Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said changeover to contract service in some of the army units was one of the most important events in the armed forces in 2004. \"We started implementing a federal program to introduce contract service in individual units last year,\" Ivanov told Interfax. The changeover was carried out in the 42nd motorized infantry division and other units based in Chechnya, he said, noting that \"young draftees no longer serve in Chechnya and will never be sent there again.\" Ivanov announced that the armed forces and troops were optimized in the strategic directions in 2004. \"Following the railway troops\' integration with the armed forces, the Russian army has 1.207 million servicemen, plus 876,000 civilian personnel - an optimal figure required to maintain the defense sufficiency level,\" the Russian defense minister said. He said programs to improve servicemen and their families\' social and legal status ranked among the military leadership\'s priority tasks. \"The Defense Ministry is drafting 17 bills to replace benefits with compensation payments, and change the procedure of financing individual aspects of defense and security operations,\" he said. He said a law on mortgage lending and saving schemes for servicemen came into force on January 1, 2005. From now on, budget resources will be transferred to and get accumulated on each serviceman\'s bank account until the sum is large enough for buying housing in any region after 20 years of service,\" said Ivanov. (Interfax)