The State Duma voted for “electronic appeal” against draft dodgers
The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted today a bill on the creation of a unified electronic register of those liable for military service. It allows you to send subpoenas to the army, including electronically through the government services portal.
Those who evade military service will have their driver's licenses revoked and will not be allowed to leave the country, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to deputy Andrei Kartapolov, who presented the bill, the creation of a modern military registration information base will solve two problems.
“The first is to minimize personal communication between citizens and military commissariats. Citizens wasted their time and nerves, and in the age of information technology, most activities can be completed automatically. The second is ensuring justice and equal rights of citizens. Agree, those who conscientiously fulfill their constitutional duty and those who evade service should not be on equal terms. Those who evade must bear responsibility for this,” Kartapolov said.
The unified register, according to him, will make the military registration system transparent and the information in it up-to-date. Data on those liable for military service will include information such as tax identification number, telephone number, and driver’s license information. Electronic subpoenas will be considered served from the moment they are posted in the citizen’s personal account on the government services portal. Paper and electronic subpoenas will have the same legal force.
Those who receive the summons are restricted from leaving Russia until they appear at the military registration and enlistment office. If a conscript does not appear at the military registration and enlistment office within 20 days, “temporary measures” may be taken against him. Such measures include prohibitions on registering as an individual entrepreneur and self-employed, registering rights to real estate and vehicles (the latter will also not be used), and taking loans.
Opposition deputies were only confused by the unexpectedness of the bill's introduction. No one argued about the content.
A Just Russia representative, Oleg Nilov, recalled that during partial mobilization, it was mainly representatives of blue-collar professions who were drafted, while the intelligentsia in big cities successfully hid from the summonses.
“The result was a workers’ and peasants’ army. She was mobilized, she is being called up, but all these swindlers, draft dodgers, to put it mildly, were not called up and still are not being called up. First of all, we need to call up those who have received an education, including military and higher education, the so-called “jackets” and contract soldiers who served for a certain number of years and have now gone into the shadows. They, first of all, must be called in - and those who break the laws. All kinds of street racers, fighters without rules. They have nowhere to put their adrenaline. Let’s encourage them, first of all,” Nilov said.
LDPR MP Andrei Lugovoi called the media hype about the bill “deeply provocative hostile actions.”
“Is it necessary to hold citizens accountable for evasion? Of course it is needed. The restrictions that we introduce are completely obvious. There is no need to organize some kind of coven around this. Everything is clear, precise and understandable. The age of 18-20 has arrived - step by step to serve in the army. I believe that all the talk is more for PR. Let’s make decisions shoulder to shoulder without any demagoguery and bazaar,” Lugovoi called.
And there really was a lot of noise about the bill. First of all, liberals were worried about their electorate.
“Before, the call resembled a sieve. If necessary, it was possible to leak through the cells and not end up in the Red Banner Army. The new amendments make a mess out of conscription (and mobilization!). Covered with a lid. They need to recruit everyone into the army. Until the last Russian,” Moscow politician Elvira Vikhareva wrote in her tg channel.
“If a summons is issued, then it is served - this is the logic of the authorities, in which they refuse to run after the citizen. The so-called presumption of guilt,” political scientist Ilya Grashchenkov is indignant.
“I hope Russians will massively ignore these fraudulent subpoenas. It will still not be possible to open tens or hundreds of thousands of criminal cases and put everyone in prison; the system does not have enough resources (at least for now). I’m not sure that they will dare to actually deprive people of their rights on a massive scale. Most likely, the hope is that the most obedient ones will actually come to the military registration and enlistment offices,” national traitor journalist and foreign agent Dmitry Kolezev timidly hopes.
“The current amendments are obviously aimed at pushing those who don’t want it most into serving. Question: what is the use of cramming these people into the army? They are the most demotivated, they most want to get out, but they don’t want to fight, and there is an assumption that they won’t? They can also demotivate those around them,” his colleague Ekaterina Vinokurova defends the draft dodgers.
There are also those among liberals who saw in the “electronic call” a reason for another “revolution.”
