MOSCOW. Dec 31 (Interfax-AVN) - Young men in alternative civil service will be involved in the search for and burial of the remains of soldiers killed in WWII, a competent source in the Pobeda organizing committee, which initiates the program, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"I am speaking about setting up three special battalions that will be stationed in the country's western regions where battles with fascists were the fiercest. As of today, passports have been issued to nearly 29,500 military graves in these regions. They contain the remains of over seven million people, including 2,500 unknown soldiers," the source said.
The battalions are expected to operate in the Moscow and Leningrad military districts, he went on. "The Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and several other regions are the places where mass graves of our soldiers are still being found. This is where our alternative servicemen must work," he said.
Speaking about management issues, the source said that details of the unit's establishment and specific stationing areas are being worked on.
"I can say for sure that the above-mentioned units will be supervised by two agencies - the Russian Defense Ministry and Labor Ministry. Everything will eventually depend on how willing young men of the conscription age will be to opt for alternative civil service," he said.
The federal law "Concerning Alternative Civil Service" takes effect on January 1, 2004. The Labor and Defense Ministries took time before the law's effectuation to work out a set of legal acts related to arranging alternative civil service on the Russian territory.