Serve before the decree

Partial mobilization and a contract from the Ministry of Defense turned out to be virtually unlimited

The wives of those who were mobilized last fall to participate in their own, are persistently asked to limit their service life with one year and let go home.

The Ministry of Defense - against, saying that they should serve before the presidential decree on the end of partial mobilization. The very one, for the publication of which, according to the presidential administration, supposedly there is no “legal basis”.

In October of this year, a whole group of wives mobilized from the North-West Federal District turned to me. They asked to make changes to the legislation, limiting the life of a mobilization service by one year - so that their husbands could return home.

I wrote to the Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, asking to hold this offer - so that the service life of partial mobilization is limited to one year (except in cases where mobilized voluntarily agrees to extend this period).

The answer had to wait almost two months, but still he came.

The signature of the acting head of the 2nd department of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Administration of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation S. Drozdov reports that "the term of the military service of the citizens of the Russian Federation, drafted within the framework of partial mobilization, expires upon completion of the partial mobilization on the basis of the relevant decree of the President of the Russian Federation." And that "the establishment of a different period of military service of the Russian citizens called as part of a partial mobilization is supposed to be inappropriate."

In other words, those called on the “partial mobilization” should serve until President Vladimir Putin issues a decree on its completion. And he does not publish it! Moreover, his administration states that the decree does not need to be issued.

Deputies from Yabloko in four regional parliaments-the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, the Moscow City Duma, the Pskov Regional Assembly, the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, as well as in the Duma of Veliky Novgorod-wrote many times to the President of Russia, calling for a decree on the completion of partial mobilization. And each time they received refusals.

In the answers of the presidential administration, it was reported,

• that the mobilization call was “carried out until the established number necessary for the armed forces of the Russian Federation set tasks”.

• That, "according to the Ministry of Defense of Russia, the established number was achieved, in connection with which the call to mobilize was completed" and therefore "there are no legal grounds for the publication in connection with this by the Act of the President of the Russian Federation."

• Or they simply wrote that there would be no decree, since there are no “legal grounds” for him.

For reference: Vladimir Putin, during the annual press conference, said that 318,000 people were called up as part of a partial mobilization ...

The fact that the presidential decree on the completion of partial mobilization is not necessary, on November 1, 2022, was said by the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov.

“We inform you: the decree is not needed. In this regard, we have a conclusion of the state legal department of the presidential administration. The point is set. Partial mobilization is completed, ”Peskov said.

The fact that the “partial mobilization” was completed, on October 28, 2022, said Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu. In December 2022, President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a summit in Bishkek, said that "there are no factors for the new partial mobilization in Russia now." And in June 2023, Putin said that "there is no need for new mobilization."

However, the point in this case is not at all set.

As the New Gazeta said, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation by its resolution of May 18, 2023 determined that partial mobilization continues until the president, who declared it by decree No. 647 of September 21, 2022, will not issue a decree on the “date and time of the abolition of partial mobilization”.

And now the Ministry of Defense officially replies that so far such a decree has not been issued, the mobilized must continue to serve.

And that the restriction of the Military Service for Mobilization (that is, the demobilization of those who was called by decree No. 647) “is supposed to be inappropriate” - let them continue.

How long? Before the decree. And when will there be a decree? It is not known when it will be, and it is not known whether it will be at all, given the position of the presidential administration.

By the way, not only mobilized, but also contractors should serve “before the decree”: by decree No. 647, while the partial mobilization period lasts, previously concluded contacts on military service are continued. It doesn’t matter that someone has expired the term of the contract-he cannot leave the army.

This situation can be resolved only in one way: the speedy publication of the president’s decree on the completion of partial mobilization.

Otherwise, the military service of mobilized and contractors turns, in fact, indefinite.