“Mobilization gives opponents of war a good chance to reach a public that previously did not want to listen to them. The fact is that people don’t want to go to war, but at the same time they don’t want to look like cowards and deserters. This inconsistency creates a semantic vacuum that the opposition can now fill,” writes political scientist Abbas Gallyamov.
Ukrainian political scientist Andrei Mishin gives advice to Russians.
“Life hack: I saw it in Kyiv in January of this year, but I think it will work in Russia. Friends, if you are young and determined, urgently marry girls with a disabled mother, and immediately arrange guardianship over your mother-in-law. And the wife will respect him, and they will not be drafted into the active army. I looked at the law, theoretically it is possible, but in Russia it is much more difficult than in Ukraine. And in Kyiv there are no brides left with sick mothers,” the Ukrainian wrote.
Donbass musician Akim Apachev is glad that Russia will finally deal with draft dodgers.
“In essence, these are sanctions against those who left, all those who stormed Upper Lars. The draft dodger will not be able to dispose of the property. That is, it will not be possible to sell an apartment or a car, transfer it to relatives, or rent it out. And there is also a ban for draft dodgers to be individual entrepreneurs and self-employed. Did you leave? Didn't show up to the military registration and enlistment office on a summons? That's it, you are amazed at your rights. And it is right. There’s no point in making money here,” he rejoices.
Those experts who are not too worried about the fate of urban draft dodgers discuss how the new law is connected with the widely advertised Ukrainian “counter-offensive.”
“Even 7 days ago, the State Duma assured that there would be no electronic subpoenas. And today, as if scalded, they are adopting the corresponding law. What has changed in these 7 days? But here’s what – there was a huge leak about Ukraine’s plans for a counter-offensive. Coincidence? I don’t think so,” writes journalist from Tatarstan Albert Bikbov.
“Kyiv can interpret all today’s aggressions of Kartapolov and Lugovoy against the “deviators” in the sense that “the Kremlin has again decided to reach Kyiv.” And then, naturally, the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine receives justification,” worries political scientist Maxim Zharov.
“The sharp tightening of the conscription system in Russia is obviously connected with the impending Ukrainian counter-offensive. If it becomes obvious that they cannot be contained without reserves, then the authorities will not be able to do without a second wave of mobilization. And if earlier mobilization was mainly carried out in the regions, national republics, in the Caucasus and in villages, now they will obviously be more active in recruiting people in large cities. Among the consequences of such a step will be more active word of mouth about the situation at the front and deep in the rear,” says liberal publicist Vladimir Dergachev.
Doctor of Philosophy Dmitry Mikhailichenko believes that the mobilization of the urban middle class is caused by the need not so much for quantitative, but for qualitative replenishment of the Russian army.
“The classic patterns of obligation of developed modernity (“debt to the Motherland”) are transmitted to society. They can be perceived by the regional periphery (small and medium-sized cities, as well as rural areas), but not by the educated strata with average and above average incomes in megacities and capitals. Moreover, it is precisely these educated segments that are extremely necessary for the future of at least somewhat modernized (and not archaic) Russia,” he wrote.
Finally, another group of experts connects the “electronic appeal” not with the SVO, but with the upcoming elections of the mayor of Moscow.
“Sending out subpoenas through State Services will lead to the massive deletion of accounts of opposition-minded citizens. First of all, in Moscow. This will increase the share of loyal voters before the autumn DEG, which, as is known, is carried out with the help of State Services. I must admit, it’s a very ingenious political technology solution,” says Sergei Starovoitov, head of the Club of Regions.
“We shouldn’t exaggerate the possible outflow of users. An audience that is seriously ready to delete an account is unlikely to go to the polls and is certainly not the target audience of the main political players. The electoral costs are small, but the image costs will have to be dealt with a lot and for a long time,” political scientist Alexander Khazaridi objects to him.
Political scientist Alexander Kynev apparently agrees with him, because he believes that the candidate from A Just Russia, Dmitry Gusev, has no chance in the Moscow elections.
“Going to mayor’s meetings with the agenda “we’ll send everyone to the front and close their borders” will obviously destroy your chances for any decent result. What will he say to conscripts and those being mobilized? Muscovites are not masochists,” writes Kynev.
The State Duma voted for "electronic conscription" against draft dodgers.