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Draftees to no longer be able to leave country after receiving summons to serve

According to the law, the ban is a temporary measure geared to ensure that people do not dodge appearing at the military enlistment office

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning conscripts from leaving the country. The document was posted on the official portal of legal information on Friday.

The law bars Russian nationals who are subject to mandatory military service from leaving the country from the day the relevant draft notice is issued to the day when they appear at the military recruitment office. The law also bans conscripts from leaving Russia effective the day their draft notices are posted in the official register of legal documents served.

According to the law, the ban is a temporary measure geared to ensure that people do not dodge appearing at the military enlistment office. The ban will come into effect on the day when a draft notice is issued whereas, under the previous edition of the law, the ban went into effect the day when the notice was deemed served.

The ban is lifted automatically the day the conscript comes to the enlistment office or presents a viable excuse for not appearing.

Apart from that, the law spells out the procedure for transferring data about citizens who are to be registered with military authorities. Previously, regional authorities received data on the health of those subject to conscription from medical organizations after which they had to transfer that data into an online registration form. Now regional authorities must send all the documents received to the health ministry, which will then add it to the register.

A similar procedure will be applied to educational establishments. Schools and universities will send data to regional authorities, which will then send that data to the national health watchdog (Rospoterbnadzor) so it can enter it into the register.

Conscripts will now receive an online notification about their summons, and if they don’t show up to the conscription office within 20 days upon receipt of this document, they will face temporary restriction measures (fines of up to 30,000 rubles, or around 320 US dollars).

The new measures also allow Russia’s new regions to voluntarily train people registered with military commissariats based on agreements with the Russian defense ministry.