Deputy defense minister opposes creation of post of human rights ombudsman in Russian army
MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov believes that the position of human rights ombudsman should not be created in the Russian Armed Forces.
"As for the post of human rights ombudsman in the Armed Forces, I will state my personal viewpoint here: I don't quite understand this proposal. Moreover, it seems to me that this initiative is redundant," he told a press conference in the Interfax central office in Moscow.
There are military prosecutors and other agencies for the protection of servicemen's interests, he said.
Speaking about the interaction with public organizations such as the Soldiers' Mothers Committee, Pankov said representatives of such organization are members of the Defense Ministry's public council. "We have a very comfortable interaction format," he said.
The number of complaints made by public organizations to the Defense Ministry about various negative things associated with military service has decreased considerably since the early 2000s, he said.