MOSCOW, October 23 (RAPSI) - A Just Russia party member Gennady Nosovko has submitted a bill on private military companies (PMCs) to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, Vedomosti newspaper reports on Thursday.

Employees of Russian PMCs would be authorized to provide armed escort of ships; train security forces; assist with mine clearing, protection of officials and facilities; take part in “alternative settlement of armed conflicts,”according to the bill.

The lawmaker believes that private military companies should be supervised by the Federal Security Service, known by its Russian acronym FSB.

Business of PMCs has been thriving since the 1990s. PMCs are mainly involved in training of security personnel, protection of companies engaged in production and distribution of commodities and commodity-related products in developing countries.

States hire private military or security companies to carry out sensitive political, social and economic tasks in other countries, recruit former law enforcement agents, Ivan Konovalov, the director of the Center for Strategic Issues, told Vedomosti.

Business of PMCs in Russia would unlikely to develop if companies would be under control of the FSB, according to Konovalov.

In these circumstances the companies would be much less flexible, their activities would be restricted by the FSB. Excessive regulation and red tape would result in losing the contracts to their competitors, Konovalov said.

In April 2012, then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, answering questions of the State Duma lawmakers, said that the establishment of private military companies in Russia “should be considered.”

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Frants Klintsevich has proposed his bill. However, the lawmaker reportedly failed to secure support of the Defense Ministry and refused to submit the bill for consideration.