— Who is organizing these draft raids, and why?
— They’re being conducted because there are simply no other ways left to force conscripts to report to the enlistment office. Neither paper nor electronic summonses are working. Although now, you technically can’t refuse an electronic one, since it’s automatically considered delivered. These raids happen every draft season. The only question is where and when they begin. Last time, they started literally from the first day of the draft even before it officially began. It wasn’t entirely clear what the goal was: whether they were looking for illegal migrants or for men avoiding the draft. People get detained everywhere at metro stations with police booths, in dormitories, gyms, even in universities. In 2023, in St. Petersburg, police showed up at a class during a raid. The teacher didn’t panic. He threw them out, saying it was disrupting the educational process. Respect to him. During these raids, they detain even those who legally have deferrals. For example, someone who applied for alternative civilian service and carries the official slip confirming it. They can still be taken to the enlistment office. It’s not fatal, but it’s worrying. That’s why people need to stay in touch with relatives and switch into “protest mode,” like during past demonstrations: carry a power bank, be ready to press the emergency button at any moment, and text family or friends which enlistment office you’re being taken to. — Are these draft raids even legal? — No, they’re not. By law, a person must come to the enlistment office voluntarily, after receiving a summons. This isn’t a court hearing or an interrogation. Police have no authority to forcibly deliver anyone to a draft office. I think one day we’ll find out that even the police are furious about being forced to waste time on this nonsense instead of catching actual criminals. The very fact that these raids exist only proves that the electronic draft registry still doesn’t work properly, and all those promised restrictions and punishments it’s supposed to impose are, so far, not being enforced. — Register of electronic summons for military conscripts: what’s wrong with it? — On the one hand, nothing is wrong with it. It exists, it’s functioning, people are entered into it, they receive notifications and draft summonses. But the issue lies elsewhere. The registry was created with two main goals: first, to ensure that people receive draft notices electronically, so the old rule of 'don’t take the summons, don’t go to the enlistment office' would no longer apply; and second, to impose a series of penalties if someone ignores the summons such as a ban on leaving the country, restrictions on real estate transactions, being denied loans, or being unable to register as self-employed. Yet, in all the time the registry has supposedly been active, there’s only been one known case of a travel ban being imposed. It’s very hard to believe that, out of all the draft-age individuals who’ve been registered, only one person has tried to leave Russia. — Russian authorities are preparing to approve an indefinite military draft. What does that mean?
— According to this law, people can be pulled in for medical exams and draft board reviews at any time. But actual deployment to military units will still happen in the fall and spring.
Now, a question to the lawmakers who wrote this: excuse me, dear comrades, but how exactly do you imagine this working? A person passes the medical exam, goes through the draft board, and then they’re told: “Alright, kid, now go take a walk”? The real point of this law seems to be making it easier to get people to sign military contracts. I suspect that after passing all the commission stages, someone at the enlistment office will say: “So, what’s your plan? Sit around for six months waiting to be drafted for mandatory service, or maybe make some money right now? Go guard some tanks out in Chelyabinsk for two years if you like it, renew your contract, if not, you can quit.” People will hear these kinds of promises and end up signing contracts. — What are the most common tactics used to pressure conscripts into signing a contract?
— There's really only one: fairy tales. These [military recruiters] are great storytellers, very smooth talkers. In 99% of cases, it’s enough to tell the conscript that the contract can be broken at any time. And that he won’t be sent to Belgorod, or Kursk, or Bryansk regions. That’s more than enough to convince an 18-year-old kid to sign. They know they’re working with a very inexperienced group. It’s easy to mess with their heads. Tricks like slipping a contract into someone’s hand on a dark bus or faking signatures aren't even necessary.
It’s usually enough to promise that the soldier will be able to send money to his mom and earn a stable income. The financial hook still works. It hasn’t gone anywhere. And that financial hook is a very convenient way to keep people under control. — How can an 18-year-old prepare for pressure from the military enlistment office and avoid getting caught on the hook? — You need to understand: you have no obligation to serve. It’s not your job. It’s your right. If you want to — go for it, especially if you don’t know what else to do. But forget the fairy tale from 2009–2020 that says mandatory service is harmless, it’s close to home, and it’s only for a year. Mothers of conscripts are the most vulnerable to these fairy tales. Remember: your child can easily be roped into signing a contract. Serving in a country at war is dangerous. Your child is not made of iron — he won’t be able to resist a horde of men whose full-time job is to convince people to sign up.
They have stars on their shoulders and careers that depend on doing just that. It’s important to remember about deferments, and to keep thorough medical records over several years, so the documentation looks convincing to the doctors during the medical exam. — Are conscripts being sent to combat zones? — In August 2024, when Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region, Putin signed a decree launching a counterterrorist operation. He did this for one reason only to make it legally possible to use conscripts. That’s how they ended up being captured, wounded, or killed. Conscripts are still being sent to the Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod regions, as well as to serve in Crimea. Combat operations are being carried out with the involvement of conscripts, for example, they are sent to clear mines. That kind of work is dangerous even for experienced bomb disposal specialists. | 
