Reforms were first launched by former president Boris Yeltsin in 1996 at the bloody end of the first Chechnya war and have since been reintroduced and abandoned on several occasions.

It hinges on a Russian admission that it can no longer afford to support a 1.1-million-strong military while also developing and building weapons to replace the outdated Soviet ones.

The latest plan pits a military brass bent on keeping the draft because it fears few would want to serve in Russia's dilapidated army by choice against liberals lobbying for a small professional army and a quick end to conscription.

Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stepped into the debate Thursday by saying he preferred to cut back conscripted army service from two years to one.

But Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov responded that the idea might work -- but no sooner than in four years.

Ivanov is Russia's first civilian defense minister and a close Putin ally charged with overseeing army reforms.

But analysts agree that he has run into stiff resistance from hawkish army generals taught in the Soviet era and keen to preserve the military at its current size. Many seem convinced that ending the draft would spell the army's ruin.

Smirnov, the top Russian general in charge of the call-up and staffing, said Russia's main goal was to have 176,500 professional soldiers and colonels permanently stationed in hotspots like Chechnya by the end of 2007.

"The first ones to be switched to contract service will be troops permanently stationed in Chechnya and surrounding regions," said the general.

He added the military wanted to make sure that untested young conscripts -- many of whom never properly learned how to fire a gun -- are not sent into Chechnya or other war zones.

"Twenty percent of the army never graduated from grammar school and we have people who cannot read," conceded Smirnov.

The general staff in part admits to accusations from liberals like deputy Boris Nemtsov that the military is largely staffed by "unemployed thugs and former prison inmates."

Smirnov released a report showing that 39.5 percent of soldiers and recruits who joined the armed forces last year had no employment or secondary education.

That figure compared to just 3.6 percent in 1988.

And Smirnov appeared to concede that the finances of the latest stab at army reform do not yet add up.

Russia must find the cash not only to pay for professional soldiers but also research and development as well as housing and retraining of reduced troops.

The general staff is requesting 138 billion rubles (4.4 billion dollars, 4.0 billion euros) over the next four years to implement its plan.

The plan would see professional troops paid up to 8,000 rubles (about 260 dollars) a month compared to the current 2,800 rubles.

He said Nemtsov's idea of quickly switching all soldiers to professional service and paying them about 3,500 rubes is "impossible" because nobody would fight in the army for such pay.

But reports said that Kasyanov appeared to favor the Nemtsov plan because it seemed cheaper and more effective.

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper reported the finance ministry Thursday volunteered to allocate only a third of the sum requested by the defense ministry.

No formal decision is expected before June 1 but Nezavisimaya said that Kasyanov has "refused to approve the army reform plan offered by the defense ministry."

SPACE.WIRE