Duma to mull war veteran status for S Ossetia conflict participants

ITAR-TASS
December 1, 2009

The State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament on Wednesday, December 2, will consider the first reading of the bill giving the war veteran status to participants in the August 2008 conflict in South Ossetia, house speaker Boris Gryzlov told reporters on Tuesday.

The document was brought forward by a group of lawmakers, led by chairman of the State Duma committee for veterans Nikolai Kovalyov, on November 26.

It aims to provide social support for "the servicemen and personnel of federal executive bodies who took part in fulfilling the tasks to ensure the safety of and protect the Russian citizens living in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in the course of the armed conflict there in the period from August 8 to August 22, 2008."

According to Gryzlov, of the 21,000 people involved in the events to ensure the safety of the Russian citizens in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, 14,7000 (i.e. some 70 percent) have no war veteran status.

Under the Russian legislation, war veterans only pay half the rent, and have priority in entering housing or other cooperatives and fixed line telephone installation, and enjoy other incentives, such as monthly allowances of 1,735 roubles.

The issue of the status for participants in the armed conflict in the Caucasus was raised at a November meeting between Russian President Dmitry \Medvedev and rights activists. The head of state promised then that "this theme will be closed in the near future."