On February 6, Minsk / BELTA correspondent /. President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko received the State Secretary of the Security Council Leonid Maltsev and the Minister of Defence Yuri Zhadobin for a report on February 6. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the press service of the Belarusian leader. "I am interested in the situation in the Armed Forces, the modernisation of the army, including its size, and funding issues. The second area we need to discuss is personnel and financial remuneration. And the most important issue is housing construction for military personnel. We agreed to develop a certain algorithm for this issue," said Alexander Lukashenko. "In this regard, we have an agreement with the President of Russia. I sent him a letter on the need to find additional funds for Belarusian military personnel through various areas of cooperation between Belarus and Russia. And he promised to help in this regard." As the head of state noted, the two countries have practically a common army and the tasks facing it. However, the financial remuneration of military personnel in Belarus and Russia differs. This situation must be changed, the President demanded. Minister of Defence Yuri Zhadobin reported that, on the whole, the Armed Forces are fulfilling the tasks assigned to them. In November last year, another conscription of citizens for urgent military service and service in the reserve was carried out. Leonid Maltsev noted that the Armed Forces must be able to withstand challenges and threats in modern conditions. It is necessary that their organisational and staffing structure, armament, and training level correspond to this task. Alexander Lukashenko instructed to work out the issue of increasing financial remuneration not only for military personnel but also for employees of the entire security bloc. In addition, instructions were given to solve the problem of providing military personnel with housing, including service housing, in military towns. -0-

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