The Ministry of Labor proposed to expand opportunities for alternative civilian service

The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation proposed to expand the possibilities of passing the alternative civilian service (AGS) for recruits. The agency has published a draft order that lists 144 new organizations in dozens of regions, including Crimea. Now one and a half hundred professions are available to conscripts for alternative service, including a milker, a waiter, a reindeer herder, a locksmith, and even a puppeteer. The new list of the Ministry of Labor includes hospitals, sanatoriums, universities and even one library, but there are no new professions. Judging by the data of Rosstat, 1,140 citizens chose alternative service during the last draft against the background of 147,000 drafted into the troops. Experts call the ACS not very popular, but a “working” institution, and remind them of the need to legally regulate the issue of the availability of alternative service during mobilization.

The Ministry of Labor posted on regulation.gov.ru a draft order with amendments to the list of organizations for the passage of the ACS, previously approved by the department itself. The order mentions 144 organizations in almost two dozen regions. Most of all in the Yaroslavl and Samara regions – 20 enterprises each, in third place is the Novgorod region – 15 organizations, there are also four institutions in the Crimea.

The agency included hospitals, dispensaries, nursing homes and sanatoriums in this list, but not only – there are, for example, melioration departments, universities in Moscow and Udmurtia, veterinary centers in the Crimea, a scientific library in Kursk, a news agency in Yaroslavl and 39 regional social security agencies. The press service of the Ministry of Labor reported that these 144 organizations are planned to be involved in the passage of the ACS already during the next autumn conscription in 2023.

According to Art. 59 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the conscript has the right to choose the ACS, “if military service is contrary to his convictions or religion.” To pass the ACS, a conscript must submit an application to the military registration and enlistment office.

Since 2002, Russia has been operating the federal law “On alternative civilian service”, where the ACS is recognized as “a special type of labor activity in the interests of society and the state” instead of “military service on conscription”. In 2003, the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation received the right to approve lists of organizations for this service. Now the list includes 816 organizations and 149 possible professions. Thus, recruits can alternatively serve as a doctor, social worker, teacher, milker, waiter, programmer, reindeer herder, locksmith, and 12 types of artists (including a puppeteer and choir artist). For the latter, the current list of the Ministry of Labor provides for about 50 theaters in different regions (for example, the Ryazan Regional Puppet Theater or the State Academic Musical Theater of the Republic of Crimea). In the list of employers in the ACS, the Samara region is now in the lead, where service can be done in 49 institutions, including colleges, a school and the State Russian Folk Choir.

The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation explained that the lists of enterprises for the ACS are approved by orders of the department annually. So, in 2022, among others, a loader, a milker, a conductor, a livestock breeder, a vegetable grower, a baker, a “machinist of a wide profile”, a watchman, an agrochemist, a computer network administrator, an instructor athlete, were added to the list of professions for the ACS, and they also excluded the concertmaster and glass wiper. The department emphasized that the draft order does not contain new professions for the ACS.

We add that the ACS has been choosing approximately the same number of conscripts for years. The record was set in 2016, when 1215 conscripts went to the ACS.

Since then, the figure has varied between 1.1 and 1.2 thousand people. So, in the first half of 2022, 1,166 conscripts were doing alternative service. According to Rosstat, in the second half of 2023, 1,140 people passed the ACS in the country (at the same time, 147,000 people were sent to the troops in the spring draft of 2023).

As explained Vedomosti lawyer Arseniy Levinson, citizens are often denied entry into the ACS by draft boards. But lawyer Alexander Peredruk considers the institute of alternative service to be “working”. In his opinion, there may be more applicants for the ACS, but this institution “is really not that popular.” “Some of the recruits cannot be sent to the ACS for objective reasons – for example, the category of fitness does not allow them to perform any service, including the ACS,” says Mr. Peredruk.

We add that the law on mobilization also allows ACS – with the proviso that it must be held in accordance with a separate law. It has not yet been developed; precedents for admission of those mobilized to the ACS are still unknown.

The only exception is the story of Pavel Mushumansky, an evangelical Christian who refuses to take up arms on principle. As “Kommersant” said, a few years ago, a man was called up for military service, but chose the ACS for himself. By law, he was considered to have served and in the fall of 2022 he was called up as part of partial mobilization. At the military registration and enlistment office, he recalled his religious beliefs and asked to re-pass the ACS. However, the request was ignored, and Mr. Mushumansky was sent to a military unit. Later, the court sided with him and canceled the decision of the draft commission to mobilize the believer. “It is necessary to ensure the possibility of exercising the right to the ACS during the period of mobilization by all citizens who have beliefs or religions that are incompatible with military service,” lawyer Arseniy Levinson pointed out to Kommersant. did not do any service, who had previously done military service, but after being enrolled in the reserve, he changed his beliefs. Otherwise, citizens are placed in an unequal position, and this is contrary to the Constitution.”

Alexander Voronov