According to the law or not so much? In the regions bordering Ukraine, citizens are handed out weapons

IRINA MISHINA

The video, which is distributed in the networks, shows how the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov hands small arms to the fighters. He says that in cooperation with the Rosgvardiya and the Ministry of Defense, shooting practice will be conducted at the training grounds.

«Together with the regional Duma, we collected the amount of equipment necessary for self—defense, the regional Duma responded, the deputies would like to hand over UAZs, weapons, equipment for defense,» the governor says.

In another video, men are called by their last names and handed self-loading carbines.

«And what to do? — says Belgorod journalist Oksana Artemyeva. — Although there have been no drones in recent days, the border zones are being shelled with shells every day. The volume of destruction is very large.»

«There are already several thousand people in the Belgorod theroboron,» says Yevgeny Gritskov, editor—in-chief of <url>. — The exact number cannot be disclosed, so I will limit myself to these data. But this is a huge number of people. Different people. Many with military experience, called one fighter from «Akhmat», who retired, wanted to join our detachments. Why do ordinary people arm themselves? Question to the Ministry of Defense. Conscripts on the border under constant shelling, shooting at Shebekino. They hit military positions, but hit residential areas. 6 districts were shelled yesterday.»

It is known, however, that the Law 61-FZ «On Defense» states: «Territorial defense is conducted on the territory of the Russian Federation or in its individual localities where martial law has been imposed, taking into account the measures applied during the period of martial law.»

As is known, martial law has not been introduced on the territory of the Belgorod Region. The governor of the Belgorod Region, Gladkov, complained a little earlier that there was no legal mechanism for creating armed detachments. But suddenly this legal basis was found.

«Yes, the introduction of territorial defense is in no way consistent with the law, because no one has introduced martial law. That is why the detachments are called „Regional Self-Defense“. In this form, it is possible,» explained the editor—in-chief of <url> Evgeny Gritskov.

Another tricky name has also been invented. The public organization «Consolidated Operational Unit for the Promotion of Law and Order» was created on the initiative of the Governor of the Belgorod region back in 2022. There are 2,092 people in eight self-defense battalions, approximately 360 in each. They are led by people with combat experience from among pensioners of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense, FSB, FSIN, Rosgvardiya. The main tasks of the detachment are to control hidden approaches to particularly important objects, participate in the search for border violators, and provide emergency assistance to victims. As the Belgorod journalists informed us, women and girls are also enrolled in these detachments.

One of the videos clearly shows how men are handed out weapons, calling it a «self-loading carbine». To what extent does this form of armament comply with the Law on the Circulation of Weapons?

«Carbines are essentially a hunting rifle, carrying it does not contradict the law in any way. It is impossible to place the military at each pillar. People in the combat area should have the right to self—defense,» says FSB Major General Alexander Mikhailov. — Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk regions are high—risk zones. How can people protect themselves there? After all, we remember how in Soviet collective farms every chairman had a gun, why should we now deny people the right to defend themselves, their families?».

«Now the fighting is underway in the regions bordering Ukraine. Apparently, we cannot „close“ such a large territory by the military. The armed forces are obviously not coping. The acquisition of weapons for self—defense, rifled weapons is normal, the law allows it,» says Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Candidate of Law Mansur Yusupov.

Seven battalions have already been created from regional defense fighters on the border with Ukraine. They are allegedly training in the region since November 2022. Their legalization has recently been taken care of in The State Duma. On July 25, parliamentarians adopted a bill in the third reading, amendments to which will allow the heads of Russian regions to create their own military companies, and then transfer military weapons to them.

According to RIA Novosti, the Kursk Defense Ministry will be given weapons after the Belgorod one. The first batch has already arrived at the base, Governor Roman Starovoit said. In the near future, the number of weapons will be 300 units. The «Voluntary People's Squad» in the Kursk region, according to Starovoit, helps the armed forces, Rosgvardiya, police and border guards. The governor also posted a video clip showing the distribution of machine guns to people in military uniform.