MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. The construction of new ammunition depots will allow the Russian Defense Ministry to cut almost 17,000 servicemen and 30,000 civilian personnel, a ministry spokesman said on Friday.

The creation of new ammunition arsenals will be completed by the end of this year, the spokesman said.

"We’ll cut almost 17,000 servicemen at depots and almost 30,000 civilian personnel," the spokesman said.

The new arsenals will accommodate Russia’s entire missile and artillery weaponry, the spokesman said. "That is, we’ll remove this weaponry from open-air sites," he added.

Another year will be needed to relocate ammunition, the defense ministry said. The completion of this work will help prevent the possibility of fires, the spokesman said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said earlier the ministry planned to build over 450 ammunition depots in 2015 to complete equipping 13 modern arsenals.