Russia is preparing to introduce prosecutorial oversight over military registration for conscription and mobilization purposes. This is stated in a draft order by the Prosecutor General’s Office highlighted by Verstka.
Under the document, prosecutors at all levels would inspect how military registration is organized in government bodies, by employers, and in higher and secondary educational institutions. The oversight would cover the entire process of registering people liable for military service, from storing personal files to granting deferment reservations.
Aleksei Tabalov, founder of the “School of the Conscript,” said that tighter control over the military registration system makes citizens’ attempts to “somehow disappear from the sight of military enlistment offices” “futile.”
“Prosecutors will come to organizations more often and check how military registration is arranged. Now prosecutors will ‘terrorize’ the cops over whether they are making sufficient efforts to search for draft evaders. Accordingly, police activity in this area may increase. But whether they will really try that hard, I do not know,” the rights advocate said.
The Movement of Conscientious Objectors also pointed to what it called an “inflated subject of oversight.” According to the rights advocates, the prosecutor’s office is in effect being required to monitor everyone: military enlistment offices, the Interior Ministry, local officials, employers, schools, hospitals, and even how military-patriotic education is conducted.
They added that the instruction is aimed at strengthening control over the conscription pool.