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Kremlin has no comment on legality of decision to draft FBK staffer into the army

Earlier, the media reported that the draftee had been sent to the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Arkhangelsk Region

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The Kremlin has no comment regarding the legality of the decision to draft into the army a staffer of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Ruslan Shaveddinov.

"We’ve seen reports on this score, but it is hard for me to make a comment," Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Wednesday. "I do not know if he is a draft dodger, and if yes, for how long he has evaded military service," Peskov said.

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"If he dodged the draft, then he violated the law. I do not think that it casts a shadow on something," Peskov added when asked if this conscription method might have a negative effect on the image of the armed forces.

"If he tried to evade military service and was drafted the way it was done, then it happened in strict compliance with the law," Peskov commented.

Earlier, the media reported that Anti-Corruption Foundation staffer Ruslan Shaveddinov had been allegedly drafted into the army by compulsion and sent to the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Arkhangelsk Region. An explanation from Moscow’s Deputy Military Commissar, Colonel Maxim Loktev, obtained by TASS says that Shaveddinov had long dodged military service and his conscription was legal, while the place of service was determined in accordance with the results of medical examination.

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