State Duma to discuss amendments to improve military registration

On April 11, the State Duma will consider in the second reading amendments to the law “On military duty and military service”, which involve the digitalization of the military registration system. This was announced on April 10 after a meeting of the council of the lower house of parliament, said the head of the defense committee Andrei Kartapolov (United Russia). If the deputies immediately support the initiative in the third reading, then on April 12 the law can be approved by the Federation Council – the senators gather for meetings every Wednesday.

In particular, the bill, as Kartapolov said, “provides for a change in the procedure for notifying citizens.” The subpoena can be obtained, as now, through paper subpoenas and through the employer, but also by registered mail and electronically in your personal account at the State Services, said the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense.

Back in 2022, government officials asked to improve the work of military registration and enlistment offices. They began to talk about this after a partial mobilization, which revealed problems in the field of military registration and relevant databases (for example, summonses were sent to those who should not have been sent, and vice versa). On October 28, 2022, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, said that it was necessary to “modernize” this entire system.

On November 25, the president signed a decree on the creation of a state information resource containing information about citizens necessary to update military registration documents. “In order to increase the efficiency of military registration, I decide <...> until April 1, 2024, ensure the formation of a state information resource containing information about citizens necessary to update military registration documents, ”the document said. An important task was the creation of an accounting base and the digitalization of the corresponding process.

According to Kartapolov, the new system is “human-centric” and minimizes the possibility of errors and the need to communicate with the military commissariats. The amendments will require the creation of a unified register of persons liable for military service, which will be created on the basis of the state information resource, “which will make the entire system of military registration transparent and relevant information.”

“The bill provides for some changes to the procedure for notifying citizens. We propose to keep the traditional methods of notification – through paper summonses, through the employer. And also notifications are introduced by registered mail. And it is offered the opportunity to duplicate these agendas in electronic form. At the same time, those liable for military service can receive them either through their personal account, or through the State Services portal, or at the MFC,” Kartapolov said.

A person liable for military service will go to military commissariats less, “many operations will be carried out remotely without the need for his personal presence,” Kartapolov says: “Including, by the way, initial registration, deregistration, or making changes to credentials. At the same time, the passage of the medical commission and professional selection will need to be carried out as a result of a personal appearance after receiving the summons.

These changes will also contribute to the establishment of “social justice”, Kartapolov believes. “Serving in the Armed Forces is not only a sacred duty and an honorable constitutional duty,” he says. “Therefore, probably, those who repay and fulfill this duty cannot be on an equal footing with those who evade it.” A number of “provisional measures” are provided for the “evaders,” United Russia said.

If a person does not receive a summons or pretends that he does not receive it, then he will be obliged to voluntarily appear at the military commissariat within two weeks during the next call, Kartapolov said. “If he does not do this, then he will receive a notification, digitally signed by the military commissar, that travel restrictions may be imposed on him, as well as a warning that other restrictive measures will follow. If he does not appear again, then after 20 days he may lose the opportunity to drive a vehicle, conclude real estate transactions, register as an individual entrepreneur, take loans, loans, etc.,” Kartapolov said. But if a person believes that such measures have been introduced unfairly or that for objective reasons he could not come to the military commissariat, he will be able to appeal remotely through the State Services within five days, the deputy added.

The bill Kartapolov is talking about was originally introduced by a group of deputies from United Russia on January 12, 2018. It stated that summonses to citizens subject to conscription for military service can be sent by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt at the place of residence or place of stay. The authors of the initiative proposed to consider such subpoenas as received on the day of delivery. That is, a new method was added to the previous method of serving subpoenas against signature, the deputies of United Russia noted.

The bill was already considered in the second reading on February 22, 2022 (after which it lay without movement). This means that in order to implement the initiative, the deputies had to support it in the third reading, so that the law would go to the Federation Council for consideration by the senators: formally, at this stage, semantic changes are no longer made to the documents. But in order to make amendments regarding the “Gosuslug”, the bill was returned to the first reading procedure on April 6. This proposal was made by Kartapolov at the council of the State Duma on April 5.

On March 31, a video of a briefing by the head of the main organizational and mobilization department of the Russian General Staff, Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, appeared on the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Defense. In it, he stated that the summons within the framework of the spring conscription (started on April 1) will be sent electronically through the State Services.

Later, in an interview with Ura.ru, Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, said that sending subpoenas through Gosuslugi would be equated with personal delivery. Removing the application “Gosuslugi” or an account in it will be considered service evasion, he said.