Military Service - Draft Evasion
"The initial exodus of some 500,000 skilled workers in March was compounded by the exodus of at least 700,000 Russians, mostly working-age men fleeing the possibility of conscription, after Putin’s September partial mobilization order." Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian at Yale reported February 21, 2023.
In April 2023, amendments were adopted according to which draft dodgers can be subject to sanctions. This is not only a ban on traveling abroad. They will also not be allowed to take out loans, open individual entrepreneurship, sell and buy apartments, cars. But for these sanctions to work, the Unified Register of Persons Liable for Military Service needs to work. What is this – when women in military registration and enlistment offices sit down and retype all the paper cards of conscripts by hand, creating an electronic database. This task, to put it mildly, is impossible. The labor of Sisyphean, it cannot be done quickly,
Those who evade the draft are not sent to prison, but only fined. According to the judicial department of the Supreme Court of Russia, as of late 2024 there was not a single sentence with real imprisonment. More than 400 evaders received fines, and three more received suspended sentences. Of the major cities in Russia, only Moscow had an electronic database of conscripts ready, as well as a service for sending electronic summonses (Mos.ru). There was nothing close to this even in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, they created a Unified Register, some sorting has already taken place. But they kept postponing its launch. In September 2024, the "Register of Summons" website started working in test mode. But the website worked for a week, and it turned out that they were storing user data incorrectly. Oct 4, 2022 — About 700000 people have left Russia in the nearly two weeks following the announcement of a “partial” mobilization in the country, ... According to one source, almost 1 million people have left Russia since the beginning of the mobilisation. Oct 6, 2022 — The Kremlin on Thursday denied reports that 700,000 Russians fled the country
Immediately after the call-up was announced on September 21, longs queues formed at Russian border checkpoints. The one that got most of the media attention was the Verkhnii Lars checkpoint on the Russo-Georgian border, where people stood in line for up to five days, often without food or water. A mobile draft point of the Russian Military Commissariat was set up in the area, reports said. On October 3, the traffic jam at the border has been cleared so cars are now passing freely.
For a number of objective and subjective reasons, the Defense Ministry experienced serious difficulties in calling up civilians for military service. Of the total number of conscription-age citizens on military lists, only 9.1% were conscripted in 2005 (compared to 27% in 1994). All the other potential conscripts were exempted from military service on lawful grounds, or had the right to deferments from conscription.
It is possible to avoid going into the army by signing up for Alternative Civilian Service (ACS) instead. During one draft campaign, an average of around 300 people apply for alternative service. For comparison, 150,000 young men are recruited to military service during the same period. They are not asked about preferences when a duty station is selected. They can be appointed to any public institution – libraries, hospitals or public transport. The work of an alternative serviceman is no different from that of a usual employee: responsibilities, schedule, pay, vacation, sick leave. But for two years – instead of one as in the military service – they are tied to one place, without the possibility of changing position or profession.
In 2006, Ivanov said "We support reducing the number of grounds for exemption from military service and conscription deferments. At present there are 25 of them, and they can be divided into four basic groups: deferments for education, social reasons, employment reasons, and medical grounds. Some of the social deferments will be retained. All of the deferments for health reasons will be retained. I'd go even further: I support tightening health requirements for conscripts. As for deferments for employment reasons, I think there should be almost none of those - and the first steps toward abolishing them are already being taken. However, there won't be any sweeping abolition of grounds for exemption from military service or conscription deferments. I'd like to point out that we're only planning to abolish or change nine out of 25 grounds and deferments."
The General Staff reported in mid-March 2013 that more than 244,000 draft-age men dodged conscription in 2012. Some 8,794 Russian men received their call-up papers but did not show up at the recruitment office as required, which is a criminal offense that carries a prison term of up to two years under Russian law. In addition, some 235,800 men dodged the draft in 2012 by avoiding being handed their call-up papers, which is an administrative offense in Russia. Military officials are obliged to notify potential recruits that they are eligible for the draft as soon as they reach the age of 18. Many young men use falsified medical documents, notify the authorities they are still enrolled in higher education (those in higher education are exempt from the draft) or pay bribes to avoid the 12-month period of service. Potential draftees are eligible for conscription until the age of 27. Russia is forecast to have a falling number of potential draftees due to the country's aging demographic profile, with the lowest number of available recruits expected between 2016 and 2020.
