18-year-old Anton Filimonov from the settlement of Krasnogorodsk in the Pskov region told Mediazona that, according to him, he was deceptively persuaded at his college to sign documents related to a Defense Ministry contract before reaching adulthood. He turned 18 on July 7. Filimonov said his mother died a year ago, he never had a father, and only his grandmother remains in his immediate family.
According to the young man, about six months ago he decided to withdraw from the Pskov Agrotechnical College and went there with his grandmother. At the entrance, he explained the purpose of his visit, after which, Filimonov says, a man in camouflage invited him into an office and left his grandmother outside. The man introduced himself as Alexander and looked to be about 35 years old.
Filimonov says the man urged him to sign papers, promising a safe form of service similar to conscription: first six months of training in St. Petersburg, then service only in the Leningrad region, with no deployment to the front. Anton also says he was promised good money and pressured to sign quickly.
In the end, he signed the documents, but no copies or photos were left with him. On July 6, Filimonov said, staff from the Pskov military commissariat came for him in Krasnogorodsk. They first went to his grandmother’s registered address and, according to the young man, threatened to declare him wanted if he was not found. After learning where he was, they came to him and said that on July 7, the day he turned 18, he had to appear at the enlistment office.
Filimonov said the local administration provided a car usually used by local officials for the trip. On his birthday, the driver took him to the enlistment office, where he underwent a medical examination. Anton said he signed the papers because officials told him there was “no way back.” At the enlistment office, he was told he would serve in the settlement of Kamenka in the Leningrad region and would be sent on a “business trip” within three months.
He was also given an order to report on the morning of July 11 for service in military unit No. 77795. The document was signed by Captain A. Koparushkin, head of the contract military service selection point. Filimonov was then allowed to go home.
Artem Klyga, head of the legal department at the Movement of Conscientious Objectors, told Mediazona that he had previously seen one case in which a young man was forced to sign a contract before turning 18. According to him, the mechanism can work like this: a later date is inserted in the papers, while the order bringing the contract into force is issued only after the person reaches adulthood, making everything appear formally legal.
A lawyer from Call to Conscience, who asked to remain anonymous, told the outlet that signing a contract before adulthood is “impossible by definition,” and that an undated contract would have no legal force. He added that entering a date retroactively would amount to falsification. After reviewing Filimonov’s reporting order, the lawyer suggested that the contract was probably signed on July 7, when the young man had already turned 18. Filimonov himself said he wants to challenge what happened and avoid being sent to serve.