About a day before the Hebdo Charlie terrorism incident monopolized international attention, an odd report appeared on the BBC that Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree legalizing the employment of non-Russian citizens as “contract” (i.e, professional, not conscript) troops in the Russian armed forces. Apparently about 300 such non-citizens are already serving; the Jan. 2 decree legalizes their status and makes it possible to employ more on a regular basis.
The decree appears to be aimed mainly at recruitment of citizens of the former Soviet Republics in Central Asia (‘the Stans’) but nothing in it limits the scope. The …read more
Source: Ottawa Citizen
