MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported the idea of applying the current procedures for granting the status of disabled combat veteran to former employees of private military companies.
Anna Tsivileva, the head of the Defenders of the Fatherland foundation, said in a meeting with the president that there "is a problem with granting the status of disabled combat veteran to defenders of Donbass and former employees of private military companies."
People in these categories do not go through military medical commissions, and they receive the status of people with disabilities caused by general illnesses, Tsivileva said.
"In addition to the fact that this is unfair, it also affects the volume and level of social payments. You issued an order on the defenders of Donbass in February, and the Russian government has now drafted a relevant resolution, but it does not cover employees of private military companies. We would like to ask you to include this category in your order as well," Tsivileva said.
"We will definitely do so, it definitely needs to be done," Putin said.
Tsivileva also said the organization she heads has sent the Russian Defense Ministry 19,000 packages of documents from members of private military companies applying for disabled combat veteran status.
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