Support The Moscow Times!

Retired Officers Costing the State $60M a Month

The Defense Ministry is paying 2 billion rubles ($60 million) every month to 45,400 current and retired military personnel because they cannot be fired without being provided with accommodation, Izvestia reported Friday.

Between 2010 and 2012 there was no internal control of the legality and efficiency of spending at the ministry, an Audit Chamber investigation concluded. Over the last three years, the failure to provide timely living quarters has consumed more than 66 billion rubles.

Of the 45,400 former servicemen receiving funds, 34,300 are still technically employed by the armed forces. Despite fulfilling no function, the armed forces cannot fire them without the provision of living space.

The law obliges the Defense Ministry to provide accommodation to members of the armed forces who have served longer than 10 years. At the start of this year, 57,000 officers were waiting for accommodation, Gazeta.ru reported. A year earlier, the number was 82,000.

While huge resources are spent on the acquisition and construction of apartments, the ministry remains unable to reduce the list of those waiting. Servicemen often refuse what they are offered, complaining of poorly situated accommodation, often far from their place of service and badly integrated into the local infrastructure. Comparatively miserly cash compensation is another source of dissatisfaction, the report said.

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more