Kursk Becomes First Region to Appoint Ukraine War Veterans’ Rights Ombudsman

The southwestern Kursk region has become the first in Russia to appoint an ombudsman tasked with ensuring the rights of veterans who fought in the war against Ukraine, Governor Alexander Khinshtein announced Monday.

“Essentially, we’re the first region where such a position is being introduced on a systematic basis,” Khinshtein said during a weekly regional government meeting.

Maxim Kalutskhikh, a retired army colonel born in the Kursk region, will fill the newly created post.

Kalutskikh fought in Ukraine between 2022 and 2023 and currently serves as deputy chairman of the Kursk region’s veterans association. He graduated from the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School and has also served in an elite unit within Russia’s FSB security service.

Governor Khinshtein previously said the veterans’ rights ombudsman will help families with filling out government paperwork and applying for benefits, as well as in any other “situation where someone hits a dead end.”

In other regions, human rights ombudspeople currently handle complaints from veterans and their families.

Difficulties faced by veterans are often related to military medical board decisions, payment issues, confirmation of kinship with deceased service members and mistaken AWOL classifications, according to the exiled news outlet Govorit Nemoskva.

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