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More than 2000 recruits from the Kharkiv oblast

12.12.2001   
Sergey Bobok, Kharkiv
’This year during the spring recruiting campaign we plan to mobilize 2113 young people from the Kharkiv oblast’, Yuri Klynkin, the oblast military commissar, told at the press conference held in the building of the oblast administration. More than 1500 recruits will be directed to the armed forces, others – to various law-enforcing structures. 42% of the recruits will serve in their native Kharkiv oblast; even more – 60% -- are planned to serve in the oblast from the next autumn conscription. The number of recruits is diminishing: last autumn 2500 youths were recruited in the Kharkiv oblast. As Yu. Klynkin said, it is connected with the step-by-step plan of reorganization of the conscription on the contract basis. The reorganization must be completed in 2015. 30% of the armed forces will have to be filled with contract-basis servicemen by 2005, by 2010 – 50%. Since 1 January 2006 it is planned to diminish the service term from 18 to 12 months.

Since this year every recruit must be tested on a computer for his fitness to serve in the armed forces or in some concrete kind of troops. To this end, for the first time in Ukraine, the oblast recruiting commission was equipped with the computer class for twenty places. In the nearest time representatives of all Ukrainian recruiting commissions will have practical studies in this class.

Klynkin informed that half of the conscripted are not able-bodied enough to serve in the army. Many recruits learn about their maladies only at the age of 17, when they are examined by military commissions. This situation arose owing to inadequate work of adolescent doctors. Many of those, who appeared to be sick, come in a year with the same pathologies, so the commissions must give them a postponement for treatment or additional examination.

There is another complication: the number of recruits, who have already got accustomed to alcohol and narcotic drugs, is growing. More than 3 thousand youths of the recruiting age have a criminal record. From 20590 youths registered this spring by recruiting commissions of the oblast, 2760 recruits are not suitable for military service in the peaceful time and conditionally suitable in the war time, 260 are unsuitable for the service and should be taken off the military registration, 1635 must undergo medical treatment. The number of those, who have only elementary education is 147, incomplete secondary education – 315, secondary education – 5.5 thousand; the rest learn in the finishing grades of common and vocational schools (those who completed 8 or less grades out of 11 are not taken to the army, those who completed 9 grades are taken with limitations). 384 youths have no parents, 2214 live without their fathers, 200 – without mothers. 178 people have criminal records, 173 are surveyed by militia, 61 are drug addicts.

Answering questions from journalists, Yu. Klynkin told that the representatives of the Union of soldiers’ mothers were included to the oblast recruiting commission, they took an active part in its work. Each recruit gets a booklet of instructions how to protect their rights in a military unit in various situations. ‘We do our best to protect our boys in the army’, -- pointed out Yu. Klynkin.



Klynkin Yuriy, the military commissar of the Kharkiv oblast — tel. 27-76-65.

Kharkiv Union of soldiers’ mothers — tel. 43-64-55, 14-31-71.
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