The "Eternal" Draft is Coming

On July 22, the Russian State Duma received a proposed bill to hold conscription year-round, rather than exclusively during the fall and spring. Experts warned Novaya Gazeta that enlistment raids will drastically increase if this "law of eternal conscription" is passed, which would funnel more men towards Russia's ongoing War on Ukraine.

Currently, the draft is a multi-step process. Draftees receive a summons to register at a military enlistment office and undergo a medical examination. Within one day, the draft board determines whether to conscript the candidate. If selected, the draftee must report to the military enlistment office on a specific date, where they will be taken to an assembly point and receive their status as a serviceman.

According to President Vladimir Putin's decrees, summons occur twice per year: in the spring from April 1 to July 15, and in the fall from October 1 to December 31. The Russian army is also known to resort to raids to fill its ranks.

Just as the Duma was about to go on summer recess, Defense Committee Head Andrey Kartapolov and his deputy, Andrey Krasov, submitted a bill to draft young men year-round, allowing medical and psychological evaluations and meetings of the conscription commission to occur at any point in the year. According to the bill's authors, its goal is for offices of military registration to run more efficiently.

Said Kartapolov, "[The conscripts] will not wait in dread for the spring or summer. They will work calmly [during] the year." According to the bill, the only civilians who will have seasonal drafts are residents of the Far North, agricultural workers in rural areas, and teachers.

Kartapolov is notorious for his efforts to ramp up conscriptions. The Duma legislator authored bills for electronic military draft notices, the abolition of the maximum age for conscription, and punishment for "discrediting" volunteers and Wagner Group fighters.

Novaya Gazeta spoke with Sergey Krivenko, director of the human rights group Grazhdanin. Armya. Pravo. ("Citizen. Army. Law.") He pointed out that Russian authorities need the law because conscriptions "could quite increase" in 2026. Krivenko pointed out that military offices have repeatedly violated the law, summoning citizens during the "off-season."

Legitimizing illegal conscription practices isn't the law's only objective. Krivenko said h fears this law will lead to the terms of recruitment being cancelled altogether. Therefore, a Russian citizen can receive an electronic summons notice at any moment, and they will be blocked from leaving the country for a year.

Ivan Chuvilyaev, representative of an organization for those looking to avoid the draft, Idite Lesom (Go to the Forest), said, "We are all accustomed to the fact that in the fall and spring we need to be careful and vigilant because we can get caught in a raid. The main danger is that these raids can become year-round, like all conscription activities."

Chuvilyaev also said the law does not stipulate how the year-round draft will be implemented and how it will handle cases of medical exemptions. The biggest threat, he said, is that candidates will "sign a [military] contract immediately after passing a medical examination and [having a] meeting with the draft board."

The law will be reviewed in September once the Duma is back in session. If passed, it is expected to come into effect in 2026.