State Duma allows foreigners to serve in Russian army troops on contract basis

At its plenary session on Friday, the State Duma of Russia adopted in the first and third (final) reading the presidential amendments to a number of the laws aimed at the creation of legal fundamentals for military service of foreign citizens on a contract basis in the Russian Federation.

With the necessary 226 votes for adopting this law, 400 deputies of the Lower House supported it, nobody was against it or abstained.

The questions concerning the military service of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation, as well as their status and the temporary stay in the Russian Federation are proposed to be fixed in the laws "On Military Duty and Military Service," "On the Status of the Serviceman" and "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation." Presenting the draft law to the deputies, the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian President in the State Duma, Alexander Kotenkov, noted that this document was submitted to the State Duma by the head of the state Vladimir Putin simultaneously with the amendments to the law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation." According to these amendments, the citizens of the former republics of the Soviet Union who served in the Russian troops on a contract basis for at least three years can receive Russian citizenship in a simplified procedure.

The introduction of the given amendments and additions will not involve additional expenditures of the Federal Budget, added Kotenkov.