The Russian National Guard will be allowed to have its own volunteer units

A package of bills will be submitted to the State Duma that will allow the Russian Guard to include volunteer formations. The head of the Duma Committee on Information Policy and ex-adviser to the head of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, Alexander Khinshtein (United Russia), announced this in his Telegram channel. As his representative clarified to Vedomosti, the bill will be submitted to the lower house of parliament before lunch on September 22. He clarifies that several deputies and senators are listed as the authors of the documents.

“We propose to extend to the Russian Guard all those powers and mechanisms that are already established by law for the Ministry of Defense,” Khinshtein wrote. “Our initiatives are due to the active participation of the Russian Guard in a special military operation and the implementation of tasks similar to the functionality of the Ministry of Defense.” The Russian Guard, in his words, “not only conduct combat operations, ensure martial law in new regions and the legal regime of the counter-terrorism operation (CTO), but also assist in protecting the state border, participate in territorial defense, and in the fight against terrorism.”

According to the bill, volunteer formations will be able to be created by the Russian Guard by decision of the president, Khinshtein explained. “They can be involved in carrying out individual tasks in the field of defense during the period of mobilization, martial law, in conditions of armed conflict, during counter-terrorism operations, etc.,” the deputy wrote. All legal and social guarantees for volunteers of the Ministry of Defense will also apply to volunteers of the Russian Guard, suggests Khinshtein.

The deputy separately emphasized that this initiative “has nothing in common” with the rumors that have appeared recently about the transfer of former units of the Wagner PMC to the Russian Guard. We are probably talking about a post on Telegram by the former adviser to the speaker of the State Duma, journalist Anastasia Kashevarova.

“According to my information, the Wagner PMC itself, which has not yet been completely eroded, may become a unit of the Russian Guard. Both the name and all the symbols and flag of Wagner are officially recognized. Contracts will be concluded with the Russian Guard, also [гарантируется] full social package: payments, “veteran”, etc. As a unit of the Russian Guard, “Wagner” will continue to operate in Belarus, African countries and, most importantly, will return to a special military operation,” she wrote.

Khinshtein, in turn, said that the bills do not provide for the possibility of including any organizations in the volunteer formations of the Russian Guard; it is proposed to conclude contracts exclusively with citizens. However, as President Vladimir Putin emphasized earlier, such an organization as the Wagner PMC never legally existed.

“This is a separate issue related to the real legalization [ЧВК], Putin said on July 13. – But this is an issue that should be discussed in the State Duma, in the government. Not an easy question.”

As a source close to the PMC told Vedomosti, the organization will not have to join the Russian Guard: individual citizens who are members of the PMC will join new volunteer formations. Another interlocutor confirmed that law enforcement agencies are engaged in the employment of former employees of PMCs and other volunteer formations.

This is not about legalizing PMCs, but about equating the Russian Guard with the Ministry of Defense in terms of the ability to work with volunteers, says military expert Yuri Lyamin. He recalled that now all volunteer units in the special operation zone must have contracts with the military department.

“In this case, we are not talking about transferring all PMCs to the Russian Guard, but about ensuring that the Russian Guard has the opportunity to create and conclude contracts with those volunteer formations (including PMCs) that, for one reason or another, do not want to enter into contracts with others security forces, etc.,” says Lyamin.

Leaving the former Wagner units out of business would be irrational, notes military expert Yuri Knutov. Wagnerites should be on the staff of the Russian Guard and receive standard allowances, and not stand out from other fighters in uniform, the expert argues.

In August, the President signed a law allowing the Russian Guard to have military equipment, including heavy equipment.

Vedomosti sent a request to the Russian Guard.