CITIZENS OF FOREIGN STATES HAVE THE RIGHT TO SERVE IN THE RUSSIAN MILITARY

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.03.2009 00:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Moscow newspaper "Trud" has reported that
Col. Gen. Nikolay Pankov, the deputy defense minister, had recently
pointed out that under Russian law, "the citizens of foreign states
have the right to serve in the Russian military."

The paper added that its sources in the ministry have indicated that
"there will not be any propaganda campaign" to recruit them, "but
if their numbers increase" – and the number of foreigners serving in
the Russian army now is only 308 – "this will only be welcomed"

Foreigners were given the chance to serve in the Russian military by
a series of amendments in 2004 to the country’s basic law on military
service. That law does not specify just which foreign citizens could
do so – "theoretically," the paper said, "an Australian aborigine"
could serve. But "Trud" suggested that "unofficially" military offices
have been given "an order to take for service only citizens of the
CIS and the Baltic countries."

Those now serving include citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine,
Kazakhstan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia, plus two from Latvia,
two from Germany, and one from Israel. Despite this diversity in
citizenship, two-thirds of the total are ethnic Russians, military
officials told the paper.