MOSCOW, November 20 (Itar-Tass) —— The State Duma Tuesday passed in the first reading the government bill on measures to enhance the prestige and attractiveness of the call-up military service. Deputies also consider various bans for draft dodgers closing for them, first of all, the door to civil service and, possibly, to other areas of activity.
Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Vladimir Komoyedov, deputy from the CPRF, said the bill suggests “giving preference to citizens who performed their duty to the Motherland and who graduated from state higher educational establishments for study under supplementary educational programs in educational institutions and research organizations, including those abroad, in the framework of programs and projects financed from the federal budget in the procedure and on terms envisaged under these programs and projects.”
The bill also stipulates that a citizen evading the call-up cannot be employed in civil service or continue to hold a post in civil service.
“In conditions when the Armed Forces are manned by soldiers, sailors and sergeants under conscription and by contracts, it is undoubtedly creditable to give more motivation for military service by conscription,” the head of the committee stressed. “Besides, the adoption of this bill will help form a justifiably negative attitude to draft dodgers in society,” he believes.
Frantz Klintsevich, the deputy chairman of the Defense Committee, deputy from United Russia, delivering the co-report, came out for “radical measures regarding draft dodgers. “Since we started to consider barring draft dodgers from civil service, why not deny them the right to hold posts in municipal services and law enforcement,” he asked. “They should be prohibited from being members of government, deputies of the upper and lower houses of parliament, judges and prosecutors,” he said. “I believe this is quite logical. The committee is going thoroughly to study the matter for the second reading of the bill,” said the MP. He also believes that the notion of “draft evasion” should be more thoroughly analyzed. “There should be no loopholes left for those who try to avoid fulfilling their constitutional duty, taking advantage of imperfection of some legislative norms,” Klintsevich added.
Regarding the duration of the call-up military service, Nikolai Pankov, the deputy defense minister of the Russian Federation, confirmed that one day of military services is counted as two workdays. He also made assurances that the bill “excludes all discrimination, also according to gender.”