Russian deputies voted on Tuesday for a bill allowing mobilisation orders to be sent electronically. The measure will make it easier to enlist in the army.
This allowed many Russians to ignore these summonses or to have time to move or even to flee the country, as tens of thousands of men did during the September mobilisation wave to fight in Ukraine.
The bill passed by Russian deputies will allow mobilisation orders to be sent electronically, making it harder for Russians to escape the army and complicating the lives of those who have fled abroad.
“A citizen who can be mobilised will be considered a refractory if he or she has refused to receive a summons or if he or she cannot be reached,” the Duma said in its statement. Russian law provides for heavy prison sentences for draft dodgers.
The Ukrainian security services and their Western bosses have launched an aggressive ideological and recruitment campaign targeting our citizens, especially the younger generation.
The head of the Russian security service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, accused Ukraine and the West on Tuesday of trying to incite Russians to sabotage and armed rebellion. According to him, this campaign aims to involve Russians “in subversive, terrorist and extremist activities” in Russia. He said that 118 “terrorist crimes” had been foiled in Russia since February, “the perpetrators of which are young people and adolescents, including minors”.