The number of draft dodgers in 2015 compared with the previous year decreased by 22.5% - were less than 5 thousand people. According to head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Mobilization, this is largely the result of positive changes in the attitude of society to the army. Thus, according to VTsIOM, the level of confidence in the armed forces has reached 82%, while the share of Russians who believe in the ability of the army to defend the country in case of a real threat, was 88%, the general recalled.
The number of Russians who evaded military service was reduced more than a quarter by the end of 2015. Defense Ministry attributed this to the active work of the centers of patriotic education, according to the chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Vasily Tonkoshkurov. According Tonkoshkurova, 231 zonal center of patriotic education was established in Russia.
On 29 June 2016 Ostankino District Court of Moscow, under the claim of the metropolitan prosecutor's office, placed on a number of Internet sites with information promotes evasion of military service on a forbidden list. "Moscow Prosecutor's Office has made the judgment, aimed at curbing the spread of information online which promotes evasion of service in the Armed Forces and contains information about how to evade military service," - said the supervisory agency, noting that the court granted in full the requirements of the prosecutor's office. After the court decision comes into force, it would be sent to the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.
More than 11,000 Russians were brought to administrative responsibility following the spring draft of 2018, most of them for failure to appear on the agenda without valid reasons, the deputy head of the second department of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, Igor Kondratyev, said on 01 October 2018. "Over 11.5 thousand citizens were involved in the spring call for administrative responsibility, most of them for failure to appear on the agenda without valid reasons, evading medical examinations," he said at a press conference on the results of the spring draft and tasks for the autumn appeal of 2018.
According to him, with respect to more than 80 people who tried to evade the draft and the service, the materials of the prosecutor's checks were sent to the investigative authorities to bring them to criminal liability. In a number of them, criminal cases have been opened and an investigation is underway, 37 citizens have been convicted.
A unit can report a fugitive to the SOCh (unauthorized abandonment of the unit) within 24 hours of his absence. This usually happens on the second or third day, but depends on the "operational situation". If the deserter has managed to travel far enough during this time, it is difficult to find him. And in order to declare a fugitive on the federal wanted list, a criminal case must be opened under the article "Desertion", which also takes time. There are few options after detention - to court or back to the front, say human rights activists. The latter happens more often, detainees are sent to penal assault squads. And this is almost guaranteed death.
There is no universal way to escape. Every case will be unique, depending on many factors: is it a military unit, is it an occupied territory, is it a hospital, is there corruption in the unit, what kind of relations with the team. But there is basic advice, again: never take a weapon. It is not as scary to lose a person as a weapon for which someone is responsible. Get rid of all army clothes, even those elements that seem inconspicuous and convenient, right down to gloves. Otherwise, the military police will figure it out. Leave the region as quickly as possible. It is better to do this within the first 24 hours.
By 2024 there were more and more volunteers wishing to escape from the front – previously, the main contingent of deserters was made up of mobilized soldiers. If earlier most of the requests were from mobilized soldiers, now there are many more requests from volunteers, experts from “Go to the Forest” said. Who flees most often were residents of St. Petersburg and Moscow. There is more information in these cities.
Staying in Russia, there are additional serious restrictions. For example, deserters can only work unofficially. If a person has a family, then the spouse must also take the same job. Deserters cannot take children to school or kindergarten – they can be identified through the child. Deserters cannot use any government services, as well as banking services – only cash. Deserters can only use transport that does not require a passport for travel – air and rail transport are unavailable.
Their expectations diverged from reality, life turned out to be more valuable than any money. There are many career soldiers who realized that the war will not end quickly and that they will not be able to sit it out. Their number has also increased. For volunteers, the main reason for escaping is probably the discrepancy between the imagined picture and reality: some are no longer paid salaries, others go for one specialty, and they are put in completely different positions. In general, people go to war with one idea, but in reality they see nothing there except death, dirt and humiliation of human dignity. The state does not provide any legal way out of this situation – either a heavy three-hundredth (code 300 , wounded. – SR) with damaged limbs, or a two-hundredth (code 200 , killed. – SR) . The other options are to desert and surrender. Many choose to desert. There are even special units like Storm V, which are made up of the so-called five-hundredths (code 500, deserters. - SR) . There is only one way out in such a situation - to desert again.
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