Tatarstan Creates ‘Volunteer’ Organization of Veterans of Putin’s War to Patrol Streets

Paul Goble

              Staunton, May 13 – Russian officials have long feared that veterans returning from Putin’s war in Ukraine who aren’t able to find high-paying positions will turn to radical nationalist groups or a life of crime (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/04/veterans-joining-radical-russian.html).

              In order to prevent that from happening, the authorities in Tatarstan has set up special “volunteer” organizations open to veterans who are then enlisted to help the republic’s militia patrol the streets of population centers in that Middle Volga republics (tatar-inform.ru/news/ucastniki-svo-iz-tatarstana-budut-pomogat-policii-v-patrulyax-6026827).

              While such groups are nominally independent, they in fact are controlled by the state authorities and thus likely represent less of a danger to the republic than would those who don’t answer to anyone but themselves. If this project works, Moscow is likely to try to get other federal subjects to copy it.