Ostanina spoke about the struggle for two new deferrals for fathers

Recently, the topic of new deferrals from partial mobilization has been actively discussed in government structures and in society – for men who already have two children, and the wife is more than 22 weeks pregnant, as well as for fathers of disabled children. This issue, as before, the postponement for fathers with three children is handled by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, Nina Ostanina. She told MK about her “fight” with the Ministry of Defense for new categories of men with children who could be exempted from being sent to the NVO zone.

Today there was information that the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Nikolai Pankov denied a conversation with Nina Ostanina, who referred to a conversation with him and announced that the Ministry of Defense decided to exempt fathers of two children with pregnant wives from partial mobilization, as well as fathers of disabled children.

On October 26, Nina Ostanina, in a video message on her Telegram channel, congratulated the women on the fact that they managed to “defend fathers of many children with three children”, and then shared “two very good news”, namely:

– I just got on the phone with the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Nikolai Pankov – our changes to the directive on exempting fathers of two children from mobilization and, if the wife is pregnant and the gestational age is more than 22 weeks, have been adopted! The directive has been amended. And one more amendment has been made: fathers raising disabled children are exempted from mobilization, and, moreover, regardless of the number of children in the family. That is, even if one child is disabled, this is already exemption from mobilization!

A few hours later, Nina Ostanina explained that she had a misunderstanding with the military and a “misunderstanding.”

Especially for MK, Nina Ostanina described in detail the situation with the introduction of these two amendments:

– On October 20, a closed meeting was held in the State Duma with the participation of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Secretary of State Nikolai Pankov. Nikolai Alexandrovich answered the burning questions that concern the voters and that were asked by the deputies of all parliamentary factions. As a result of this closed meeting, I summarized all the questions and proposals of the deputies, and, as the chairman of the Committee, asked for a meeting and went to the General Staff. Nikolai Pankov agreed to hold a meeting with me, inviting Burdinsky, the chief of the organizational and mobilization department of the General Staff, whose department was preparing a directive on the procedure for mobilization, which was signed by the chief of the General Staff Gerasimov. The three of us discussed the proposals of the deputies. In the directive, I asked to correct the clause that “not fathers of three children and a wife pregnant with a fourth child” are entitled to a deferment, but “fathers of two children and a pregnant wife.” Nikolay Pankov promised to improve it.

Well, there were a lot of questions about disabled children, because the directive contains a rule according to which a deferment from partial mobilization is granted to the fathers of three children, one of whom is disabled. Pankov also said that this needs to be improved. The third sentence concerned “the only child of a single parent.”

With two of these three proposals, both Pankov and Burdinsky agreed. But at the same time, I asked a question, how do you feel about our amendment to the law on mobilization? All these norms have already been proposed in the bill of the Communist Party faction. Namely, these are amendments to Article 18 of the 1997 mobilization law, where a family with many children should be considered not with 4, but with 3 children, and also raise the age of the child to 18 years old or up to 23 years old if the child is studying at a university. On October 19, these amendments were already considered by the Defense Committee and the Committee decided on October 25 to submit them to the Council of the State Duma and submit them for adoption in November. To which Nikolai Pankov said that he would support the bill, but only after the end of the SVO. And until the end of the SVO, as he said, the directive will be in effect, and “we will take into account your two new amendments regarding pregnant wives and disabled children.”

On Monday, Pankov told me that he had not yet met with anyone at the General Staff and did not know the result. Burdinsky promised to give an answer on Tuesday. That is, we have reached such a verbal agreement. When I asked if our amendments were made, Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, answered me that “yes, a document on the implementation procedure was adopted.” This is what I told my subscribers in the Telegram channel. And suddenly I receive information that Nikolai Pankov called the news agency and said that he had not spoken to me. After that, I spoke again in the State Duma and told the deputies that in the morning I informed them about the amendments, but it turns out that the document is called “On the procedure for applying these directives.” But no one has seen this document. And, unfortunately, Pankov, instead of answering the question of whether the amendments had been made, said that he had not spoken to me … Therefore, on behalf of the State Duma, I turned to the government representative in the State Duma, Alexander Sinenko, so that he could find out in the Ministry of Defense whether these amendments were made to the directive signed Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov, or not.

Meanwhile, a well-known obstetrician-gynecologist, WHO expert, member of the Presidium of the European Society for Contraception and Reproductive Health Lyubov Erofeeva explained to MK the need for this measure:

– Firstly, why are we talking about a gestational age of more than 22 weeks? Because this is such a period when it can already be expected that if a child is born, he will be viable. Secondly, of course, the psychological state of a pregnant woman is very important. “Psychological hygiene” is one of the main components of a successful pregnancy. The woman must be calm. She must prepare for an important stage in her life. And she certainly needs support – and universal, that is, from close people and friends, but the most important support should be from a man – the father of her children, both already born and future.

Meanwhile, the page of Nina Ostanina continues to receive many complaints from mothers of many children from different regions that no one is going to return their husbands – the fathers of three children. Recall that in relation to this category of men, the order of the Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov dated October 4, 2022 should act (but it does not work everywhere).

“In order to get a reprieve under the directive, you have to go through three circles of hell,” said a father with many children from the Moscow region. – And the military commissars will continue to say that “there is no such law about three children.” If they do not want to enshrine in the law, then they believe that this norm will have to be neglected in the future. I don’t see any other explanation. Directive is good until it is cancelled. And the law is more reliable.

Mother of many children Christina advises women “not to sit back and rely only on Nina Alexandrovna” and shares her experience:

– We need to do something ourselves, and your husbands! Let the husbands go to their units, to the military legal adviser, if there is one. Write and call the military prosecutor’s office, the People’s Front, all authorities, the governors! I am content now that my husband was returned, but the bags are ready, because we do not know what will happen tomorrow or in a week or a month.