To hide in metro and accumulate protective equipment: how are Tatarstan government agencies going to work in case of wartime?
The Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers developed a document that will distribute duties between ministries in case of wartime
The Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers submitted a draft of the decree On Establishing a List of Organisations Providing Civil Defence Measures at Republican Level for anti-corruption inspection. According to its, the region’s ministries and subordinate departments will be obliged to do a number of tasks to protect the civilians, including at wartime. The list will include both theoretical training of citizens and the creation of decontaminant substances in advance in case of a radioactive threat. Read more in Realnoe Vremya’s report.
Citizens to be taught, specialised to be trained
The majority of such measures are going to be taken by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergencies. According to the document, this ministry will be involved in almost all the tasks and in most cases together with other ministries.
First of all, the Ministry of Emergencies must provide training for the population by teaching citizens and doing active propaganda. For this purpose, the ministry will have to create training facilities and keep them in operational mode where workers themselves and ordinary people will train. Evacuation will become one of the main areas.
To provide quality evacuation of the population, the staff of specialised agencies will do intensive training. At the same time, possible evacuation plans for the population from affected areas is going to be made.
Kazan metro can turn into shelter
However, the process of evacuation consists of not only displacing people to another territory. The most important thing is to determine where citizens can be hidden and what to provide them with in this place. So the Ministry of Emergencies will have to start accumulating personal and collective protective equipment.
The Tatarstan Ministry of Construction, in turn, will have to provide citizens with shelters that needs to be built and maintained. Also, the document indicates that it is important for the Construction Ministry to provide citizens with prefabricated protective facilities with simplified equipment in case of announced martial law.
Also, Metroelectrotransp that must provide the metro as shelter even in peace time can be involved in this job upon agreement. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Emergencies will have the task of disguising all these facilities regardless of their type.
Not only military conflicts but also manmade catastrophes can pose a threat.
In case of possible destruction or damage to infrastructure, the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergencies must create, train and equip special forces that will get rid of all negative consequences. At the same time, the Tatarstan Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Digital Development and Ministry of Health will create stocks of technical, food, medical and other products to provide emergency response and rescue works in every possible way.
Emergency response and rescue units will be created in cooperation with the Armed Forces and other troops created during wartime. They all will be in a special registry of the Ministry of Emergencies.
It is important to note that according to the decree’s draft, most of the measures refer not only to military conflicts but also manmade catastrophes: fires, dam breaks, accidents at nuclear power plants or in other energy facilities, plane crashes and train accidents.
For instance, the Tatarstan Ministry of Industry and Trade will be obliged to provide citizens with food and the Ministry of Construction — with utility services.
Victims can be accommodated in camps and resorts
As the draft of the decree reads, if it was impossible to avoid an accident, Russia’s consumer rights protection watchdog will have to take sanitary and anti-epidemic measures with the affected population. The Centre for Hygiene and Epidemiology of Tatarstan as well as the Ministry of Health Care will evacuate injured people to medical institutions. Also, these government agencies will provide information and psychological support.
The Ministry of Labour, in turn, will determine the number of the population without housing. The Ministry of Construction will do an inventory of survived housing and assess the state of damaged housing. This will be done to know if victims can be accommodated in these buildings. Those left without home will be sent to health resorts, prefabricated buildings or tent camps. However, it is noteworthy that special fire fighting brigades trained by the Ministry of Emergencies will save residential buildings during wartime. But they will take civil defence buildings under special control.
Disinfectants prepared in advance
The Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers also created a plan of actions in case of radioactive threat. So the republic’s Ministry of Health together with the Ministry of Environment and Search and Rescue Service will control the radiation, chemical and biological situation in the region. Moreover, these agencies will have to improve methods and devices for environmental monitoring. Also, the Tatarstan Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Transport will be tasked with creating stocks of deactivators, disinfectants, degassers.
They must organise a special cleaning service that will be responsible for all the equipment, buildings and territories.
Security workers will not only protect but also bury
As for law enforcement agencies, in case of wartime, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be tasked with creating and equipping subdivisions that will keep the public order, restore and protect it. Also, they will be obliged to provide road safety in cities and other settlements, on routes of evacuation and advancement of civil defence forces. The office of the Federal National Guard Service will have to reinforce the protection of facilities and property of legal entities and individuals left unattended.
It should be mentioned separately that the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be tasked with organising and taking measures to recognise, keep records and urgently bury corpses following the rules established by legislation.
Gas and oil reservoirs must be in stock
The document also includes issues related to the stable operation of economic facilities. So the Ministry of Emergencies must create a special plan of work of such enterprises during the possible wartime.
In case of the possible negative scenario, Gazprom transgaz Kazan and Tatenergo must create reserves of tanks and vessels, pipelines, mobile reserve and autonomous energy sources as well as a stock of spare parts to repair damaged gas, energy and water supply systems.
The Tatarstan Ministry of Economy will be obliged to think about rational location of settlements, enterprises and other important facilities. Their staff will also be brief and trained. At the same time, the Ministry of Emergencies will have to create a documentation insurance fund.
