The Federation Council approved the Law “On Military Service”

The Federation Council approved the draft changes to the Law “On Military duties and Military service” today. Now, citizens, studying in secondary schools will have the right to postpone recruitment until they reach twenty years of age. The delay will affect those who study in specialized schools until they graduate as well as students who switch universities (under the condition that studied for more than three years in the university they are about to leave). The turned-down students will not receive the right to postpone recruitment.

The chairman of the Federation Council’s committee for security and defense, Viktor Ozerov, said that the mentioned changes solved the contradiction between two federal laws: “On Military Service” and “On Education.”

The document was passed unanimously today; 153 deputies voted for it. The law is now to be signed by the President, and if Putin agrees with the offered variant, then the document will come into effect.

In the meantime, Valentina Matviyenko, the vice-premier of the Russian government is going to discuss the law pertaining to alternative military service today with the Vice-Premier Ilya Klebanov today. The authors of the alternative bills from the State Duma will also be invited to participate in the discussion.

The officials will discuss the opportunities for participants of alternative service to receive education via correspondence as well as the issue of exterritoriality for alternative military service.

The government sent the draft of the federal law on alternative military service for further elaboration yesterday. Premier Mikhail Kasyanov believes that the new bill should be submitted to the parliament as soon as possible. The bill is supposed “to combine the interests of the citizens and the military authorities in order to find an acceptable, functioning, and executable decision.” The bill will probably be submitted to the parliament this February.

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov