The law of assistance: in Russia they want to consolidate their volunteer status
In Russia, the status of a military volunteer may be introduced at the level of the law. The draft, developed by the deputies of the SRZP, will be submitted to the State Duma on October 1, Izvestia found out. It will create a universal system of social protection for volunteers who send humanitarian aid and weapons to the free zone. Today, a significant part of independent volunteers are not entitled to social security payments in case of death or injury, volunteer organizations told Izvestia. At the same time, excessive centralization may, on the contrary, interfere with the operational assistance to the participants of the special operation, the volunteers note. At the same time, United Russia defended the existing system where volunteers can register and receive compensation.About why the State Duma developed such an initiative and what the volunteers themselves think about it, see the Izvestia article.
Why do they want to introduce volunteer status in the State Duma?
In Russia, the official status of a military volunteer, who is engaged in sending humanitarian aid and weapons to the free zone, can be fixed in law. Such a bill, developed by the deputies of Fair Russia — Patriots For Truth, will be submitted to the State Duma on October 1 (Izvestia has the text of the document). It is aimed at creating a unified system for the protection of volunteers and ensuring an equal level of social assistance to all those who help the military and civilians in the free zone, the leader of the SRZP, Sergei Mironov, told Izvestia.
A volunteer with boards on one of the streets in Rubezhny, LPR
— We propose to create a universal system of social protection for volunteers. To do this, we propose to supplement the law "On Charitable Activities and Volunteerism" with a new target provision. We suggest that providing gratuitous assistance to military personnel and civilians in areas of armed conflict and special military operations be considered one of the priorities of charitable activities. In this case, a separate status for military volunteers will appear in the legislation," the parliamentarian explained.
Today, according to the law on volunteers in new regions from 2022, in case of their death, relatives can receive a payment of 5 million rubles, and in case of injury — up to 3 million. At the same time, in order to qualify for insurance compensation, an official status of a participant in the volunteer corps formed by the state is required through the Dobro.rf platform. To do this, it is necessary to undergo mandatory registration in the system and, for successful selection, consent to comply with a number of rules, according to the explanatory note to the draft law.
During a series of meetings of deputies with volunteer organizations in the State Duma, such a bureaucratic system was seriously criticized. The volunteers said that embedding in it may limit the rapid delivery of humanitarian supplies and weapons to the area of the SVR.
— For many, if not for the majority of volunteers, the possibility of freedom of action is more important than some obscure benefits, which are most likely still unlikely, - Alexander Lyubimov, head of the Coordination Center for Assistance to Novorossiya, told Izvestia.
A volunteer during the collection of humanitarian aid kits at one of the schools
According to him, the state volunteer movement "grows from above," while dozens of other grassroots organizations whose members do not have official volunteer status help the SVO fighters. "We are just civilians," Lyubimov said. Thus, a large number of volunteers who independently deliver humanitarian aid, risking their health and lives, find themselves outside the insurance payment system.
The deputies want to legislate the status of a military volunteer, which will allow not only volunteers registered in the unified information system to apply for social guarantees, but also those who, according to the established procedure, were able to confirm their volunteer assistance. "The procedure for such confirmation will be established by the government of the Russian Federation, which ensures regulatory flexibility and takes into account the specifics of the activities of independent volunteers," the explanatory note says. Izvestia sent a request to the Russian government to clarify how such a confirmation mechanism could work. The adoption of the initiative will not require additional funds from the state budget, the text of the bill says. At the same time, the amounts of payments to volunteers are assumed to be as follows: in case of death — 5 million rubles, in case of injury — up to 3 million, and in case of injury resulting in disability — 4 million.
What are military volunteers afraid of?
As already mentioned, in addition to assistance provided from above, dozens of associations have been working in Russia that have been sending humanitarian aid and weapons since 2014. This is a network of independent organizations that have direct contacts and communication channels with military units. They deliver the cargo without the help of government agencies.
A volunteer makes a machine gun rack on the territory of the national experimental production base in Novorossiysk
Independent volunteers would not mind getting an official status, which could help resolve issues with the traffic police more quickly when delivering weapons directly to their own area, says Alexander Lyubimov, head of the KTSPN. According to him, the volunteers would also be happy if they had the right to receive payments for injury or death. "If you got hurt or died at the call of your soul, performing some tasks, so that you would be treated accurately and buried with dignity," he said.
At the same time, such steps, as well as the desire for regulation, should not prevent the volunteer movement from doing its main business, Lyubimov added.
— Today there are direct, more operational communication channels, and some kind of regulation may, on the contrary, interfere with something. In more than 11 years of this work, I have come across at least 30 attempts to centralize humanitarian aid at the republic level. It usually ended in failure and had no success," says the head of the KTSPN.
In his opinion, ideally, the new system should work in this way: a person could easily receive the status of a military volunteer, but he would not oblige him to do anything, except to show the results of his work. "And if something happened to this person near the front line when he was performing some tasks, then he could claim something more than an ordinary citizen of the Russian Federation," adds Alexander Lyubimov, referring to insurance payments for injury and death.
Loading of humanitarian aid for participants of the special military operation in the DPR in Kazan
A similar idea to introduce the official status of a volunteer was previously discussed in the State Duma. So, a similar initiative was submitted for consideration by LDPR deputies.
— The amendments proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party are not taken out of thin air, we have prepared them together with volunteers and representatives of organizations with which the party has been in touch since the beginning of the special operation, supporting their activities, — said the leader of the faction Leonid Slutsky.
At the same time, the LDPR bill was rejected by the State Duma due to the fact that there was no government opinion on it. As for the SRWP initiative, the party will send it to the Cabinet of Ministers at the same time as it is submitted to Parliament on October 1.
At the same time, United Russia defended the current Dobro system.Russia," noting that it continues to improve. With it, you can easily apply for humanitarian aid, the head of the Dobro platform told Izvestia.Russian Federation" and the head of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy, Artyom Metelev.
— Everything is being done very quickly, aimed at ensuring the safety of people, as information about humanitarian missions is received by the regional operational headquarters and recorded in law enforcement agencies. The mechanism has already been tested for three years, almost 700 missions have been organized on it," the deputy said.
He added that in the future it is planned to amend the law to simplify the procedure for volunteer organizations.
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