The Duma invented a way to send soldiers to peacekeeping operations

On April 4, the Russian State Duma approved in the first reading a bill on the participation in peacekeeping operations of not only contract soldiers, but also conscripts. This was reported by Radio Liberty.

It is noted that the bill was prepared by the Ministry of Defense in February. If the draft is adopted into law, the forces participating in peacekeeping operations will be formed "on a voluntary basis" by contract soldiers and conscripts who have undergone special training.

Currently, Russian armed forces are involved in a peacekeeping mission in self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh (about two thousand soldiers and officers and hundreds of pieces of equipment), and Russian military with peacekeeping status are deployed in self-proclaimed Transnistria (440 military personnel). In Karabakh, Russian forces are deployed for five years under a trilateral agreement with Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Moldovan authorities, in turn, insist on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria.

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia continued to participate in some UN peacekeeping missions as a successor state. There is also a CSTO peacekeeping contingent.

The Russian authorities promised that conscripts would not be involved in the so-called special military operation, as official Moscow calls the war in Ukraine. The Russian authorities do not call this "operation" a peacekeeping operation.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 05/04/2023