In 1982, during the third year of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, many university students lost their right to defer military service. This followed an amendment to the law On Universal Military Duty, which narrowed the list of institutions allowed to issue such documents.
Families of conscripts tried to protect their sons and formed initiative groups. When full-time students began to be drafted on a mass scale, those efforts developed into the country’s first movement defending the rights of conscripts: the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee. At first, its main goal was to return students to their classrooms.
Activists sent appeals to state bodies, wrote to CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, and held pickets. Those efforts produced results: in 1989, legal provisions granting deferments to all students were restored. Students who had already been drafted were then released as well. According to the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee, more than 17,000 young men were transferred to the reserve and returned to their studies.
After the end of the Afghan war, the committee continued its work. It shifted focus to hazing and other forms of abuse within the military. A hotline was established, activists met with the defense minister, and they organized round tables and forums.
The movement’s work also led to broader changes. On the initiative of soldiers’ mothers, insurance for soldiers and sailors was introduced, medical requirements for conscription were gradually revised, and a law appeared establishing the right to alternative civilian service.
With the start of the First Chechen War, the committee expanded its activities. It sent humanitarian aid, took part in securing the release of prisoners, organized anti-war marches, and opened a hotline to collect information about servicemen in the combat zone.