Military service is an honorable duty of every male citizen of the Russian Federation. However, the current legislation provides for a number of situations that are an exception to this rule.
The main normative legal act governing the procedure for conscription of Russian citizens to military service is Federal Law No. 53-FZ of March 28, 1998 "On conscription and military service."
Opportunities for non-military service
This law establishes that service in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is compulsory for all men of draft age, that is, those who are in the age range from 18 to 27 years old, without grounds for granting exemption or deferral from it.
At the same time, however, Article 1 of this normative legal act establishes that in a number of cases citizens who qualify for military service can replace it with an alternative civilian service. In turn, the grounds for such a replacement are established by a special normative legal act - Federal Law No. 113-FZ of July 25, 2002 "On Alternative Civil Service".
Grounds for refusal to military service
Article 2 of the Law on Alternative Civilian Service, also known under the acronym ACS, states that citizens have the right to replace military service with an alternative civilian service in two cases. The first of them is the presence of convictions of a secular or religious nature, which contradict the performance of military service. The second case is belonging to a small indigenous people who lead a traditional way of life and are engaged in historically established crafts.
Thus, the current legislation grants young people the right to refuse active military service on the basis of their certain religious beliefs. However, it should be borne in mind that such a right does not mean complete release from all obligations to the state: if the recruit manages to convince the draft board of the seriousness of his convictions, he will be sent to the appropriate institution to undergo ACS.
At present, the practice of implementing this law is developing in such a way that the main places for young people to undergo alternative civilian service are nursing homes, boarding schools, homes for the disabled, orphanages and similar socially significant institutions, work in which involves a significant number of both physical and mental strength. It should be borne in mind that the duration of such service in accordance with the ACS law today is 21 months, while the duration of active military service is much shorter: it is 12 months.
