Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced a wide range of impending changes in the military and said the ministry’s system of outsourcing must be “critically assessed.”
His comments came in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda published Tuesday.
Noting that many workers employed to do basic cleaning and janitorial work in military facilities are not Russian, Shoigu said “the results are not satisfactory. Military personnel from military units and educational institutions are still regularly involved in the cleaning, but the cost of employed labor is not being revised to take that into account.”
The practice of outsourcing, a favorite custom of former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, has been widely spurned in the military, and many saw Serdyukov’s ouster as a sign of its imminent demise.
Shoigu did not specify how the practice of outsourcing would be assessed and what changes might be made.
The minister also announced new approaches to repairing military equipment, saying that repair units would be set up in military divisions to fix any damaged equipment internally. Factories would be employed only for more severely damaged equipment.
In addition, military personnel are set to get new uniforms after 2014, and they will be delivered in three stages.
“Initially in 2013, we will purchase and deliver 100,000 sets to units located in especially cold climates,” he said. “In 2014, the ministry will purchase another 400,000 sets for special forces. After 2014, we will purchase 500,000 uniforms for the remaining units.”
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