Shoigu: We need civil defense in peace and wartime

Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu believes that a new social-oriented legal base in the civil defense spheres has been formed in Russia.

"Basic legislative acts aimed to provide people's security were adopted for the first time in Russia's history," the minister said at the All-Russia Civil Defense Conference, which is held at a rescue center in Noginsk.

Among these documents are "The fundamentals of single state policy in the civil defense sphere until 2010" adopted in the beginning of 2004 and the new statement on the new state system to prevent and handle emergencies, Sergei Shoigu said.

All in all, about 1,500 legislative acts and other normative documents regulating civil defense activities have been recently adopted in Russia at different levels.

Speaking about the tasks of civil defense in the present conditions, characterized by local threats and growing number of emergencies, the Emergencies Minister said that civil defense is an important instrument of people's protection in peace and war time.

"Civil defense as a national security part should be ready to solve any problems," the minister concluded.