In Russia, it will now be more difficult to escape the army, and the life of those who have fled the country will be made more complicated. On Tuesday, April 11, the Duma, the lower house of parliament, passed a law allowing mobilization orders to be sent electronically.
Concretely, according to the Russian media, they will be sent through the Gosuslugi system, used by millions of Russians for a whole series of administrative procedures. Once the order has been sent, the mobilized person is prohibited from leaving the country. If there is no Gosuslugi account, the electronic order will still be considered valid after seven days, according to media reports.
And the law provides for heavy prison sentences for those who ignore these appeals. “A citizen who can be mobilized will be considered refractory if he has refused to receive his summons or if he is not reachable,” the Duma said in a press release published on its website.
“The changes provide for a digitization of the military registry system,” the Duma said. Dmitry Peskov considered this technical change “absolutely necessary” to “perfect and modernize” the national enlistment system. He also announced that there “will be no second wave” of mobilization, after the “partial” one ordered last September by Vladimir Putin.
The bill passed by the Duma also provides, according to Russian media, for sanctions that appear to be directed against Russians abroad. Those fleeing their call to the army will thus be prohibited from selling, transferring to relatives or renting their accommodation. They will also not be able to sell their car.
Russians who do not report to the military commissariat within 20 days after their mobilization will no longer be able to work as an entrepreneur or self-employed person, receive loans or register their accommodation and car. The police will also have the right to search for and arrest recalcitrants and the tax service, universities and employers will have the duty to transfer the personal data of the persons concerned to the authorities.
Like Nina Ostanina, a deputy of the Russian Communist Party, the speed with which the bill was considered shocked some, even in the pro-government ranks. “Passing an entire law after a TV interview and two hours of familiarization [with the bill] has never happened before,” she marveled.