Kursk authorities announced the preparation of people’s squads at the sites of PMC “Wagner”

Participants of voluntary people’s squads in the Kursk region will be trained at the sites of PMC “Wagner”, declared in an interview with the TV channel of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, the governor of the region Roman Starovoit.

According to him, even at the beginning of the special operation, the residents themselves took the initiative to assist the border region in patrolling and protecting critical infrastructure facilities. As a result, more than 2,000 people were recruited into the people’s voluntary squads.

Among these people are former servicemen, including those who went through hot spots, but for one reason or another could not leave for the special operation zone, Starovoit explained.

“Now the situation is developing in such a way that the level of threat is growing, it was decided to expand the powers of these squads so that these same people can provide assistance in extinguishing fires, assistance in eliminating the consequences of natural disasters. And, of course, this squad could be the backbone of the territorial defense forces in the event (if, God forbid, this happens) the introduction of martial law, ”said the governor.

He also clarified that the volunteers are instructed under the guidance of the servicemen of the National Guard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense. “We also agreed that guys are being trained at the Wagner PMC site, and we assume that there will be about 6,000 of them in total,” the governor said.

Members of the squads will be paid monetary compensation, but Starovoit calls the money “small” – from 15,000 rubles. depending on the assigned tasks.

The founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, confirmed in early November that his military company was creating militia training centers in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. He stated that he himself would finance these training centers, support from the federal and regional budgets of PMCs would not be required. According to the businessman, local residents know their territories better and are able to fight sabotage and reconnaissance groups and “take the first blow if necessary.”