"The Ukrainian constitution and current law do not allow Ukrainian citizens to do their military service for another state," foreign ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivski told journalists.

"The composition and recruitment of Russia's armed forces is strictly a domestic question for Russia," he said.

Russia's defense ministry has proposed recruiting soldiers from the 12 former Soviet republics that belong to the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Ukraine.

In exchange, the foreign soldiers would receive Russian citizenship after three years.

The proposal has yet to be officially approved by the Russian government but it was supported by President Vladimir Putin in his state of the nation address last month.

Russia has been trying to reform and professionalize its chronically underfunded and violence-ridden armed services since the mid-1990s.

The current plan envisages the creation of a small professional force as the backbone of the country's defenses, to be set up by 2007, leaving the highly unpopular draft process almost completely intact.

WAR.WIRE