Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that his ministry has prepared a law that would allow CIS residents to serve in the Russian armed forces. "We propose that the State Duma adopt a law according to which not only Russians but also citizens of other CIS states could perform military service in the armed forces of the Russian Federation," the minister said. According to him, the initiative is primarily linked to plans to transfer the recruitment of the Russian army to a contract basis. However, Ivanov clarified that this is not about creating a foreign legion - there will be no separate units composed of non-Russian citizens in the army.
Defense Ministry representatives intend to submit their proposals to the State Duma in the form of amendments to the law "On the Status of Servicemen". The changes provide for contract service for CIS citizens, provided that they join the Russian army voluntarily and meet various criteria. As Ivanov put it, the selection of volunteers will be very strict. But at the same time, the law will allow contract servicemen from the CIS to become Russian citizens almost twice as fast as other foreigners - after three years instead of the usual five.
In this connection, the Russian defense ministry is currently actively working on legal norms. The State Duma will most likely support Ivanov's proposal, seeing in it a way to solve the demographic crisis in Russia. According to Gennady Gudkov, a member of the Duma committee on security, recruiting young, able-bodied residents of CIS countries into the Russian army would make it possible to legally compensate for the loss of population. "It is necessary to attract foreigners to Russia through service in the armed forces so that, after serving, they remain in the country. Within the framework of migration processes, this initiative is quite justified, although it is obvious that when recruiting citizens of other states into the army, the intelligence services will not be bored," he said. True, Gudkov believes that the state will not be able to pay such contract servicemen: "The experiment in the Pskov division showed that it is not yet realistic to transfer even one military unit to a contract basis."
It is clear that the transition to a contract army is complicated not only by the lack of finances, but also by the lack of appropriate legislation. And therefore the amendment allowing CIS citizens to serve in the ranks of the Russian army can be considered the "first swallow". According to the Defense Ministry's plan, a federal target program will be developed by the end of this year, which will specify the timeframes for each formation and unit to begin the transition to a contract basis and how much funding is needed. Preparation for the process should be completed in 2004, and a contract army will appear, according to the military's plans, by 2011.