In St. Petersburg, military enlistment offices started sending SMS messages to conscripts

Residents of St. Petersburg began to receive messages requiring them to report to the military enlistment office. This was reported on Monday by the St. Petersburg Telegram channel “Rotonda” and the human rights project “Walk in the Forest”, which helps conscripts avoid military service.

The project was contacted by a resident of St. Petersburg, who is entering the master’s program and who received an “text message” on August 14. It says that he must appear at the military enlistment office on certain dates, and in case of non-appearance, an administrative offense case will be initiated against him, – writes the Russian Service of the BBC. The SMS message was sent on behalf of the Military Commissariat of the Moscow District of St. Petersburg.

“Rotonda”, in turn, confirms that potential conscripts who received secondary special education began to receive such messages. The “Rotondy” source in the administration of one of the districts of the city confirmed that the military enlistment offices are sending messages to “check and clarify the data before the autumn draft.” The official admitted that SMS messages are not legally recognized as subpoenas, and non-appearance due to such messages cannot be punished administratively.

There is no draft for urgent service now. Autumn recruitment should begin on October 1.

The State Duma recently tightened the law on conscription, several times increased fines for not appearing at the military enlistment office on a summons. In addition, a special electronic register of subpoenas will be created, and the subpoena, according to the amendments that will enter into force on January 1, will be considered delivered at the moment of its entry into the register. From this moment on, the conscript will be prohibited from leaving Russia – until his appearance at the military enlistment office. Summonses will be sent in electronic form through “Gosuslugy”. The law does not say anything about text messages as a substitute for subpoenas.