Russia to cut military to 1 million by 2012

MOSCOW: Russian news agencies quote the defense minister as saying Russia plans to cut the number of its military personnel to 1 million by 2012.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted as saying Wednesday that the cut of over 100,000 personnel had previously been expected by 2016. He said new plans approved by the president in September brought forward military overhaul targets.

He said additional changes to be implemented by 2012 include rapid reaction brigades in several Russian regions.

The former defense minister said last year that there were 1.13 million personnel in the armed forces.

Russia has a draft but is reducing the mandatory term of service from two years to a single year.