Students are forced to sign consent to early draft

In many regions of Russia, college students are required to sign consent to early passing of the draft board. About it writes the publication “Vorstka”. Students are given a deferment from the conscription, but if they pass the final exams ahead of schedule, they can receive summonses to the military enlistment office already in the spring.

As Alexey Tabalov, head of the human rights organization “Conscript School” told “Võrstke”, this practice first started in 2021. Military enlistment offices together with the administration of colleges require that students of graduation courses write applications for early passage of the draft and medical commissions. Further, according to Tabalov, the military enlistment offices agree with the management of the colleges that the students who signed such applications will pass the exams early. Then the students receive a summons with the obligation to appear at the military enlistment office. At the military enlistment office, they pass a medical examination and are sent to the army.

Thus, according to the human rights defender, early graduates can get into the spring draft, which begins in April. Tabalov emphasizes that students often do not know that an already signed application can be withdrawn.

The human rights project “Walk in the Forest”, which helps Russians avoid mobilization, also reported that Moscow universities and colleges arrange meetings for students with military commissars. Students say that at these meetings, those who are registered in Moscow are handed summons with the obligation to appear at the military enlistment office. Students who ignore these meetings are threatened with “individual disciplinary action”.

• The spring conscription for the army should begin in Russia on April 1. According to the Russian authorities, the partial mobilization of reservists for the war in Ukraine, which started on September 21, has been completed. However, the decree on it is still in effect, and theoretically, mobilization measures can be resumed at any time.