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A big scandal is imminent in relations between the Union of
Right-Wing Forces (SPS) and YABLOKO. The military reforms lobbied
by the SPS would appear to be the cause of serious contention
between the two political structures, which intended to begin
drawing up a joint electoral list for the Duma less than a year
ago. Grigory Yavlinsky's party officially announced that the military
reform proposed by the SPS, providing for the transition to a
six-month term of service was "counterproductive politically
and generally groundless.” According to Deputy Chairman of the
Duma Defense Committee Alexei Arbatov (YABLOKO), the transition
to a six-month term of service is not the main issue of the military
reform, whereas the problem of training army reserves can be resolved
by other, more efficient methods. Arbatov added that, transition
to a professional army had always been one of the priorities of
the programme and YABLOKO's practical work.
The principles for manning Russia's Armed Forces had been discussed
at a meeting of the Joint
Political Council of YABLOKO and the SPS on November 19,2002.
The parties had stated at the meeting that several variants existed
for resolving the problem of maintaining the military reserves.
The joint statement contained the variant of YABLOKO and the variant
of the SPS,
Arbatov said in an interview. Both structures had also intended
to form a joint working group "to work out in detail the
financial and organizational aspects and reach agreement on them
with the spokespersons of the executive authorities interested
in the matter." According to i Arbatov, Nemtsov submitted
the variant of the SPS to the government immediately after this
meeting, but presented it as the only one, forgetting to mention
proposals of YABLOKO and the joint elaboration of the issue. "We
take such actions of the SPS as an infringement on the agreements
and the joint work on the problem has been suspended," added
Arbatov.
See also:
The
Russian Army
YABLOKO and
SPS
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