RBC: The Ministry of Defense proposed to allow conscripts to participate in peacekeeping missions

The Russian Ministry of Defense has developed a bill expanding the categories of military personnel who can participate in peacekeeping missions on a voluntary basis, figured out RBC.

The document proposes to allow the recruitment of military personnel of peacekeeping missions “on a voluntary basis by military personnel who have undergone preliminary special training.” All military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces, including conscripts, fall under this wording. Now the peacekeeping contingent can be formed only from contract soldiers who have undergone special training.

At the same time, it is proposed to extend the law to legal relations that have arisen since August 15, 2022. The bill has been agreed, in particular, with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the FSB, the FSO, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Russian Guard, and others.

According to a source in the State Duma, conscripts will have to serve at least six months before participating in peacekeeping missions. Work on this bill began more than a year ago, he stressed, adding that the measure would facilitate the rotation of peacekeeping personnel.

Now Russian peacekeepers are in Transnistria, where Russia introduced them in 1992, intervening in the conflict between Chisinau and Tiraspol. In addition, in November 2020, the Russian peacekeeping contingent appeared in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of trilateral agreements between the leaders of the Russian Federation, Armenia and Azerbaijan.