MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Over 20 military facilities will be auctioned off across Russia in 2008, including in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Vladivostok, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Thursday.
"The raised funds will be spent exclusively on the acquisition of housing and the construction of social facilities for military personnel," Serdyukov told Komsomolskaya Pravda, a popular tabloid.
The first auction has been scheduled for April 8, the minister said.
"This will be an open auction," Serdyukov added.
Two Moscow facilities will be offered for sale at the auction, one at Rublyovo in western Moscow and the other in the city's north.
"Over a dozen applications to participate [in the auctions] have already been filed," Serdyukov said, adding that the ministry expected to raise several billion rubles.