[London, 8th Reuters]–Danila Davidoff, 22, left her native Russia a few weeks after the government began its invasion of Ukraine. She said she was afraid to shed her blood in a war she didn’t support.
Digital artist Davidoff lived in St. Petersburg. As the conflict persists, he is concerned that the Russian government may put pressure on young people like himself to serve in the military.
“I didn’t want to go to war or jail, so I decided to leave the country,” Davidoff told Reuters in his current location in Kazakhstan.
According to lawyers and human rights activists, an increasing number of young Russians, like Mr. Davidoff, are trying to escape military service since the end of February when the invasion of Ukraine began. A glimpse of mixed feelings about conflict in Russian society.
Some young men leave the country, while others seek advice to find other ways, such as exemption from military service. Alternatively, there is an example of ignoring the convocation and expecting no prosecution by the authorities. At Reuters, we spoke with seven men seeking to avoid military service, as well as five lawyers and human rights activists.
In Russia, men between the ages of 18 and 27 are required to serve in the military, and if they refuse, they risk fines or two years’ imprisonment. A man told Reuters that his refusal to serve was a terrible relationship with his family, who believed that military service was a youth duty.
Davidoff said he was able to cancel his military service registration and leave the country because he had been hired abroad. He says he wants to return to his home country, but laments that it won’t be possible for a while. “I love Russia and I feel very lonely.”
When I asked the Russian government for comment on the scale of military service avoidance and whether it would affect the operation of the Russian army, the Ministry of Defense was introduced as a contact point, but no response was obtained. “The mission in the Army and Navy is an honorable duty of the Russian people and promises considerable incentives in the future,” the Ministry of Defense said on its website.
The Russian government says it is currently conducting a “special military operation” and is proceeding as planned. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the soldiers fighting for the nation as “heroes”, saving Russian speakers from persecution and frustrating “Western plans to destroy Russia.” ing. In March, the president said that those who had an idea closer to the west than Russia were “traitors.”
On February 24, Russia launched 10,000 units of troops into Ukraine and launched the largest ground invasion since World War II. After the withdrawal of Russian troops from the suburbs of Kyiv, the war situation became stalemate, and the Russian government focused on securing eastern Ukraine, and attrition warfare was fought by exchanging artillery.
Putin relies on the army of professional military personnel, but according to Western nations, he has suffered considerable losses since the beginning of the war. If the Russian Army fails to recruit enough volunteers, the president’s options are to involve Russian society in mobilizing recruits or diminishing his own ambitions.
President Putin has repeatedly professed that recruits should not be involved in the fighting in the Ukrainian conflict, but the Pentagon said in early March that some recruits were already fighting in Ukraine. In June, Russian military prosecutors testified in the Senate that about 600 recruits had been mobilized into the conflict, resulting in more than a dozen officers being disciplined.
Martial law has been put in place in Ukraine, and men between the ages of 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country. The Ukrainian government has stated that the Russian invasion is a one-sided imperialist territorial seizure and will fight to the end.
Since Peter the Great transformed Russia into a European power, Russian rulers often relied on conscription for some of the giant Russian army, one of the world’s largest combat forces. Men of target age must serve one year of military service. Russia gathers about 260,000 soldiers a year by convening twice a year. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which is based in London, the total number of Russian troops is about 900,000.
Avoidance of military service has long been established, including legal means such as postponement of summons for academic and medical reasons. But in recent months, an increasing number of young men are seeking help on how to avoid military service, according to interviews with four lawyers and human rights activists who provide such advice and legal assistance. According to two of them, most are young people in big cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg.
One of the organizations that offers free legal advice is “Release”, co-operated by Dmitry Lutsenko, who is from Russia and currently lives in Cyprus. According to Luzenko, a public group run by Release on the messaging app Telegram for those seeking advice on how to avoid drafts had about 200 participants before the invasion of Ukraine. It is said that it has grown to more than 1000 people now.
Another human rights group, Citizen Army Law (citizen, military, law), advises those seeking public service other than military service, such as working in state institutions such as hospitals instead of the military. I’m working hard. According to the group, the number of inquiries increased from around 40 at the same time last year to more than 400, which is 10 times that number recently. “Many people are scared, and they don’t want to join the army that is actually engaged in combat,” said Sergei Klibenko of the group.
Dennis Koksharov, a lawyer who chairs a legal support group called “Prizibnik”, did not disclose the specific number, but at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the number of people seeking advice on avoiding military service was He says it has increased by about 50%. He says the number of inquiries has declined since then, and more recently the number of young people volunteering for combat has increased.
Koksharov speculates that these changes may have led to more people becoming accustomed to the conflict situation and “trying to show patriotism.”
Fyodor Dostolerin, 27, from St. Petersburg, said he was protesting the war shortly after the invasion began, but decided to leave Russia at the end of February.
Strelin, who has now moved to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, said he had been exempted from military service last year because of myopia, but chose to leave Russia because of concerns about full mobilization. “I feel lonely away from his hometown and have lost my place,” says Strelin.
Some young men who have been convened for military service ignore the convocation, assuming that the authorities have secured sufficient numbers elsewhere. Six young people, lawyers, and human rights activists interviewed Reuters revealed.
Kirill, 26, from southern Russia, who works in the technology field, received a call in May after receiving a convocation letter in April. However, he did not respond because he did not support the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
According to Kirill, that has strained relationships with some of his family and friends who support the war and believe that everyone should comply with military service obligations. “Ukrainians are like brothers. That country has a lot of acquaintances and I can’t support these military actions,” explains Kirill.
In June, police visited his home when he was absent and asked his mother why his son was evading military service, according to Kirill. I couldn’t get the support of Mr. Kirill’s testimony. Reuters attempted to interview the media public relations department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The person who answered the call was given a different phone number, but did not answer over and over again.
The Ukrainian government and Western governments supporting the country estimate that Russia has already cost as much or more than the 15,000 Soviet troops lost during the 1979-89 invasion of Afghanistan. ing. At the end of March, the Russian government announced that 1351 Russian soldiers had been killed and thousands were injured since the start of military operations in Ukraine, but the official killed in action has not been updated since then.
There are signs that Russia is seeking to recruit troops. In May, President Putin signed a law to lift the 40-year-old age limit for military volunteers. At that time, parliamentarians said the amendment should bring together experienced personnel in specialized fields such as cutting-edge equipment and engineering.
A Russian man in his thirties, who wants to remain anonymous, told Reuters that he was asked by phone to appear in a military office in front of him wanting to confirm some personal circumstances. At the office, an unidentified man in military uniform asked about his past military history and offered to pay 300,000 rubles a month if he participated in a battle in Ukraine.
Reuters could not get its own support for this testimony.
The man said he declined the offer because he was not a professional soldier and had never fired ten since he finished his military service.
“Even if you get 300,000 rubles, nothing will happen if you die,” the man said.
(Translation: Acrelen)
