Deputies were offered to unbook – Newspaper Kommersant No. 193 (7394) dated 10/18/2022

The State Duma will consider on Tuesday several bills related to mobilization, the status of volunteers, alternative civilian service and an emergency warning system. At the same time, some of them were submitted to the Duma long before the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. At the same time, the recent initiative of the deputies from A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) to cancel the deferment from mobilization for deputies and senators drew criticism even from their colleagues in the parliamentary opposition.

The Council of the Duma on Monday included in the agenda of the plenary session on October 18 several “wartime” initiatives at once. So, in the first reading, the deputies will consider the proposal submitted last week by representatives of all five factions bill on the right of mobilized to transfer business management to trusted persons for the duration of participation in a special operation (“Kommersant” reported on these amendments on October 12). The current law prohibits military personnel from engaging in entrepreneurial activities, owning or participating in the management of organizations.

The new initiative will allow individual entrepreneurs and legal entities to transfer the business to trust management or simply keep the registration of their organizations unchanged for a while until the owner is demobilized.

The second reading will discuss the proposal submitted by the government in August bill on vesting the president with the authority to make decisions on the participation of troops in exercises, competitions and parades held jointly with foreign states. By the second reading, United Russia, headed by speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, introduced amendments to the document describing the status of volunteers in the laws, their rights, the procedure for paying salaries, etc. In particular, the amendments state that volunteer formations can be created by the Ministry of Defense by decision of the president , and the citizens of the Russian Federation who have joined the ranks of volunteers will be subject to the status of military personnel under the contract.

The deputies will also consider in the second reading the proposal submitted back in 2018 by United Russia projectwhich proposes, in the event of mobilization, to leave Russians in the alternative civilian service, passing it as civilian personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the agenda includes the proposal submitted by the government in December last year. bill on amendments to the laws “On Civil Defense” and “On the Protection of the Population and Territories from Natural and Technogenic Emergencies”. The amendments give the government the authority to determine the procedure for the creation, reconstruction and maintenance of public warning systems in a state of constant readiness, in addition, the powers of regional authorities on this issue are specified.

In the meantime, the question of the order of participation in the special operation of the parliamentarians themselves remains open.

Deputies from the SRZP on Monday submitted to the Duma amendments to the law “On mobilization training and mobilization in the Russian Federation”, which proposed to cancel the deferment from conscription for senators and deputies, as well as to call in the course of partial mobilization, first of all, employees of law enforcement agencies. “I believe that a deferment for senators and deputies should be granted on a general basis. There shouldn’t be any favors.” explained in his Telegram channel, the leader of the SRZP Sergey Mironov. In addition, the Socialist-Revolutionaries advocated a significant expansion of the list of persons entitled to deferment from conscription during partial mobilization, including, in particular, students, school and university teachers, parents of three or more minor children, as well as relatives of those who died during military service. .

True, the SRHR initiative did not meet with understanding among other parliamentarians. For example, Senator Andrei Klishas is not without sarcasm commented her in her Telegram channel: “For a moment it seemed to me that the Duma might lose one of the party factions and the deputies of the SR decided to leave to serve, lay down their mandates and immediately go to the military registration and enlistment office, the law does not prohibit this.” The first deputy head of the Communist Party faction in the Duma, Nikolai Kolomeytsev, called this project “self-promotion”: “If the people elected a deputy, then he should work in the Duma.” Representatives of United Russia also considered this proposal unconstructive, since the complete abolition of the postponement would interfere with the work of the parliament. As a source in United Russia explained, the party, together with the Ministry of Defense, is completing the preparation and legal elaboration of a bill that will allow deputies and senators, without waiting for subpoenas, to voluntarily mobilize and go to the special operation zone. This will allow the chambers of parliament to work stably, which, as Kommersant’s interlocutor emphasizes, is especially important today, when the budget process is in full swing.

However, the remaining right to a delay does not prevent individual parliamentarians from participating in a special operation on their own initiative.

The other day, Secretary of the General Council of United Russia Andrey Turchak reported that two State Duma deputies from the party will soon go to the combat zone, and three are already there. No such information has yet been received from other parliamentary parties. As Dmitry Gusev, the first deputy head of the SRZP faction, explained to Kommersant, there are many more deputies in the United Russia faction. So far, the “self-mobilized” deputies are arranging their trips to the special operation zone as business trips and are not going to give up mandates, interlocutors in the Duma told Kommersant.

Maria Makutina, Andrey Vinokurov