The war recruitment in Russia through the eyes of a common citizen

My little story is nowhere near the atrocities of the war between Ukraine and Russia. But I wanted to share some dilemmas of war recruitment I currently face being a citizen of Russia outside the country.

So they introduced an electronic database of citizens who are bound to the military service. It is a constitutional requirement for all men in the country to protect it. So all those potential recruits, including some women, who have a medical occupation, must be sorted and processed somehow by the authorities. Previously all of them must have been processed in piles of papers. And the laws were designed in a way, that the potential recruits must come to the local authority in person provided that they received the official notification in paper and signed it.

Hence many people were not signing any papers. Even though they were searched by the authorities. Due to the outstanding bureaucracy you can imagine how this was and is used at the moment. Administrative investigations or even the criminal ones are happening all over the country. Many people were caught and processed straight into the army. So it became a common wisdom for those who don’t want to join any army to stay away from those authorities as far as possible. It doesn’t really matter if you have an official incline to not serve, like a medical condition. As long as you can hold a gun there is a chance you can be recruited. No one protects you from that local authority full of military people, only your knowledge of laws and strong psyche. Would you take such a risk by visiting their building?

Shortly after ending a school, I remember a military car standing below the windows of our house. Since I didn’t want to sign anything. They came. My mother said to go. So they put me in the car and took me to their building. They made sure that I’m actually a citizen of the country by checking my passport at the entrance. They opened the door of a huge metal lattice protecting the lair, so I can come in. Then I was “invited” to pass some medical tests. It just happened that the tests were done by the very same people working inside the building. Walking between rooms. Talking to people beaten by the life. Questions were very basic, like are you a psychopath? Do you see the alphabet on the wall? And so on. Very shortly I was sorted as having a medical shape good enough for the army.

I had other encounters, so I finally got a reprieve back then. But that still doesn’t mean that I will not get onto the list for the mobilisation. As things can change very quickly with the new electronic database. As you may have noticed every visit to the authority is a potential medical and circumstantial reexamination and changing of the persons status in favour of the soldier. Many local authorities have a plan from their higher commanders for a certain number of recruits. Now as the war going, the “need” for the new flesh can happen any moment. The president was not signing any papers about ending the mobilisation. It was a favourable move advised by their lawyer. So it can be "launched again” any moment. And how the electronic database is a game changer?

Well, they sharply passed an 80-so pages law, in a matter of hours. The main thing was the database, which is a logical move towards the order of things. It helps a lot with the bureaucracy, and potentially helps some people too. But in particular it considers those people notifications being pushed to the database by the button of the commissar, as the ones being automatically signed by the subject person. Meaning the person becomes obligated to visit the military. There is no evidence that the law was passed through any of the human rights advisors or people like that. So it seems that such protectors are present in the gov, but not for the tasks from the military commanders. Even hundreds of deputies were presented with the law document being redacted just a couple of hours before the meeting. So the voice of the people had been effectively shaped by the military advisor. We need the order in the army! So where the force rules?

That is how the new consensus to the government chain can be added. Now imagine there is a simple reason to send a notification just to check the condition of the person and possibly change their status in the database. The only thing, the law includes that the person immediately becomes obligated to visit those very places I described above. They get a restriction from leaving the country. Driving license becomes invalid and some other blocks happen. With the timeout before they get punished if they don't do so. So I really wanted to visit my country and got the ticket, but as I got acquainted with the recent changes, I decided to stay out of trouble. The troubles don't end on that. Now when I stay out of country, if I get the notification, there is a chance of getting a criminal investigation after all, if stars align in a certain way. So that kind of bothers me.

There is still a chance of getting a withdrawal from the database for the reason of leaving the country for more than 6 months. I can possibly do that remotely (rare exception for doing any personal documents in Russia), but that requires some documents that I do not possess at the moment. Even the list of documents is not regulated by the law - it is something the commissar can decide on. I highly guess the simple stamp in the passport wont make any proof for them. As they are most likely convinced that I dodge from my constitutional obligation to protect the country. Which is strange in the light of current war events. Going further, some people might have an international passport which is expiring soon. I wonder will they be able to get a new one in the case of being blocked. What will happen to those who are already being prosecuted.

Those things are hanging. And I need to land for a long-term somewhere, I guess, to base my life, and possibly get those documents to avoid any troubles. Hope this material opens another perspective on the war recruitment for someone. Keep safe.