The Russian army will take contract soldiers immediately after school. State Duma changes the law

For the first time, yesterday’s schoolchildren, including those who did not serve on conscription, will be able to officially replenish the Russian army fighting in Ukraine for the first time, the BBC found out. Such an amendment was recommended to be adopted by the State Duma by the parliamentary defense committee.

The amendment would allow 18-year-olds to be contracted immediately after graduating from high school. Now for this you need to graduate from a technical school – from there they leave at least a year or two older and with a profession. At the end of May, the authorities allowed the army to be replenished with more mature contract soldiers, abolishing restrictions on the age limit for entering the service.

The rules for concluding contracts established by Article 34 of the federal law “On military duty and military service” will change after the adoption of the amendment, which the State Duma will consider on June 28 in the second reading of the bill.

At the end of May, legislators abolished the age limit for entering military service under a contract. Until now, Russian citizens could conclude their first contract from 18 to 40 years old, foreign citizens – up to 30 years old. Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov clarified that both Russian citizens and foreigners could be taken into military service under a contract up to the age of 50. The Russian president has already signed the law.

The new amendments also provide for a reduction in the educational qualification – and, consequently, the age of contract recruits. Now the army, as well as the National Guard, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Foreign Intelligence Service are taking graduates of secondary specialized educational institutions who did not serve on conscription, and graduates of universities are being taken to the FSB.

Adjustments to the legislation on contract soldiers continue against the backdrop of protracted hostilities in Ukraine, the growth of losses in the Russian army and the covert mobilization of people to be sent to war.

The website of the Russian Ministry of Defense indicates that the number of conscripts sent to the troops immediately after completing their studies at school now does not exceed 5%. The rest are usually delayed. The new bill allows them to be recruited under a contract.

The initial version of the bill, which the State Duma approved in the first reading, did not say anything about lowering the educational qualification for young people entering the army for the first time. This amendment was introduced in the second reading by Andrey Kartapolov (United Russia), head of the Duma Defense Committee. The explanations say that the amendment is aimed at “expanding the manning base” of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.

It provides that a man with a secondary general education (11 grades of school) can enter the armed forces and the National Guard under a contract, even if he has never served in the army. According to the current law, this is allowed only if there is a secondary vocational education – for those who have graduated from technical schools, colleges and other secondary specialized educational institutions. The term of study in them after grade 9 is usually a year or two longer than in high school, and graduates are, accordingly, older.

At the same time, with a secondary general (school) education, it is now possible to become a contract soldier no earlier than having served in the army on conscription for at least the first three months. This is the minimum time required for initial drill training and military service skills training for a conscript. So the decision to serve under the contract in this case, the conscript, as it is believed, should be made more consciously. Although the military often persuades, and sometimes forces conscripts to conclude a contract.

As the BBC previously wrote, Russia is now looking for soldiers to be sent to Ukraine.

Initially, the amendment of the head of the State Duma Defense Committee allowed not only to recruit contract soldiers from school graduates, but also to send them into battle just a month after the conclusion of the contract. This version of the bill was published in early June, but almost immediately disappeared from the website of the State Duma and now appeared in a corrected form.

The new version of the bill prohibits sending soldiers, sailors, sergeants and foremen who have served less than four months to participate in hostilities “in conditions of armed conflict”. Those who serve for more than four months, but are trained in military specialties – for example, the driver of an armored personnel carrier and other vehicles, a paratrooper driver, a signalman and an electrician, can only be sent into battle after it is completed.

Now the website of the Ministry of Defense indicates which military positions and with what education you can accept contract soldiers – with the education of 11 classes, for example, you can become a commander of a grenade launcher, mortar and tank. That’s what it says on the site. But this applies to those who have served at least three months of military service and decided to switch to a contract.

At the same time, it is guaranteed that those who have entered the service under a contract from a civilian will undergo an intensive combat training course for a month, which “is aimed at restoring the skills of independent actions when performing combat missions in the difficult environment of modern combined arms combat.”

Practical classes are held for four weeks (up to 240 hours): training on simulators – up to 10 hours, physical training – up to 36 hours, tactical training – up to 32 hours, special training – up to 50 hours, performing exercises for firing from AK-74 – nine times (200 rounds), throwing grenades – seven times. What will be included in the four-month training for combat operations is not known.

Soldiers-conscripts, by decree of President Vladimir Putin, since 2013 and now can be sent to participate in hostilities “in armed conflicts” only “after they have completed military service for at least four months and after training in military specialties” . Until 2013, this required at least six months. On March 8, Putin announced that soldiers on military service would not participate in the fighting in Ukraine.

According to a reserve officer who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, a month’s time is really not enough to send a fighter who did not serve in the army to the war – at least several months are needed for this, otherwise it will be “cannon fodder” and not professional fighters, the source of the BBC is sure.

Several ads for military vacancies, which the BBC has studied, indicate education not lower than the basic general one as a requirement – this is nine classes of school. For example, on the website of the Ministry of Defense there are advertisements for the hiring of a deputy commander of an intelligence group or a chemist. Although, according to the materials of the ministry, to fill these positions under the contract, education is usually required at least 11 classes or a technical school.

Also, according to the announcements, with nine classes of education, you can serve under a contract – for example, a flamethrower, reconnaissance, sapper, machine gunner and even an aircraft mechanic. But, according to the rules for concluding a contract, such military personnel must have at least three months of conscription service experience.

“The blurring of restrictions on contract service towards younger age and unpreparedness shows that there are not enough military personnel for combat operations. But at the same time, the army is becoming wildly unprofessional, in fact” cannon fodder, “the director of the human rights group Citizen told the BBC. . Army. Pravo” (the NPO is included in the register of “foreign agents” in Russia) Sergey Krivenko.

Attempts to expand the sources of personnel in this way, he said, are not surprising, since the mobilization and sending of conscripts to war is not popular. The four-month training period corresponds to the Regulations on military service – contract soldiers can now be sent to war immediately after the so-called intensive training, Krivenko confirmed: “In practice, this condition is not always met – we have reports that they were sent to fight immediately.”

The legal barrier that does not allow sending untrained fighters to war needs to be increased, the expert is sure. In his opinion, not only four months, but even a year of conscription service is not enough for this, you can become a professional military man in no less than three years.

“A professional must not only be able to press a button. He must understand what war crimes are, that civilians cannot be killed, and know the basics of international humanitarian law. Otherwise, what we saw in Bucha happens,” the expert says. “A true professional would not have started this war,” he said.

Restrictions on the conclusion of contracts for military service have been relaxed by the authorities before.

Until 2017, it was possible to become a contract soldier with zero military experience only after graduation – that is, at the age of more than 20 years and with the professional qualifications that higher education provides.

In May 2017, at the initiative of the government, the law was changed. Men with a secondary vocational education were allowed to be hired under a contract in the army, the National Guard, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Foreign Intelligence Service without experience in military service. Only for the service in the FSB is it possible to enter after graduation only with a university diploma. However, the new draft law also reduces the educational qualification for joining the FSB. After its adoption, it will be possible to become an employee of the special services immediately after college or technical school.

The government claimed that 32,000 people with secondary vocational education were drafted into the army in 2016, and that, as stated, “many of them, during the drafting campaign, showed a serious interest in concluding a contract.”

The goal of the reform was the same as it is now: to equip the army with the most demanded military positions – privates, sergeants and ensigns of a technical profile, to replenish the “mobilization manpower reserve”.

The authorities made no secret of the fact that they were creating an additional incentive for concluding contracts in order to “ensure reaching the required qualitative and quantitative parameters for the staffing of formations and military units with the indicated categories of servicemen.”

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