The bill amends the law “On Fire Safety”. It provides for the involvement of conscripts in firefighting in populated areas, including urban forests, and in emergency rescue operations.
Such units already exist, but they operate in closed cities and in specially important and restricted areas. The explanatory note says that their area of activity is proposed to be expanded because of the “geopolitical situation in the world”, “potential threats from unfriendly countries”, and the task of protecting citizens and economic facilities.
The authors of the bill also link the initiative to staffing shortages in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. According to their assessment, the annual outflow of enlisted personnel and junior officers reaches 3–5%, and the shortage of duty crews reduces “tactical capabilities” at the scene of an incident and may lead to the spread of fire and injuries to people.
In February, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, said that up to 5,000 conscripts are planned to be sent annually to serve in the FPS. He claimed that this initiative has already been coordinated with the Ministry of Defense, and that the agency’s main problem remains the outflow of personnel due to low pay. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations report, by the end of 2025 the fire services were short of more than 203,000 employees, and the FPS workforce stood at 386,830 people.
In July, the government approved the proposal to send conscripts to firefighting. Lawyer Arseny Levinson called the bill controversial and suggested using the alternative civilian service mechanism instead. According to him, more than 5,000 people willing to serve under ACS would be found, while the authorities prefer “essentially free labor of servicemen” instead of raising salaries for civilian firefighters.
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