On 12 May, the rejection of a bill providing exemption from mobilisation for those who have not previously served their country caused a stir in the Russian social sphere. The government therefore did not support the draft law on exemption from mobilisation for citizens who have not performed military service. This was reported by Vedomosti with reference to two participants in the committee meeting.
The proposal to exempt from partial mobilisation Russians who have not served had been submitted last autumn by State Duma deputy Mikhail Matveev. In a note explaining the initiative, Matveev quoted Vladimir Putin’s speech of 21 September as an argument: ‘Only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and especially those who have served in the Armed Forces, have some military – accounting specialities and relevant experience.
The recall of the Cabinet of Ministers states that ‘in order to ensure the deployment of mobilisation of troops (forces) in the event of threats to the military security of the Russian Federation, expanding the list of categories of citizens entitled by the legislation of the Russian Federation to receive a deferment from military service for mobilisation is inappropriate’.
Basically all citizens are eligible for recall. Waiting to see if this will create an exodus of Russians or not. On the social sphere, the tasks assigned to the mobilised are revealed.
One post reads: ‘Military training camp – when reserves or reservists (reserve officers who have a special contract with the Ministry of Defence) are called up – is aimed at teaching them how to use new equipment, combat tactics or test their combat skills. For military training, it is not necessary to have military service behind you’. Those who, during their university studies, have mastered the specialities required in the army or up to the age of 27 have escaped conscription without reason or delay may also be recalled.
They can be recalled (from work) for 1-2 months, but no more than 3 months per year. Most of these recalled belong to the specialities of: “Assault riflemen, signalmen, representatives of engineering and hoe specialities, gunners and mortars, tanks (any role), construction battalion specialists, specialists in repairing all types of equipment and those who understand programming and automatic control systems, UAV pilots traditionally enjoy special ‘favour’ from military conscription offices.”
In an ironic tone, another soldier writes: “Previously, at the training camp, mainly, the men drank – since 2022, in normal units they teach the men to shoot, if possible – to drive and work on the equipment and somehow try to ‘pull up the belly of the FIZO’. “They don’t take them to the NWO from there, even if they can persuade you insistently to enter into a contract. They stay at the back and: prepare, fix, bring to the front line.
“The summonses for military training of citizens of the Russian reserve will come to reservists in the same form as those called up for conscription, while in a number of regions where technical capabilities will allow it, they will be duplicated electronically,” to say it on Telegram,. Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma’s Defence Committee. “The system of electronic summonses has yet to be fine-tuned, including during the autumn conscription,” he added.
Graziella Giangiulio
