Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 3 – In a move that
reflects both Russia’s demographic problems and Moscow’s desire to restore an
imperial relationship with its neighbors, Vladimir Putin yesterday issued a
decree that will allow citizens of foreign countries who know Russian to serve
in the Russian military.
According to Putin’s decree, any
citizen of another country above the age of 18 can be incuded in the ranks of
the Russian army on a contract basis and can be used in military operations (mk.ru/politics/2015/01/03/putin-razreshil-inostrancam-sluzhit-v-rossiyskoy-armii-rekrut-dolzhen-znat-russkiy-yazyk.html).
The decree which went into force at
the time of its signing specifies that such a foreign citizen can apply either
to the military commissariat where he is registered or “directly into a
military unit,” the latter arrangement opening the way to potential abuses of
the kind that the Russian Soldiers Mothers Committees have reported on in the
past.
The applicant must know Russian, the
decree says, and cannot be charged with a crime or be at risk of incarceration
if a judgment is rendered against him, presumably a protection for the Russian
military against the possibility that individuals might join up and then be
subject to recall by their governments in such instances.
The new arrangement will help the
Russian military fill its manpower requirements in the coming years when the
number of Russians in the prime draft age cohort is projected to decline, and
it will allow Moscow to begin to include men from allied countries within its
own army, setting the stage for new moves toward greater integration of the
post-Soviet space.
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Despite those compelling reasons,
Putin’s decision to issue the decree now is somewhat surprising. Two months
ago, a proposal along many of the same lines by Duma deputy Roman Khudyakov
of Zhirinovsky’s LDPR party was sharply criticized by other deputies and
experts
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