MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. For the first time since the early 1990s Chechen conscripts have begun to be drafted into Russia’s armed forces. All of them will be serving not very far away from home, in the Southern and North Caucasus federal districts, State Duma member Shamsail Saraliyev has told the daily Izvestia.

In 2008-2011, Saraliyev was Chechnya’s minister for external relations, nationalities policies, the press and information.

“The guys who have been drafted this autumn will be serving only in southern Russia - the Southern and North Caucasus federal districts. That’s the decision of the Russian Defence Ministry at this point,” Saraliyev said. “I believe that future conscripts will be serving in all regions of the country, as before.”

“Army service has always been a matter of prestige in Chechnya,” Saraliyev said. “I am certain that tens of thousands of our young men are prepared for a military career. We are loyal to our state and ready to serve and defend the country,” he said.

Izvestia recalls that this autumn’s is the first draft of Chechen Republic’s citizens into the Russian army over the past 20 years. Over the past few years all Chechen conscripts were drafted into Interior Ministry troops stationed in Chechnya. Five hundred Chechen draftees will join the Russian army this autumn.