MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The State Duma defense committee will defend social privileges of servicemen and their family members, committee member Sergei Grigoryev said on Thursday.
"The committee has come up with a package of proposals to the next reading of the bill on replacing privileges with monetary compensations. In particular, we propose restoring servicemen's right to get money for procuring essential goods totaling up to 12 monthly salaries," Grigoryev told Interfax- Military News Agency.
"The government suggests omitting the fixed amount of money, replacing it with a well-oiled term "in the amount determined by the government." Nobody can tell right now what the amount will be. I do not rule out that it will be lower than 12 monthly salaries. Thus, the level of social guarantees to which servicemen are entitled will decline. The Constitution forbids doing this, because it says that laws worsening the citizens' situation cannot be passed in Russia," Grigoryev said.
"We are going to preserve the right of servicemen's families to get free medical aid in military medical establishments. We believe that the government's proposal to deprive family members of the right to get free medical aid considerably reduces their social security level. In addition, we believe that there are no financial grounds for depriving servicemen's families of the right they are actively using today," he said.
The committee also insists of preserving the right of servicemen to get a 75-percent discount for sanatorium treatment and of their family members to get a 50-percent discount. The government suggests replacing this benefit with a compensation of a not yet fixed amount.
Lawmakers believe that preservation of servicemen's right to discounts for sanatorium treatment helps them restore damaged health and contributes to reducing the number of servicemen quitting the army due to poor health or family reasons such as family member illness. At the same time, the monetary compensation can be spent on other issues, not health restoration, Grigoryev noted.