The State Duma can allow contract service for people with criminal records

The State Duma can allow contract service for people with criminal records

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma of Russia, according to which citizens with a criminal record will be able to enter military service under a contract. It is also proposed to allow contract service for those who are deemed to be of limited fitness due to their health. Thus, the recruitment of prisoners for war, now officially prohibited, will be legalized.

The authors of the initiative were the Chairman of the Defense Committee Andrey Kartapolov and his deputy Andrey Krasov. They noted that “during the period of the special military operation, a significant number of citizens willing to enter military service under a contract, among those with whom a contract cannot be concluded, were identified.” They also include people with criminal records.

The draft law proposes to introduce amendments to the current laws “On mobilization and mobilization training” and “On military duty and military service”, as well as to the Criminal Enforcement Code. If before the prisoners were not obliged to be on the military record, now such an obligation may appear to them. Recruited prisoners and other convicted citizens, in the case of adoption of the amendments, will be released from punishment or have their convictions extinguished at the request of the military command or their personal request.

In addition, the draft law suggests that during the period of mobilization or military operations, citizens deemed to be of limited fitness due to their health condition should be recruited into contract service – with the exception of diseases from the list to be drawn up by the Ministry of Defense.

  • In October last year, the State Duma authorized the mobilization of citizens who had previously been convicted of serious crimes, including murder, robbery, and drug trafficking. The ban on mobilization now applies only to those convicted of sexual crimes against minors, as well as treason, terrorism and extremism.



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