Another problem will be ensuring numbers are at the necessary levels, especially in units where particularly high demands are made. More than half the conscripts sent to the Army today suffer from various kinds of illness that limit their capacity for military service, and with every year, the number of unfit conscripts is increasing. The head of the Central Military Medical Commission, Maj. Gen. Valery Kulikov, said that over the last three years, the number of conscripts deemed fit for military service has dropped by 4.8 percent. Since 1997, the number of conscripts exempted from service has increased steadily and now surpasses the number of those actually sent to serve.
Draft dodgers pose another problem.
Data for the fall of 1999 put the number of draft dodgers at 38,000 18.6 percent of all those called up over this period. In the same period of 1998, draft dodgers totaled 19,600. General Headquarters explains the increase in draft dodgers by the fact that parents of conscripts are afraid their sons will be sent to Chechnya. Valery Borshchev, chairman of the presidential political consultative council s human rights chamber, said that if someone does not want to take up arms, they should not be forced to do so. The Russian Constitution gives the right to do alternative military service, but as there is no corresponding legislation, there is a certain question of force when it comes to sending soldiers to Chechnya.