Russia approves a law that prohibits draftees from leaving the country

The Duma (lower house) of Russia approved on Tuesday a law that prohibits draftees from leaving the country, be they conscripts or reservists mobilized in the framework of the current Russian military campaign in the Ukraine. In addition, the parliamentarians gave their approval to the proposal to create an electronic enlistment notification system that would facilitate the mobilization of troops.

The new legal framework stipulates that once they receive the electronic draft documents, recruits will have to report to a draft office within two weeks and will not be able to travel abroad. Until now orders had to be delivered in person and many Russians evaded the draft by refusing to pick up those orders and fleeing to other countries.

In the event that the affected person does not go to the enlistment center within a period of 20 days, the driver’s license, the purchase of real estate or the request for credit will be temporarily restricted. The law Now it must be approved by the senators, something that is taken for granted, and later to be promulgated by the leader of the regime, Vladimir Putin.

Although 394 deputies approved the motion and only one abstained, the communists denounced having received a document of several hundred pages with the amendments shortly before the vote. Despite this, the president of the Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, called on all parliamentarians to support the amendments without discussion.

According to its authors, the law tries to correct the many mistakes madeduring the partial mobilization ordered by Putin. “From our point of view, these amendments will contribute to social justice. Service in the Armed Forces is not only a sacred duty, but an honorable constitutional obligation,” said Andrei Kartapolov, co-author of the law.

Kartapolov stressed that the law will allow “those who do their duty to be in the same conditions as those who evade it“. As the notification will be made through the public services portal, some Russians have already unsubscribed from it. The Kremlin denied that this is the step prior to a new mobilization to cover the huge casualties suffered by the Russian invaders in Ukraine .