Suspension of Draft Procedure No Longer an Option in Disputing Draft Office Decisions

Previously, the law provided a mechanism for service-bound citizens to defend their rights in the event that they were illegally drafted for military service.

The mechanism entailed that in the case that a decision to draft a citizen to military service was appealed to a subject of the Russian Federation or a court, the validity of the appealed decision would be suspended.

However, following new 2023 amendments to Federal law N 53-FZ “On military duty and military service,” on 3/28/1998, automatic suspension of draft events is no longer a possibility in the event that they are appealed.

Following the adoption of these new amendments, the legislature has established a short time frame for examining appeals to draft commissions of Russian Federation subjects. That period is a maximum of 5 business days and during that time, there will be no suspension of draft procedure for the time frame over which the examination of the appeal is established.

In the case that a decision of the draft commission is appealed in court, the citizen has the ability in court along with an administrative lawsuit to petition for preliminary defense measures to be taken in the form of suspending the decision to draft the citizen for military service. However, it is at the court’s discretion whether or not to grant this petition, rather than being an obligation.

In practice, courts practically always refuse to grant preliminary defense measures. For that reason, the procedure for appealing decisions of the draft commission may drag on so long that the service-bound citizen receives the final decision after already joining the troops.