The cuts are made to adjust the number of administrative staff to the new looks of the Army and Fleet, the minister said, Vedomosti reports with reference to Prime-Tass. According to Mr. Serdyukov, the number of defence ministry officials will by year 2012 be reduced to 8,500. Today, a total of 10,523 people are working in the central defence administration, while another 11,290 people work in other key federal defence bodies. The announcement comes as several major reforms are underway in the Russian Armed Forces. Mr. Serdyukov has recently also said that the number of officers will be strongly cut and that the whole army will be cut to about one million men.
