Bills on volunteer formations in the Russian Guard were introduced to the State Duma

To the State Duma introduced a package of bills that will allow the Russian Guard to have volunteer formations in its composition.

The documents published in the Duma electronic database were submitted by a group of deputies led by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy and ex-adviser to the head of the Russian Guard Viktor Zolotov, Alexander Khinshtein, and senators led by the chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, Andrei Klishas.

“Once again I want to clearly dot the i’s and dispel various rumors and speculations <...> Volunteer units of the Russian Guard will be no different from the same formations of the Ministry of Defense,” commented initiative by Khinshtein in his Telegram channel.

The volunteers, he noted, will not be military personnel or employees of the Russian Guard, and their legal and social guarantees will be fully consistent with the volunteers of the Ministry of Defense. Contracts will be concluded directly with citizens, and therefore PMCs and other structures will not be able to join such formations. At the same time, former PMC fighters, including Wagner, will individually be able to become volunteers of the Russian Guard, Khinshtein emphasized.

In the explanatory note to bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” states that it is aimed at improving the legal regulation of the procedure for the creation and use of Russian volunteer formations.

The authors of the initiative note that now the troops of the Russian Guard, along with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, are directly involved in the special operation in Ukraine, while performing “tasks similar to those assigned to the Russian Armed Forces.” At the same time, the Ministry of Defense, unlike the Russian Guard, now has the authority to create volunteer formations – now there are already 40 of them. The bill proposes to give the Russian Guard similar powers.

The document notes that:

In addition, the bill introduces benefits for citizens who sign a contract. For example, they may receive additional payments and be given the right to enter a university on a budget.

Another of the bills introduced assumes changes to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It secures the right to provide benefits to citizens who have entered into a contract for voluntary assistance in carrying out tasks assigned to the troops of the Russian Guard. Another bill offers amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In accordance with them, it is proposed to establish criminal liability for the public dissemination of fakes and discrediting volunteer formations within the National Guard. Another project provided administrative responsibility for discrediting such units.

In November 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed amendments on the creation of the Ministry of Defense of volunteer formations. Volunteers are subject to the status of contract military personnel. Volunteer formations will assist in “fulfilling the tasks assigned to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the period of mobilization, martial law, in wartime, in the event of armed conflicts, during counter-terrorism operations, as well as when using the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation outside the Russian Federation.”

In early August, Putin signed a law according to which the Russian Guard can have military equipment in service. On August 25, 2023, Putin signed a decree according to which volunteers and territorial defense fighters will have to take an oath. According to the text of the decree, members of volunteer formations that take part in the special operation, territorial defense fighters and employees of state enterprises that were created in the regions during martial law will take the oath in front of the flag.