Russian conscripts may be offered 12 months of mandatory service in the field of unmanned aerial systems at the Alabuga special economic zone without signing a military contract. That was reported by TASS, citing the zone’s press service. Lawyers interviewed by Novaya Gazeta Europe, however, said the arrangement could be misleading, and its practical legal mechanism remains unclear.
According to Alabuga, conscripts would be enrolled in the military department of a dual-track program at Alabuga Polytech, where they are promised stipends of up to 305,000 rubles depending on their training profile and assigned duties. The service is said to be based in the 50th Separate Varyag Brigade, while the actual work would take place at drone ports in the Oryol region. Recruits are being offered two tracks: drone assembly and drone operation.
The announcement also promises social benefits and a military ID with an official military specialty upon completion of service. Alabuga says the skills acquired could later be applied in civilian sectors, including aviation, logistics, agriculture, and industrial monitoring.
Human rights advocates and lawyers raise doubts
As the outlet notes, media have not previously reported any case of a conscript serving as a drone operator without signing a contract. Ivan Chuvilyaev, spokesperson for the project Get Lost, called the proposal a new deceptive scheme and suggested that in practice conscripts would still be pushed into signing contracts.
The project Conscript School said the state may formally have a tool to implement such a model through a contract with a volunteer formation under Article 22.1 of the law “On Defense.” At the same time, the source told Novaya Gazeta Europe that such a contract by itself does not replace compulsory military service. According to him, that would only be possible if conscripts spent six months participating in combat operations or in counterterrorism operations.
“Everything there is built purely on trust... As with any marketing scheme, the calculation is persuasion,” the lawyer told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
The project’s representative also warned that conscripts could be pressured into signing open-ended contracts with the Defense Ministry and that this could later be used as leverage. He noted that volunteers face criminal liability for refusing to take part in combat, resisting a commander, unauthorized absence from a unit, and desertion.
Similar claims have been made before
Earlier, Viktor Goremykin, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Main Military-Political Directorate, said contracts for those entering drone-system troops lasted one year. Lawyer Artem Klyga and Ivan Chuvilyaev told Novaya Gazeta Europe that this was not true. Klyga referred to a reply from the acting head of the drone-system troops stating that command has the right, but not the obligation, to discharge such service members. He also cited Defense Ministry guidance materials on recruiting students into contract service in UAV troops. According to Chuvilyaev, such a contract is simply a standard military contract: “All contracts are open-ended; there are no others.”