Russia Has Passed a Law on Conscription for Military Service Throughout the Year

On 28 October, during a plenary session, members of the Russian Duma passed, in its third and final reading, a bill allowing conscription for military service throughout the calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December.

During this period, military commissariats will be able to conduct medical examinations of conscripts, psychological selection and meetings of conscription commissions.

At the same time, conscripts will continue to be sent to their places of service twice a year – from 1 April to 15 July and from 1 October to 31 December.

It is noted that an amendment was made to the bill before the second reading, limiting the period of appearance under an electronic summons issued by the military commissariat to 30 days (previously, such summonses were valid for an unlimited period of time – the commissariat could schedule an appearance several months in advance).

The authors of the bill were the chairman of the Duma Defence Committee, Andriy Kartapolov, and his first deputy, Andriy Krasov. According to them, the new procedure should ‘evenly distribute the load on conscription points and improve the quality of conscription’.

What preceded it:

In September, the Russian State Duma passed in the first reading a bill providing for conscription into military service throughout the year – from 1 January to 31 December.

In 2023, the State Duma of the Russian Federation raised the conscription age for men to 30, banned people with draft notices from travelling abroad, and increased the penalty for failing to report to the military registration and enlistment office tenfold.