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Kremlin says no decisions made on downsizing Russian Army

The media earlier reported that the Finance Ministry had come up with a proposal to consider cutting the size of the country’s military personnel by 10%

MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. No decisions were made on cutting the size of the Russian Armed Forces, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"No decisions on this score have been made. Expert discussions may quite be held but no such issues are at the stage of making decisions," the Kremlin spokesman said, responding to a request to comment on the corresponding proposals by Russia’s Finance Ministry.

The daily Izvestia earlier reported that the Finance Ministry had come up with a proposal to consider cutting the size of the country’s military personnel by 10%

The Finance Ministry proposed downsizing the Armed Forces by cutting free vacancies and transferring medics, lecturers, HR specialists, financiers, lawyers and logistics personnel to civil service. The other proposals envisage raising the retirement age in the Army, increasing the length of military service, including for obtaining military mortgage loans, and saving funds on military rations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday rejected these proposals as unacceptable.