Russia forms 'wedding police' unit to ensure guests behave

Russia has established a specialist police unit to patrol wedding parties as a way of dealing with unruly guests.

The wedding police deployed in the North Caucasus region of Adygea will ensure that wedding motorcades observe the highway code and that guests don't fire their guns in celebration.

"The people of Adygea have a reputation for partying hard, and weddings there often involve celebratory gunfire and driving around in noisy convoys that pay little heed to traffic rules," says the BBC.

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The region's interior minister Aleksandr Rechitsky said the unit would "put an end to uncontrolled expressions of joy by people in wedding motorcades."

It will be made up of 40 officers from the ordinary police force, traffic police and investigative bodies, according to state news agency Tass.

Officers will be stationed along main roads and popular sites frequented by newlyweds, such as parks or city squares.

"Besides reckless driving, wedding celebrations in Adygea occasionally present other hazards to bystanders," says The Moscow Times.

Earlier this year, a 27-year old man was fined 50,000 roubles and had his weapon confiscated after firing a gun outside a registry office in the regional capital Maykop.

One bride welcomed the new measures, telling local TV channel Kuban 24: "Setting up this police unit was the right thing to do because people have been killed by wedding shootings."