Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has amended the list of medical restrictions for driving buses, trams, trolleybuses and trucks, according to a government order published on the official legal information portal.
Previously, people with a missing or severely deformed arm or leg were barred from operating these vehicles. Now, the only disqualifying conditions are the absence of both arms or hands, or a deformation that significantly impedes movement, The Moscow Times reported.
The initiative to soften the requirements was proposed in October by Ilya Zotov, head of the All-Russian Passenger Association. He argued that a left leg is unnecessary for driving a bus with an automatic transmission and called for hiring veterans of the invasion of Ukraine who have become disabled. Zotov estimated that such work would allow them to earn more than 100,000 rubles per month on top of their pensions.
In August, the head of the Republic of Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, asked President Vladimir Putin to allow "SVO veterans" with arm or leg injuries to work as bus and truck drivers, saying that modern rehabilitation tools and vehicle automation make this possible. The decision to ease the requirements came amid an acute labor shortage in the transport sector: in spring 2025, the State Duma reported a shortage of 37,000 public transport drivers, while according to Oleg Torosh, president of the "Drivers of Russia" organization, the real deficit could reach 500,000 people.