They brushed us off.” Military enlistment offices deny exemption from service to conscripts whose relatives died in the war

“They brushed us off.” Military enlistment offices deny exemption from service to conscripts whose relatives died in the war

Russia has a provision under which the children and brothers of mobilized men who were killed are exempt from conscription. Initially, this right applied only to those who died during compulsory military service or military training. But in 2024, Ivan Smolnikov, a resident of the Kirov region, secured this right after his brother died while mobilized. The Sixth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction sided with him and ruled that the man did not have to go into the army.

Verstka found several more similar rulings. Courts state that conscription for military service under mobilization is mandatory in nature and is considered a type of conscription, not voluntary enlistment. But if the deceased had managed to sign a contract, his relatives will not receive exemption from service.

In reality, military enlistment offices continue to deny conscripts their rights. For example, the family of Timofey from the “LNR,” whose father was mobilized in 2022 and went missing near Bakhmut two years later, appealed to the military enlistment office but was refused. They were told that conscript service and service under mobilization “are not identical terms,” and that compulsory service has a term of 12 months, while service under mobilization does not.

Artyom, a conscript from Vladivostok, was able to prove in court that his mobilized father had died several years earlier while undergoing conscript service. The proceedings lasted about two months.

“What surprised me was that the military enlistment office has no sympathy at all,” Artyom complains. “They just say that you must [go into the army], despite the law. In court they told me that [the military enlistment office’s arguments] were some kind of total nonsense, ridiculous, that this simply could not be.”

How to avoid being sent into the army after a close relative has died — read on Verstka’s website (with VPN):

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Verstka

“Enough sons have been lost.” Military enlistment offices deny deferments to conscripts whose relatives died in the war

There are chances only if the person killed had been mobilized