The Ministry of Defense proposed to attract conscripts to participate in peacekeeping missions

We are talking about making adjustments to Federal Law No. 93 "On the procedure for the provision by the Russian Federation of military and civilian personnel to participate in activities to maintain or restore international peace and security".

Previously, the legislation allowed to send only contractors to such missions who had necessarily undergone preliminary special training. Now the military department wants to expand the number of possible categories at the expense of conscripts.

The explanations to the document indicate that conscript soldiers serving on conscription are planned to be involved in international special operations "on a voluntary basis".

According to RBC, the draft law proposed by the Ministry of Defense has already been supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB, Ministry of Emergency Situations, FSO, SVR, Rosgvardiya and other departments. The document has already received the conclusion of the Ministry of Justice and a number of other departments.

If the law is adopted, it may come into force "retroactively" — as early as August 15 last year. The initiators explain the need to attract conscripts to foreign military campaigns in order to promptly "expand the possibilities for attracting military personnel sent to participate in peacekeeping activities". The Ministry of Defense indicates that before being sent abroad, conscripts will have to serve for six months and undergo the necessary training.

It should be noted that now the Russian military are involved in two foreign peacekeeping missions. They are located on the territory of Transnistria (441 people) and in Nagorno-Karabakh (1960 military personnel with 470 pieces of equipment at their disposal). In January 2022, Russian peacekeepers were also sent to suppress mass riots in Kazakhstan as part of the CSTO forces. A small number of Russians were also involved in UN peacekeeping missions. Basically, it was about the presence of observers.