MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) - Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and a deputy chairman of the State Duma, has insisted that the Defense Ministry classify all personal data of military personnel who have served on sites of armed conflicts.
The ministry should turn down requests for such data from any other government agency, Zhirinovsky proposed in a letter to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.
"The reason for the appeal was electronic media reports that the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic had asked the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the personal data of Russian military personnel who had served in Chechnya during the operations to restore constitutional order in 1994-1996," the LDPR said in a statement on Thursday.
Information on persons who have collaborated or are collaborating secretly with intelligence, counterintelligence or criminal investigation services must be classified under the law "On State Secrets."
"I believe that the list enshrined in this law of the Russian Federation provides inadequate guarantees of security for military personnel and civilians and of their protection from possible attempts on their lives and health by former or current terrorists, who would be able to use inquiries by official state authorities for personal revenge," Zhirinovsky said in his letter to Serdyukov.