MOSCOW, December 13 (AVN) - The defence committee of the State Duma lower house of parliament met on Wednesday to consider the bill "Concerning the Status of Combat Operation Participants," committee chairman Andrei Nikolayev told the Military News Agency.
The committee submitted the bill to the Duma Council, asking it to send the document to interested ministries and agencies for amendments and corrections, Nikolayev said. Deputy chairman of the committee Alexei Arbatov was charged to supervise the work on the bill.
The status of people who took part in World War II and other wars that involved the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation is defined by federal bills "Concerning Veterans", "Concerning the Status of Servicemen", "Concerning Military Duty', "Concerning Defence" and others. However the laws sometimes contradict each other, Nikolayev said.
Besides, many participants of hostilities (for instance those who have been involved in the anti-guerrilla operation in Chechnya) are entitled to additional benefits and bonuses in accordance with presidential decrees and government resolutions that can be cancelled any minute, the lawmaker stressed. That is why it is expedient to have a single federal law regulating the status of combat operations participants, he said. Under it, the state would assume certain financial and moral obligations.
The bill consists of six chapters and 16 articles. It gives definitions of such terms as "combat operation participant" and "disabled as a result of hostilities," lists terms on which recruits can be sent to the area in the state of emergency or to the combat zone, and deals with social protection of combat operation participants.