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Moscow to Allow Foreigners into Russian Army
Russian Army soldiers on parade.
MOSCOW (The Moscow Times)--President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree
authorizing foreign citizens to serve in the Russian army and Interior
Ministry troops, according to a document published on the Kremlin
website.
Foreigners aged 18 to 30 can enlist in the military under five-year
contracts on condition they speak Russian and have no criminal record,
according to the decree, which was signed on Jan. 2 and published on
the Kremlin website this past weekend.
The decree will enable scores of young men from former Soviet
republics in Central Asia and other regions who have been flocking to
Russia as migrant laborers to instead sign up as soldiers -- likely
earning higher salaries and receiving military benefits.
Russia has military bases in Tajikistan and Armenia, and units in the
breakaway regions of Transdnestr in Moldova as well as Abkhazia and
South Ossetia in Georgia.
The decree also allows foreigners to serve in the national
firefighting service or as Interior Ministry troops -- a force that is
deployed within the country to ensure order and combat insurgencies or
riots.
Russia has lately been striving to increase the number of professional
soldiers in the military as part of Putin's wide-ranging military
modernization and rearmament program.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in 2013 that half of the Russian
military -- or 500,000 soldiers -- would be serving on professional
contracts by 2022, RIA Novosti reported. The army is still primarily
made up of conscript soldiers in a holdover from the Soviet era.
http://asbarez.com/130465/moscow-to-allow-foreigners-into-russian-army/
Russian Army soldiers on parade.
MOSCOW (The Moscow Times)--President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree
authorizing foreign citizens to serve in the Russian army and Interior
Ministry troops, according to a document published on the Kremlin
website.
Foreigners aged 18 to 30 can enlist in the military under five-year
contracts on condition they speak Russian and have no criminal record,
according to the decree, which was signed on Jan. 2 and published on
the Kremlin website this past weekend.
The decree will enable scores of young men from former Soviet
republics in Central Asia and other regions who have been flocking to
Russia as migrant laborers to instead sign up as soldiers -- likely
earning higher salaries and receiving military benefits.
Russia has military bases in Tajikistan and Armenia, and units in the
breakaway regions of Transdnestr in Moldova as well as Abkhazia and
South Ossetia in Georgia.
The decree also allows foreigners to serve in the national
firefighting service or as Interior Ministry troops -- a force that is
deployed within the country to ensure order and combat insurgencies or
riots.
Russia has lately been striving to increase the number of professional
soldiers in the military as part of Putin's wide-ranging military
modernization and rearmament program.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in 2013 that half of the Russian
military -- or 500,000 soldiers -- would be serving on professional
contracts by 2022, RIA Novosti reported. The army is still primarily
made up of conscript soldiers in a holdover from the Soviet era.
http://asbarez.com/130465/moscow-to-allow-foreigners-into-russian-army/