PSKOV (Russia): Russia is using bricks and mortar to lure recruits into the new professional armed forces it hopes to build.

Poorly-trained and poorly paid, conscripts have absconded, deserted and on occasion murdered their peers in attempts to escape the savage bullying that has tarnished the reputation of armed forces that were once the pride of the Soviet nation.

But, in a city as old as Russia itself, the elite 76th Pskov Airborne Division is spearheading the transformation to an army of “kontraktniki” — full-time professional soldiers — determined to restore the country’s faith in military service.

Pskov has come to Russia’s rescue before, Alexander Nevsky driving the Teutonic Knights from the region 760 years ago. But today, the call to arms is of an entirely different nature.

For in a country of want, the promise of a ‘home of your own’ is the most effective of recruiting sergeants, and the modest size of the Pskov division — just two regiments — makes it the cheapest reform guinea-pig for an impoverished military.

“Two months ago, when people saw that these homes were in actual fact being built, the number of applicants increased,” said Anatoly Golubkov, a senior official in the Pskov city recruitment office, although he was too coy to say by how much.

Roman Sapagov, a 23-year-old local, said improved pay, conditions and the promise of an apartment had all tempted him to seek to rejoin the paratrooper regiment in which he served as a conscript.

“Everyone can see for themselves that in Pskov they are building houses for kontraktniki, and even those who are not from around here will be able to get one,” he said.

RECRUITMENT BOOST: The foundations of Russia’s new model army are being laid in the sandy soil of a former military stores base, a short drive from the city’s elegant white-walled Kremlin fortress.