HL Deb 24 September 2002 vol 638 c194WA
Lord Jopling

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What extent they or any of their NATO or European Union allies have contributed to solving housing problems for the Russian military within Russia. [HL5715]

Lord Bach

The United Kingdom has made no specific contribution to the solution of housing problems for the military within Russia. Instead, the United Kingdom's focus has been on retraining servicemen for civilian life after retirement or redundancy. Since 1995 over 15,000 Russian servicemen have received training, of whom over 70 per cent have secured employment within four months of completing their course.

The Government are aware of two housing projects by NATO allies dating from the mid-1990s. The German Government built around 35,000 housing units in Russia as part of the withdrawal programme of Soviet Forces from Germany and the United States Government undertook a more modest pilot scheme to build houses in rural Russia.