Daily Journal:

Oleg Kozlovsky has a very difficult status - he graduated from the military department, took the oath, and, in theory, should have been awarded the rank of officer. If he was given a rank, then it is doubly illegal to call up an officer as a private. If he was not given the title, then he is an ordinary “criminal” who fell under this disgusting behavior.

You need to understand: this is a standard situation. There are probably three thousand of these “criminal raiders” in Moscow, no less. Any person who is caught in a raid during conscription is a victim. Because the law does not provide for this. This is a gross violation of the law. But just in the case of Oleg, the story is complex, there may be a double violation. The guy was caught in a raid, and for some reason he was quickly assigned to the Air Force Air Defense team. Why the fright?

Although all this noise is our usual “crowed, but at least don’t bloom.” Why don’t my comrades in the human rights camp fight so hard for the rest? We have been talking about raids since the fall of 2000. We have such boys... For example, a boy with one grade of education, was caught in a raid, assigned to the troops - he is not just a stutterer, he almost becomes silent - he did not speak at all until the age of seven. And the Kuntsevo military registration and enlistment office sent such a boy to the troops. Another was recruited by deception: he has a retired mother at home and a disabled brother diagnosed with cerebral palsy, who is bedridden - he has a 100 percent deferment. But the military registration and enlistment office told my mother that there was no deferment.

The raids take place for seven years, twice a year - they catch everyone. I see no reason here to think that these are targeted political repressions. Of course, this whole story is disgusting, but this is the usual standard disgusting, this is how our police and our military treat all conscripts. Let me remind you that in 2000 we said: if conscripts are grabbed like this and taken away in handcuffs, soon the same will happen to everyone. And Khodorkovsky, if you remember, was arrested exactly as a conscript. I don’t know the details, I don’t know what they told Oleg when they called him up. Therefore, for me, he is one of thousands of those who fell under this meat grinder.

I think everything will be fine with Oleg: I haven’t seen the documents yet, but the colleague who is working on his case said that he has a lot of illnesses and, of course, he is not suitable as a private soldier. Let no one be offended by me, but in this story with Oleg, it seems to me that my own frivolity is covered up by talking about politics. How could you not find out your status? And if it now turns out that there is an order to award him the rank of officer, then he will be served as an officer for two years, according to the law. And they will be right.

There are two fundamental things here. Of course, we need to strive for the abolition of military conscription - as long as there is slavery, there will be lawlessness, there will be such egregious cases. As soon as the army becomes voluntary, the situation will change dramatically.

And secondly, you need to understand what kind of world you are in - get your military ID, and that’s it. They call everyone, they come to everyone, many end up under raids. Young people need to know that by the age of 18 they need to settle their relationship with the military registration and enlistment office once and for all - they are all unfit for health. Every single one of them. We have been saying this for 19 years - I registered, my parents came and met the colonel, by the age of 18 you have to collect all the documents and honestly go to the medical examination. All. It's legal and it's free. Instead, people fall into the hands of scammers, bribe takers, raids, etc.

And in the spring it will be even worse. Because there will be no delays - it will be a complete nightmare. They will take away from small children... Well, I don’t know whether women will agree to six thousand instead of their husband (and it is still unclear how they will pay it). And I feel terribly sorry for the elderly and disabled. And we will not be able to achieve dismissal if something happens to a soldier at home. As long as there is such a call, everyone will be grabbed, arrested, killed, in general, they will do whatever they want with the guys. What if you look wrong, talk wrong, or someone likes your wife, or your apartment, or your business. A very convenient way - once, and the person is gone.

Valentina Melnikova - head of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia