As Radio Liberty reports, Russia’s Interior Ministry has given the green light for the creation of a special experimental Daghestani battalion, which will be the destination for some of the young men drafted into the Russian armed forces from that republic this fall.
It is not yet clear what the purpose of the “experiment” is and whether it heralds a reversal of the dramatic decline in recent years in the number of Daghestanis serving in the Russian armed forces.
Daghestan has the largest population, and one of the highest birthrates, in the North Caucasus.
Every year some 25,000 students graduate from high school. The number of young men eligible for military service this fall was estimated at 40,000, but only some 180 were accepted.
