MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – After problems with the partial mobilization for Russia’s war against Ukraine, men in the huge empire can be drafted into military service much more easily than before. The draft notices no longer have to be handed over personally, but can be sent electronically via the state service portal “Gosuslugi”, the deputies of the State Duma decided on Tuesday. The amendments passed in a flash vote, although some MPs complained they hadn’t had time to read the law.
The pending third and final reading and a signature from the Kremlin boss Wladimir Putin are considered a formality. As a result of the changes, a conscript is electronically recorded and can no longer leave the country until he is presented to the drafting office. In September, hundreds of thousands fled during the sometimes chaotically organized partial mobilization.
Observers feared that the new method would prepare a new mobilization for war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected this. He justified the initiative with a general digitalization of life.
In the future, a summons to the district military replacement office will be considered transmitted if it is received online in the state service portal on the conscript’s user account, said the head of the defense committee, Andrei Kartapolow. Previously, the summons had to be handed over in person and acknowledged with a signature. Many Russians were able to avoid conscription by not living at their registered address.
Anyone who does not report to the military commissariat within 20 days of being summoned faces drastic restrictions. Conscientious objectors are no longer allowed to drive a car or buy real estate. It is also not possible to register as a self-employed person. They should also no longer receive credit. Parliament leader Vyacheslav Volodin insulted a communist MP who refused to carry out the controversial new procedure in such a hurry as a “saboteur”./bal/DP/jha