A Russian government commission on legislative activity has approved a bill that would allow personnel in the Emergency Situations Ministry’s rescue military units to use force and firearms, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported, citing sources and the text of the document.
Under the bill, firearms could be used to stop attempts to seize vehicles or military equipment, and to protect service members, Federal Fire Service personnel, and federal government employees from attacks on their life or health.
Service members would be required to warn before using a weapon and give people time to comply with their demands, except when repelling an attack involving combat vehicles or in certain other cases, when they could act without warning.
State Duma deputy Anatoly Vyborny, one of the bill’s co-authors, said the need to protect Emergency Situations Ministry personnel could arise during demining operations or while delivering humanitarian aid to residents of front-line areas.
The commission approved the bill on condition it undergo further revisions, Vedomosti reported. The government wants clarification on exactly whom Emergency Situations Ministry service members would protect, which facilities and vehicles would be placed under guard, and which ministry equipment would be covered.
Russian lawmakers introduced a bill in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, in early July that would send conscripts doing mandatory military service to military units of the Federal Fire Service of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry. The bill would also expand those units’ authority to populated areas and organizations; currently, they can operate only in closed and federal territories and at especially important, restricted-access facilities.
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