Highlights: Russian MPs voted on Tuesday, April 11, a bill allowing mobilization orders to be sent electronically. This measure will potentially facilitate enlistment in the army in the context of an offensive in Ukraine. "The changes provide for a digitization of the military registry system," the Duma said in a statement. Until then, mobilization orders were compulsorily delivered by hand to the mobilized, many of whom chose to ignore these summonses, to move or flee the country. The Kremlin "absolutely does not expect" that this new bill will lead to a new wave of departures abroad.

Russian MPs voted on Tuesday, April 11, a bill allowing mobilization orders to be sent electronically. This measure will potentially facilitate enrolment...

Russia: MEPs pave the way for electronic military enrolment

Soldiers mobilized in September 2022 in Volgograd, Russia. AP

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Russian MPs voted on Tuesday, April 11, a bill allowing mobilization orders to be sent electronically. This measure will potentially facilitate enlistment in the army in the context of an offensive in Ukraine.

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Deputies in the Duma, the lower house of parliament, unanimously adopted the bill at second reading, the most important step in the Russian legislative system, and also at third reading. "The changes provide for a digitization of the military registry system," the Duma said in a statement.

Until then, mobilization orders were compulsorily delivered by hand to the mobilized. Many mobilized Russians had therefore chosen to ignore these summonses, to move or flee the country. From now on, the Duma indicates that it will be possible to receive an act of mobilization electronically, via the digital portal of Russian public services, where millions of mobilizable Russian men are registered. "A citizen who can be mobilized will be considered refractory if he has refused to receive his summons or if he is not reachable," the Duma said in its statement. Russian law provides for heavy prison sentences for those who resist the army.

A plenary session of the Duma in Moscow, during the vote on electronic mobilization in Russia, April 11, 2023. © Russian State Duma/Handout via REUTERS

No new mobilization, according to the Kremlin

Asked about the subject earlier Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had indicated that "there will be no second wave" of mobilization, after the "partial" one ordered in September 2022 by Vladimir Putin to strengthen his regular army that he had sent to fight in Ukraine. Dmitry Peskov considered this technical change "absolutely necessary" to "perfect and modernize" the national registration system.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians were mobilized as reinforcements, others ignored their summons and tens of thousands preferred to flee the country. According to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin "absolutely does not expect" that this new bill will lead to a new wave of departures abroad among Russian men, because "it is not related to mobilization," he said.

► Read also: Russia: the mobilization of men in Ukraine leads to a lack of manpower

Russia: MEPs pave the way for electronic military enrolment

Russia: MEPs pave the way for electronic military enrolment

No new mobilization, according to the Kremlin

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