work day ends, we are free to do what we like."
PHOTO: AP
Two more regiments of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division are scheduled to switch from conscripts to volunteer soldiers later this year in what the Defense Ministry sees as an example for the rest of the 1.1-million-member military. The ministry says that the military won't be trimmed below 1 million in the foreseeable future.
The experiment with the elite Pskov division became mired in controversy soon after its launch in September when Russian liberals accused the top military brass of dragging its feet on the reforms.
The military command first offered new contract soldiers a salary starting with 3,000 rubles (US$99) a month -- roughly Russia's average wage -- but supplemented the pay with a promise of an apartment in Pskov for everyone who joins the 76th division.
The generous offer angered Boris Nemtsov, a leading advocate of an all-volunteer army, who accused the military of compromising the experiment by swelling its cost through housing construction.
The Defense Ministry responded by limiting its promise of an apartment only to volunteers with families. Although the military has gradually raised a soldier's minimum wage to 5,280 rubles (US$174), several dozen volunteer soldiers walked out in protest.
The military later persuaded most others to stay by promising comfortable quarters. The barracks now being built in Pskov offer modern amenities and are split in spacious rooms, each for four soldiers -- a sharp contrast with Soviet-era equivalents that have a common room for all and Spartan washrooms with no hot water.
The 76th division is to become the military's first all-volunteer unit, but the Russian armed forces have been using contract soldiers with mixed success since the early 1990s. The luckiest ones served with international peacekeeping forces in the former Yugoslavia funded by both the UN and Russia, receiving a monthly pay about US$1,000 -- a fortune for an average Russian.
Others received roughly the same wage early in the Chechen war that began in the fall of 1999. But after the government cut the number of Russian peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo and sharply trimmed the wages for soldiers in Chechnya, many contract soldiers quit the military, apparently without suffering any major penalty.
The 76th division had little trouble in attracting its first volunteers. Candidates must have served in the military, be physically fit, well-educated and no older than 35. The division only takes men.
The Kremlin has sent out confusing signals about the next stages of the reform. While Putin initially set 2010 as the target date for creating a fully contract force, he has later changed course and indicated that the draft will remain for the foreseeable future.
According to a military reform plan approved by the Cabinet earlier this summer, the army's best, high-readiness units will be switched to full-staffing by volunteers in 2004-2007. Contract soldiers will make up about half of the military by the end of 2007.
The vagueness and slow pace of the military reform has drawn increasing criticism from liberals who accuse the military of deliberately botching the reform.
"The problem is not the lack of money, but the lack of political will on behalf of the leadership that relies on the bureaucracy which isn't interested in the reform," said Alexei Arbatov, a leading member of the liberal Yabloko parliament faction.
There has been no indication the Kremlin will significantly raise contract soldiers' pay -- which would require corresponding wage hikes for officers.
"The current salary doesn't encourage interest in the service," said retired General Andrei Nikolayev, the head of the parliamentary defense affairs committee. He said his committee was preparing a package of bills to accelerate military reform.
Lieutenant Colonel Valery Bashlykov, who is in charge of contract soldiers in the Pskov military recruitment office, said that finding enough candidates is likely to become harder if the volunteer force grows in size. ``It's pretty hard to find people eager to do a lot of work for such small money,'' he said.
Still, Bashlykov said most candidates who joined the 76th division so far came not for money but because they like the extreme conditions and hardships of the military service. "They feel comfortable in that atmosphere," he said.
Officers of the 76th division are generally happy with the new contract soldiers, saying that they are better trained and more motivated than draftees.
"It's better for the state to have one experienced soldier than four untrained ones," said Mikhail Teplinsky, the division's deputy commander, who received the Hero of Russia medal -- one of the nation's highest awards -- for valor in Chechnya.
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