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. After the second and third readings were carried out in one day, President Vladimir Putin’s signature is considered a formality.
New mobilization for war
As a result of the changes, a conscript is electronically recorded and he can no longer leave the country until he is presented to the drafting office. In September, hundreds of thousands of men fled the sometimes chaotically organized partial mobilization.
The new digital register contains the passport data, tax number and pension insurance card, driver’s license information, telephone number, registered address and any previous convictions.
It is feared in Russia that with the changes and significant tightening, a new mobilization for war is being prepared. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected this. He justified the initiative with a general digitization of life.
Drastic restrictions
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 Kartapolov. Previously, the summons had to be handed over personally 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 called a communist deputy who refused to implement the controversial new procedure in such a hurry a “saboteur”.
