DRAFT:

The fall draft conscripted 158,000 young Russians, 110,000 into the army and the rest into other security services. Draft evaders are estimated at 40,000, about 20 percent of the total draft pool. The military prosecutor’s office reports that in the first eleven months of 1998, fifty-seven soldiers died and nearly 3,000 were injured in “hazing” incidents. The U.S. State Department reported to Congress that “the average Russian soldier is only marginally combat capable,” and combat readiness is in “rapid decay.”