Conscripts and contract soldiers will be punished more harshly for leaving a military unit

Time spent AWOL will not be counted as service.

The Russian Ministry of Defense proposes to tighten the liability of military personnel for leaving their place of service without authorization in wartime. While they “pay” for this crime with freedom, in the future they plan to punish them with rubles.

Now, in accordance with the Criminal Code, unauthorized leaving of a unit or place of service, as well as failure to appear on time for service without good reason, is punishable by at least arrest for up to six months, or detention in a disciplinary military unit for up to a year. This rule applies to those who left the usual part for a period of 2 to 10 days. Longer absences will result in more severe penalties. Also, from September 2022, stricter liability will be provided if a crime is committed by a military serviceman on conscription or under a contract, during a period of mobilization or martial law, in wartime or in conditions of an armed conflict or combat operations. The punishment for this is up to 5 years in prison.

The authors of the bill note that in this case, the period of unauthorized abandonment of the unit, if it does not exceed 10 days, is counted to the draft dodger as service time, that is, he also receives money for these days. This applies to employees of all law enforcement agencies. According to the document’s developers, this injustice needs to be corrected. Therefore, they propose not to count the time of unauthorized abandonment of a military unit, regardless of its reasons, against the period of service lasting more than 2 days.