Russia To Bar People Living With HIV/AIDS, Drug Users From Military Service
New Russian medical examination rules ban drug users and HIV-positive people from active military service, Interfax News reports. The new rules, published in the Russian newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Thursday and approved by the government on Feb. 25, will take effect July 1 (Interfax News, 3/13). The rules also prohibit the army from drafting men "of untraditional sexual orientation." Chair of the Russian Defense Ministry's Central Military Medical Commission Maj. Gen. Valery Kulikov said, "We will examine servicemen of the Armed Forces and bar persons who have diseases included on the list of new medical examination rules for the military," adding that the rules will "set higher requirements on the health of conscripts and servicemen" (Interfax News Service, 3/13).
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