New Law Gives Deferred Right to Give Up Deferments Another Wayfor Moscow to Meet Draft Quotas

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 1 – A Russian law taking effect today giving those who have received a deferment the right to give that up and serve in the military will give officials the opportunity to put pressure on those deferred to do s and thus help the Russian government to meet its draft quotas even though the number of 18-year-olds continues to decline.   

            That is because the new rules will open the way for officials to generate pressure on those deferred for education and possibly other reasons as well to give up these deferments and join the military now. The text of the new law is available at publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201905010044.

            While polls show that the military enjoys broader support in Russia now than in the past, many young men do not want to be drafted; and if they had deferments, they were able to put off any service until those deferments are ended. But now, they will be under pressure possibly from their peers as orchestrated by the authorities t give them up on their own.

            Indeed, it is even possible that the Kremlin has pushed through this measure precisely to raise and then field a larger army to back up Vladimir Putin’s aggressive stance toward the rest of the world as well as to ensure that the Russian army will not become ever less ethnically Russian, something most of its commanders do not want to see happen.