The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) adopted in the first reading Law No. 6569-d on the establishment of the Military Police.
MPs Oleksiy Honcharenko and Yaroslav Zheleznyak write about it.
According to the explanatory note, the Military Police is a military formation with law enforcement functions, which is part of the security and defense sector. Its main purpose is to ensure law and order and military discipline in the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces and the State Special Transport Service.
The military police is planned to be created on the basis of the Military Law and Order Service — this formation is currently engaged in ensuring law and order and military discipline, but only those matters that directly concern the Armed Forces are within its jurisdiction.
The newly created body will transfer certain powers of the Security Service, which will probably become one of the units of the Military Police. The Ministry of Defense assures that this will make it possible to achieve compatibility with similar services of NATO countries.
In general, the activities of the Military Police should be coordinated by the Cabinet of Ministers, but during martial law, these duties are performed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
Among the duties of the Military Police:
- maintenance of law and order among the military in units, at military facilities and in towns, in public places;
- patrolling of garrisons, settlements adjacent to them, territories of military towns and military facilities;
- search and detention of military personnel in cases defined by law, as well as search for military personnel who have gone missing;
- search for stolen or lost firearms, ammunition and explosives registered in the military units of the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the State Special Service of Transport;
- protection of state property from illegal encroachments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the State Special Service of Transport;
- control over compliance with road traffic rules during the use of military vehicles, escorting convoys of military vehicles;
- protection of life, health, rights and legitimate interests of servicemen and their family members.
The military police are planned to be recruited from the Armed Forces. These formations cannot exceed 1.5% of the Armed Forces.
The central and territorial management bodies of the Military Police may be staffed by civil servants.