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Delegates of the 9th Congress
of Yabloko
Moscow Region, October
28, 2000
Photo by
Sergei Loktionov
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Most respected Vladimir Vladimirovich,
For many years Yabloko association has been preoccupied
with the
resolution
of one of the most acute problems of Russian society
– the problem of
military reform.
Four years ago the first President of Russia, Boris
Yeltsin, promised
Russian citizens that from 2000 onwards our army
would be built on a
contract basis, and that the military conscription
system would be a
relic
of the past. His words remained mere words. Until
recently the
impossibility
of implementing the reforms was attributed to economic
difficulties and
a
lack of funds. The present economic situation is
extremely positive for our country. Russia now has
a real chance to
achieve
a break-through and an opportunity to resolve the
most difficult
problems.
Today we can state with certainty that the budget
for 2001 disposes of
the
funds required to perform a large-scale military
reform next spring.
The Yabloko faction ascertained that 88 billion
roubles had not been
considered in the draft budget and that these proceeds
were unrelated to
oil
export revenues. At our urgent request, the government
has already
included
30% of this amount in the revenue items of the budget;
12.6 billion of
this
amount will be allotted to defence. If these funds
are allocated to the
military reforms and another 40 billion of the funds
that we discovered
are
added, this will make it possible to achieve the
following goal:
1) Transfer the Armed Forces to a contract basis
and achieve a
considerable
reduction in military conscription;
2) A doubling of the pay for the military, including
those serving on a
contract basis;
3) Provision of housing and severance pay for all
those who are
discharged;
4) A doubling of the military order, which will
revive the military
industry with its social infrastructure.
It is not too late to make changes to the budget.
However, the
government
and the Duma will not make this step without your
political will.
Today the country has obtained a historic chance
to secure its defence
capacity without maiming the young and bringing
tragedy to Russian
mothers.
We are calling on you to use the additional money
that we have detected
in
the budget to ensure Russia's ability to obtain
a 21st century army as
soon
as possible.
Chairman of the Association
G. A. Yavlinsky
