 Russia is arming civilian self-defense groups in Belgorod Oblast. The Russian government is continuing to arm the so-called self-defense groups in Belgorod Oblast, which borders Ukraine. Belgorod Oblast, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that civilians were issued with cars, quadcopters and anti-drone guns. Now each of the eight battalions has five off-road vehicles, additional digital car radios, quadcopters and anti-drone guns. We gave the first weapons to the most prepared fighters, he added. Gladkov said that the use of weapons will be agreed by regiment and battalion commanders together with the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian Guard and the Federal Security Service. He added that the Russian state Duma is currently considering measures that would allow it to arm the entire regiment with firearms. Russian media reported earlier that members of the so-called territorial defense in Russia's Belgorod and Kursk Oblasts were issued with weapons and military equipment by the local governments. Subsequently, the governor of the Kursk Oblast, Roman Starovoy, also said that local authorities began to distribute weapons to the so-called voluntary people's squads because of the alleged threat from Ukraine. He assured civilians that all the conditions for storing weapons have been created. The first batch is already in the base. In the near future, the number of distributed weapons is to be increased to 300 units. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the president of Russia assured that the gun control will be maintained. Weapons are never distributed in an uncontrolled manner. All control mechanisms, of course, must be very carefully implemented and foreseen. Actually, there is no doubt that this is the case, Peskov said.