Duma Defense Committee Head Calls for Processing Russian Men for Draft Year-Round

Source Link

The head of the Duma’s defence committee has called for processing men to be drafted not two times a year as now but year-round, something he says would reduce tensions in the spring and fall campaigns by giving all involved time to operate more calmly. If adopted, his proposal could make it far easier for Moscow to move to a war footing by allowing the regime to boost the size of the military quickly, and thus making the situation less predictable for Russians and for other countries.

It could also give the Kremlin yet another tool to limit dissent by giving Moscow the ability to call almost any young men in for examinations and to conscript dissenters more readily. Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the Russian State Duma’s defense committee, and his deputy, Andrey Krasov—both former senior officers in the Russian military and members of the ruling United Russia Party—have submitted a draft bill that would allow military commissariats to evaluate men year-round, not just during the two draft periods in the spring and fall, as it is now (Russian State Duma, July 22; Meduza, July 23; Cherta, July 28). 

[1] The measure reflects what has already become a practice in Moscow and appears to enjoy the implicit support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose unpublished decree on these questions is cited by Kartapolov and Krasov (Meduza, July 22). The bill is therefore likely to pass quickly when the Duma returns from its summer recess and go into effect in January 2026. Kartapolov says that the measure is necessary both to reduce the pressures on the military commissariats and to allow men subject to the draft to know well in advance what their fate is likely to be. This would make the process more predictable for both. 

The current rules require evaluating those who might be drafted only during the draft period, which leaves little time for planning and hinders careful consideration of medical and other data (RBC, July 22). The measure is already being challenged, however. Victor Sobolyev, a Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and who is also on the Defense Committee, says there is no evidence that the military commissariats are overburdened under the existing system and, consequently, there is no reason to make a change (Region Voice, July 26).