The Russian Ministry of Defense has toughened rules of hiring foreign nationals for a contract-based military service. Now they will be tested for extremism.
Beginning next year, competent bodies will carefully study bio data of foreign nationals wanting to serve in the Russian army on a contract basis, and only after these bodies give the go-ahead, they will be able to start paperwork, according to Izvestiya.
Experts reportedly believe that this procedure will help weed out unreliable candidates who might be associated with terrorists or extremists.
Vetting of candidates is expected to take from a month to half a year.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Ministry of Defense consider that this will lead to the fact that some potential candidates will not wait for the vetting results and the army will lose them.
Recall, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree enabling foreign nationals to serve in the Russian military on January 2, 2015.
The decree allows foreigners aged 18-30 to sign up for five-year service contracts with the Russian armed forces, Interior Ministry troops, or the state firefighting service.
The foreign nationals are eligible only if they speak Russian and have no criminal record.
Russia has large military bases in Armenia and Tajikistan and a military presence in other parts of the former Soviet Union, including Transdniester in Moldova and the Moscow-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia.
