Caring for veterans must be systemic!
Today, in her speech at the All-Russian Coordination Council of Commissioners for Human Rights in the Subjects of the Russian Federation on the topic: "Protection of the Rights of Participants in a Special Military Operation and Veterans of Combat Actions," she emphasized that care for veterans must be systemic.
Despite the measures already in place, there is a need to improve them and adapt them to current conditions. For example, certain provisions of the Federal Law "On Veterans," adopted in 1995, have lost their relevance.
One of the significant issues that combat veterans regularly address to me is requests to provide compensation for utility costs for the veterans themselves. I believe that such a support measure would be fair and necessary.
I also drew attention to the situation with the special military operation participants who served in the "Storm Z" and private military company "Wagner" units. Today, they are not included in the list of persons entitled to the status of a combat veteran, and accordingly do not have the right to receive federal and regional social support measures.
I also touched upon the topic of working with the families of military personnel who are missing in action or captured. In 2024, I received 257 such requests, this year - more than 100. We have developed clear algorithms for actions to search for a missing or captured military serviceman. After sending a request to the competent authorities, we continue to be in constant contact with them and with the applicants. At the same time, there is a need to establish clearer interaction with the command of military districts to strengthen coordination and improve communication, as well as simplify the procedure for processing the necessary documents.
I separately told my colleagues about the work that we are doing in Tatarstan. We have a regional social program "Caring for Our Own", hotline 117, SIS RT "Public Control", as well as the "Incident Management" system.
In conclusion, I voiced a number of proposals aimed at strengthening support measures for special military operation participants and combat veterans. I am confident that through joint efforts we can make the process of supporting this category of citizens more effective.