Contract workers and volunteers will not return from the Russian army until the end of the war

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Russian bloggers and media workers writing about the war in Ukraine, stated that volunteers and contractors participating in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine will not return home until their end – regardless of the period for which they agreed contracts with the Ministry of Defense or when they were mobilized.

This was reported by one of the participants of the meeting, Alexander Sladkov. The official transcript of the meeting was not published.

The edition of Sibir.Realii notes that legally it is possible not to release contract workers due to the lack of a decree on the end of the so-called partial mobilization, which Putin announced in September last year. Together with the decree, a ban was introduced for military personnel who at that time had valid contracts with the Ministry of Defense to leave their place of service. Now, judging by the president’s words, we are talking about all the participants in the hostilities.

Among the reasons for dismissal from service are injuries, illnesses, reaching the age limit or the birth of a third child in the family.

• In September, the chairman of the State Duma defense committee, Andrey Kartapolov, said that there would be no rotation of the mobilized, which means that those called up for mobilization would also be required to remain in the zone of hostilities until their end. This caused violent indignation among groups of relatives and friends of the mobilized, who regularly turn to the authorities with requests to return soldiers from the front and recruit new ones instead.
• The day before in Moscow, relatives of the mobilized, in total about twenty women, went to a rally in the city center, protesting against the unlimited period of stay of their loved ones in the war zone in Ukraine.