The State Duma promised to fix the status of guarding the border with Ukraine by the end of the session

The State Duma will try until the end of the session to secure the status of a participant in hostilities for everyone who repels enemy attacks on the border with Ukraine, including conscripts. This was announced by the chairman of the Duma Committee on Defense Andrey Kartapolov, transmits TASS.

“A conscript soldier is the same serviceman of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from a legal point of view. <...> [Если солдат-срочник] somehow ended up in an area where he has to fight, then he should become a war veteran,” the deputy said.

Kartapolov clarified that now this issue is being dealt with “from a legislative point of view.” He added that the State Duma “will strive” to complete the work before the end of the spring session (it will end at the end of July).

After the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly stressed that they would not send conscripts to the combat zone. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the same thing. In November 2022, Kartapolov in an interview with Vedomosti declaredthat recruits can be sent to serve in the regions adjacent to the combat zone, for example, in the Belgorod and Kursk regions or in the Black Sea Fleet based in Sevastopol.

At the same time, conscripts were involved in repelling an attack by a sabotage and reconnaissance group (DRG) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Belgorod region. The day before, June 13, at a meeting with military SPIEF Putin noted the courage of the conscripts. Referring to a conversation with the battalion commander, the head of state said that among the conscripts “no one flinched.” The President once again stressed that conscripts are not sent to the special operation zone, but defending the country is their “sacred duty to the Motherland.”