Soviet Army’s New Chief Spurns Calls to End Conscription

MOSCOW —  The new chief of staff of the Soviet Union’s armed forces Sunday rejected calls to abolish conscription because it would be far too expensive to have only a professional force.

But Col. Gen. Mikhail Moiseyev said in an interview with Soviet television that students will no longer have to interrupt their studies to carry out military service.

“As far as we are concerned, creating a professional army is unacceptable both now and in the near future, since it would require a five- to eight-fold increase in military spending,” Moiseyev, 49, said in response to a question.

Military service has been obligatory in the Soviet Union since the early 1920s. Men over 18 are required to serve two years in the army or three in the navy.

In recent months, there has been public discussion of possible changes to the current system of conscription, spurred on by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s promise at the United Nations in December to cut Soviet troops by 500,000.