Northern Fleet Warship Gets First Volunteer-Only Crew

MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti)

A surface warship in Russia’s Northern Fleet has for the first time achieved 100-percent manning by contract servicemen, a Western Military District spokesman said on Friday.

There are no conscripts aboard the Vice Admiral Kulakov Udaloy-class destroyer, Captain 1st Rank Vadim Serga said.

Contract servicemen are paid on average 60,000 rubles (about $2,000) a month, he added.

President Dmitry Medvedev earlier said there should be 425,000 contract soldiers in the Armed Forces by 2017, a little less than 50 percent of total manpower.

Submarines started using 100-percent contract personnel earlier.