Baked armor – Picture of the day – Kommersant

A draft law has been submitted to the State Duma providing a deferment from partial mobilization for Russian scientists – candidates and doctors of sciences. The withdrawal of these citizens from the reserve will not have a significant impact on the defense capability of the army, the authors of the initiative believe, but “will significantly reduce the fears of the Russian scientific community” and preserve the “scientific and technical potential” of the country. The previous, softer version, which included a delay only for scientists working in universities and research institutes, was not supported by the Ministry of Defense. In the military department, the initiative was considered “inappropriate” in the conditions of “guaranteed support for the mobilization deployment of the RF Armed Forces.”

A group of deputies (“New People”, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party) submitted amendments to the law “On mobilization preparation and mobilization” to the State Duma. Kommersant talked about the previous version of the document: in October, parliamentarians proposed to exempt candidates and doctors of sciences working in universities and research institutes from mobilization (withm. “Kommersant” dated October 27). The Ministry of Defense called the initiative “inexpedient” in the conditions of “guaranteed support for the mobilization deployment of the RF Armed Forces” (see “Kommersant” dated November 29). The head of the committee, Sergei Kabyshev, then told Kommersant that, given the position of the Ministry of Defense, the government’s response would also be negative.

However, the deputies not only submitted the draft law to the parliament, but also significantly expanded the text of the amendments. Now they propose to guarantee a deferment to all holders of doctoral and candidate of science degrees, regardless of their place of work.

The authors of the document talk about the need to “remove the existing contradiction” between the provisions of the Federal Law “On military duty and military service” and the Federal Law “On mobilization.” Thus, the first document exempts citizens with an academic degree from conscription for military service. The second one, the deputies point out, does not provide scientists with a similar opportunity within the framework of the call for partial mobilization. At the same time, the parliamentarians specify that the reservation will not apply to the situation with full mobilization.

Partial mobilization of military personnel was announced by President Vladimir Putin on 21 September. A few days later, he signed a deferment decree for full-time and part-time students; later students of non-state universities and graduate students received a similar benefit. Since the end of September, many officials and public figures have come up with initiatives to provide reservations for other categories of citizens related to education. Thus, the Ministry of Education sent a petition to the government for a deferment for school teachers (see “Kommersant” dated October 16). The trade union “University Solidarity” came up with the initiative to give a deferral for university teachers. Members of the academic “July 1st Club” pushed for a reprieve for PhDs and PhDs; a similar proposal was made by the recently elected President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Gennady Krasnikov.

“The number of people with academic degrees in Russia is about 363 thousand people,” the explanatory note says. “Of these, men under the age of 60 are about 135 thousand people. The removal of these persons from the reserve as part of partial mobilization will not have a significant impact on the defense capability of the Russian army, as well as the possibility of mobilization deployment of the RF Armed Forces: the Russian mobilization manpower reserve is about 30 million people.

According to legislators, the norm “will significantly reduce the fears of the Russian scientific community” and preserve the “scientific and technical potential” of the country.

“The restoration of scientific potential, including due to the forced departure of scientists from the country, will take years,” says Ksenia Goryacheva, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education (New People). “To prevent this, it is necessary to ensure security for Russian scientists and the opportunity for them to continue working in Russia.”

“We adhere to the formula: do what you must, and come what may,” explained Kommersant the decision to introduce the bill, despite the negative opinion of the Ministry of Defense, one of its authors, State Duma deputy Oleg Smolin (KPRF). “Water wears away the stone, and we hope that sooner or later such decisions will be made. However, he admitted that he considers it more appropriate to apply the amendments only to degree holders working in universities or research institutes: “I think this is a second reading question, if, of course, it will be the first thing we hope for.”

The bill also proposes to enshrine in the Federal Law “On Mobilization” the right of deferment for graduate students, students of colleges and universities. Now preferences for these categories are registered only in the presidential decree, the deputies emphasize. Ksenia Goryacheva explains: The Federal Law “On military service” establishes a deferment from military service for undergraduate and graduate students. The procedure for maintaining and extending the deferment in various life situations is also spelled out in detail there: academic leave, transfer to another program or to another university. “However, conscription for military service for mobilization is regulated only by the law “On mobilization” and already issued presidential decrees,” the deputy says. But we want to include in the law on mobilization rules on the preservation of deferrals, similar to those provided for by the law “On military service.” For example, that the deferment is preserved during the transfer and in the case of academic leave.

Anna Vasilyeva