The General Staff of the Russian Federation: respite for fathers of many children

The order on the postponement of mobilization for fathers with three or more minor children is of a recommendatory nature, according to the response of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to the request of the head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, Deputy of the CPRF, Nyna Ostanina.

“Now it is clear that there is confusion in the regions, where everyone interpreted the instructions in their own way. It is not clear how instructions can be recommended in the military department,” Ostanina noted in her Telegram channel.

After the so-called “partial mobilization” announced by Vladimir Putin in September of last year, a number of scandals occurred, related to the fact that fathers with many children, who are the only breadwinners in the family, are called up for war in Ukraine. Thus, 29-year-old Mikhail Sokolov, the father of four minor children, was called up in the city of Sukhoi Log in the Sverdlovsk Region, 39-year-old Roman Dvernikov, the father of three children under 14, was mobilized in Yekaterinburg, and the most high-profile case occurred in Yakutia, where the father of five minor children was mobilized .

In October, the head of the State Duma defense committee, Andrey Kartapolov, said that fathers of many children would be able to get a deferment from mobilization, but the authorities did not adopt any document regulating this issue. According to Kartapolov, the new rules “were included only in documents for official use” and are considered “a gesture of good will of the Ministry of Defense.”

In January, in Transbaikalia, several fathers of many children, who were returned home after mourning, were again sent to the war in Ukraine.

• According to official data, more than 330,000 Russians who are in the reserve have been called up for military service since September last year as part of the mobilization. At the end of October, the Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergei Shoigu, reported on the completion of the mobilization. After that, Putin also announced the end of conscription, but did not sign the corresponding decree. Thus, official mobilization continues in Russia.