Money for the army

The increase in the monetary allowance of Russian troops that caused a slight financial panic requires close consideration, since in the near future the Russian state budget awaits no less serious trials, also associated with the armed forces. These tests, in the form of a state arms program, have already generated a victim - Alexei Kudrin, who clearly stated that the budget did not have resources to finance such a program, and therefore was retired. Now, however, we will not consider the impact of the arms program on the state of public finance in the long run (this can be done later), but we will analyze a narrower but no less important question of how the growth of the monetary allowance of military personnel will affect the federal budget of Russia in the very near future.

The current and future expenses for employees of the Russian army (military and civilian), already financed this year and planned for the three next year, are given in the table:

table. 1

Expenses of the Russian federal budget for the personnel of the Armed Forces

As can be seen from these data, the increase in expenses under the article “Monetary allowance of military personnel” is about 60 billion rubles, and in total the expenses for the staff of the Armed Forces increase by 2012 by 104 billion rubles. This figure can hardly be called transcendent, especially since in the future the growth of military expenses for these articles is practically no. Therefore, it is impossible to say that an increase in monetary allowance undermines the foundations of the country's budget structure.

Nevertheless, we decided to check how much this data deviates from reality. To do this, we calculated the funds allocated for monetary allowance from the inside of the armed forces, that is, using data on the number of officers, new salaries of monetary maintenance on military ranks and positions, as well as the number of soldiers and sergeants serving under the contract. At the same time, we must cheer up that this calculation is conditional, because We could not find data on regular positions and the structure of the officer corps on military ranks.

Therefore, in order to calculate the distribution of officers in military ranks, we determined their number for each rank based on the existing division of the armed forces into three units: three plates - a company, three companies - a battalion, three battalions - a regiment, three regiments - a brigade, and so on. Accordingly, one major general should account for 3 colonels, 9 majors, 27 captains and 81 lieutenant.

At the same time, we did not include officers in sergeant positions, employees of the apparatus of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, officers in military medical institutions, officers and listeners officers in military schools. We also suggested that each officer holds a regular position, that is, the senior lieutenant (lieutenant) commands the platoon, the captain - Roste, the Major - the battalion, the colonel (lieutenant colonel) - a regiment or auxiliary units as part of a military unit.

As a result, we got the following numbers.

table. 2

Calculation of the monetary content of officers after increasing salaries since 2012

Simultaneously with the salaries for the title and for the position, the system of allowances is also introduced - for the length of service, for class qualifications, for working with information containing state secrets, for special conditions of military service, for the fulfillment of tasks related to the risk of life, for special achievements in the service, a bonus for conscientious and efficient performance of official duties, annual material assistance. In addition, allowances are installed for military personnel deployed outside the territory of Russia or participating in the hostilities, as well as military personnel who are serving in difficult climatic conditions.

Of course, it is simply impossible to take into account all these allowances (especially since some of them apply to a limited number of officers), but the size of some can still be evaluated. In any case, the allowances for the length of service and the cool qualifications are more or less formalized, so they can be used in calculations.

table. 3

Calculation of seniority allowances

In this case, we accepted that the length of service is up to 5 years - among the lieutenants (St. Lieutenants), from 5 to 10 years old - for captains, from 10 to 15 years old - from major, from 15 to 20 for Substracks, and from 20 to 25 years old - for colonels. Seniority for more than 25 years (allowance - 40%) we accept only at the general, so we do not include in the overall calculation. Accordingly, the allowances to which the salaries of monetary maintenance are increasing were pronounced by us on this principle.

Another allowance, the size of which can be at least approximately determined, is a premium for cool qualifications. The classes that will be assigned for qualifications, we distributed on military ranks similarly to the allowances for the length of service.

table. 4

Calculation of qualification allowances

Given the fact that at present the number of officers in the states of the troops is 150 thousand people, the distribution of military ranks is as follows: senior lieutenants (lieutenants) - 10,1250 people, captains - 33750 people, Mayors - 11250 people, and colonels (lieutenant colonels) - 3750 people.

However, since the number of the officer corps is planned to increase to 220 thousand people. Due to the creation of high-technological troops, the distribution of officers in military ranks will be as follows: senior lieutenants (lieutenants)-148,500 people, captains-49,500 people, Mayorov-16,500 people, and colonels (lieutenant colonels)-5500 people.

Given this circumstances, the total expenses of the federal budget for the officers of the Armed Forces will draw up the following amounts.

table. 5

The total volume of monetary allowance of the officers of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation after increasing salaries in 2012.

Naturally, these data are not complete. To the monetary allowance of officers, you need to add salaries of generals and admirals. Although, of course, the general receives incomparably more than officers, but its number is insignificant - now about 1,100 people, and they are trying to reduce those by 200 or 300 regular units. Therefore, if we take the number of generals and admirals in 1000 people for simplicity of calculations, and suppose that their monthly monetary allowance is 100 thousand rubles. per month, then per year their cash content will amount to only 1.2 billion rubles.

For ordinary sergeants, contracts under the contract, and for cadets of military educational institutions, the calculation is much easier. The number of "contractors" is determined in 425 thousand people, and the average monthly salary is 25 thousand rubles. per month. The number of cadets is now 40 thousand people, and monetary allowance is 18 thousand rubles. per month. Thus, the annual content of the ordinary and sergeant composition will cost the federal budget of 128 billion rubles, and cadets - 8.6 billion rubles.

Now you can summarize the overall result. With new salaries and allowances, the monetary allowance of officers and generals will be 132 billion rubles. per year, ordinary and sergeants, employees under the contract - 128 billion rubles, and cadets - 8.6 billion rubles. Total - 269 billion rubles. per year. True, judging by the law on the budget, much more (326.8 billion rubles) were allocated for monetary allowance, but this difference (57 billion r.) Probably, will probably go to finance the allowances that we could not take into account in our calculations.

An increase in the monetary maintenance of military personnel, in addition to the growth of direct expenses to the Armed Forces, entails additional expenses that are caused by the growth of military pensions. The fact is that pensions are set as a percentage of the monetary allowance of military personnel (now it is 50% of the salary by rank plus the salary plus plus for the seniority of seniority plus 3% for each year of service). Therefore, after the amount of monetary allowance will increase 2.5 - 3 times, the pensions will increase in the same proportion, and state expenses for their financing will increase in the same proportion. When maintaining the current procedure for calculating pensions, this would lead to their abrupt growth. Apparently, in order to avoid the undesirable consequences of the rapid growth of military pensions, since 2012, the procedure for calculating them is complicated: a reduction coefficient of 0.54 (54%) is introduced, which will increase by 2%of each subsequent year. That is, pensions will also increase, but at a very low pace.

True, the primary growth of pensions will still be quite decent, although not as large as the growth of monetary allowance in the armed forces (on average from 10 thousand rubles per month for the lieutenant colonel/colonel to 17 thousand rubles per month).

Now these expenses amount to 140 billion rubles, in 2012 they must grow to 238 billion rubles, and over time, as the “lowering” coefficient increases, this will already be a tangible factor in the impact on public finances.