Military service is the duty of every male citizen of the Russian Federation. However, current legislation provides for a number of situations where a potential recruit is eligible for an extension.
Postponement for students
The main normative legal act governing the rules of conscription for active military service on the territory of the Russian Federation is Federal Law No. 53-FZ "On Military Duty and Military Service", adopted on March 28, 1998. So, Art. 22 of this law establishes that all men between the ages of 18 and 27, who are citizens of the Russian Federation and who are or are obliged to be on the military register, must be called up for military service.
However, subsequent articles of this document provide for a number of exceptions to this rule. So, among these them, a prominent place is occupied by the situation described in paragraph 2 of Art. 24 of the law on military service. This section of the current legislation, in particular, is devoted to the listing of deferrals that can be provided to young people in connection with the passage of various types of education.
The most extensive list is contained in subparagraph a) of this section of the legislation, which determines that young people who study full-time in educational institutions with state accreditation have the right to receive a deferral from military service. Moreover, such institutions themselves may relate to different levels of education: a deferral may be granted to schoolchildren, students of technical schools, colleges or universities. Moreover, studying at a university gives the right to a deferral both when studying for a bachelor's degree and when studying for a specialist or master's degree. At the same time, while studying in all the listed organizations, the student has the right to a postponement not only during the period of study, but also in the case of going on academic leave or when transferring to another specialty, if in this case all the listed conditions are met.
Second postponement
Thus, while a student is studying full-time in one of the educational institutions that meet the listed conditions, he cannot be drafted into the army. Moreover, in some cases, he may be eligible for a second deferral from military service.
In particular, a young person can receive a second deferral of study if the first was granted to him during the period when he was a schoolboy: in this case, he can use the second deferral by entering a university. The same right is granted to a young man who enrolled in a master's program after completing a bachelor's degree, or entered graduate school, having received a basic higher education.
