Tula - Moscow, August 11, 1999.

Yesterday, August 10, the regional presentation of the all-Russian petition campaign "The third millennium without conscription slavery", carried out by the Transnational Radical Party and the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA), took place in Tula in Teacher's Club. The main object of this campaign is collect by January 2000 50.000 signatures of Russian citizens under the petition addressed to the next Parliament. The petition calls the deputies to abolish the compulsory military service as soon as possible and to establish a voluntary (professional) basis of remanning the Russian Armed Forces.

In particular, the following politicians took part in the presentation: Eduard Pashchenko, president of the regional branch of Democratic Choice of Russia, ex Duma deputy (The Choice of Russia faction); Nikolai Khranov, ARA secretary and Russian co-ordinator of the Radical Party; archbishop Nikon (Lamekin), member of the ARA General Council; Kirill Shulika, vice President of the ARA General Council.

At the meeting in Teacher's Club it was decided to establish in Tula a regional initiative group for carrying out the petition campaign "'The third millennium without conscription slavery". The object of this campaign in Tula is to collect at least 5.000 signatures of the inhabitants of Tula and Tula region under the petition of the Radical Party and the ARA for the abolition of conscription and the transition to a professional army.

Valentina Stepanova, a militant of the Committee of the Mothers of Soldiers in Tula region, has been appointed (without voting) a co-ordinator of the group. You may contact Tula initiative group "The third millennium without conscription slavery": Sovetskaya street, 6, Tula. Committee of the Mothers of Soldiers. Phone number: (0872) 257883. Valentina Stepanova.