female russian cadets
© Vitaliy Timkiv / Sputnik
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has disclosed plans to expand the list of military roles that can be undertaken by female cadets and students - both in military schools and universities with military education centers.

"Every year we receive hundreds of letters and inquests, we are facing the same question over and over again: why young men can undergo military training and girls cannot? I want to say that since recently the girls also can do it. We will do everything for them to undergo military training, though, naturally, not in all military professions," Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday as he met with the head of the Khakassia region and the heads of civilian universities in Abakan, South Siberia.

The statement came after one of Shoigu's deputies, Nikolai Pankov, said that, at the moment, a very large number of young Russian women wanted to enter military service and receive military education. He added that competition among women to enter existing military schools is "beyond all limits."

Shoigu approved the proposal to compose and officially validate the list of military professions that can be taught to female students in the military educational centers at universities.

Last year, the Russian Defense Ministry introduced a plan for major reform in officer training including the replacement of military departments in civilian universities with dedicated centers offering improved training for various specialists, based on specific requests from the Defense Ministry. The new rules also allow students to have their studies sponsored by the Defense Ministry on condition that they sign contracts for active service before beginning their education.

Shoigu also described an experiment last year, in which 15 Russian women joined the Krasnodar Military Aviation School for the first time in many years, as successful.

Russia has universal conscription, a compulsory 12-month draft, but it only applies to men. However, about a year ago the human rights ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova said that she saw the situation as a possible violation of gender equality and promised to address the issue in the near future.

The Defense Ministry replied that that conscription for men was not a right, but a duty and added that women can join the military as volunteers and build their careers to any rank - from private soldier to general. The ministry added that Russia currently has about 45,000 women in the military with the overall strength of the forces being about 830,000.