Danila Davydov said he left Russia within weeks of the Kremlin sending troops into Ukraine because he feared having to fight in a war he doesn’t support.
The 22-year-old digital artist who had been living in St Petersburg said that as the conflict dragged on he was concerned that Russia could place pressure on young people like him to serve in the military.
“I didn’t want to go to war or go to prison, so I decided to leave,” Davydov told Reuters from Kazakhstan, where he said he’s currently working.
He is among what some lawyers and rights advocates say is an increased number of young Russian men looking to avoid the country’s mandatory military service since the conflict with Ukraine began in late February, illustrating the ambivalence in Russian society to the conflict.
Some young men are leaving the country while others are seeking advice on obtaining exemptions or alternative avenues, or simply ignoring their summons in the hopes that authorities don’t pursue them, according to Reuters interviews with seven men currently seeking to avoid serving in the military as well as five lawyers and rights advocates.
That is despite the risk of facing fines or up to two years in prison – in a country where military service is mandatory for young men aged 18 to 27. One man told Reuters that refusing to fight has led to tensions with family members who believe military service is a young man’s duty.
Davydov said that he was able to take himself off the military service register and leave the country because he had a job offer abroad. He wants to return home one day, he said, but laments it may not be any time soon: “I love Russia and miss it very much.”
The Kremlin referred questions to the defence ministry, which didn’t respond to a request for comment about how widespread draft avoidance is and whether it is impacting the function of the Russian armed forces. The ministry, on its website, says that “service in the army and navy is the honourable duty of a Russian citizen that bestows considerable advantages in the future.”
Moscow says it is conducting a special military operation and that it is going as planned. Russian President Vladimir Putin has lauded those who fight for Russia as “heroes” who are saving Russian-speakers from persecution and foiling what he says is a Western plan to destroy Russia. In March, he described Russians whose thoughts were more in line with the West than Russia as “traitors.”
On Feb 24 Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine, embarking on Europe’s biggest ground invasion since World War Two. Following Russia’s withdrawal of troops from near Kyiv, the war has slowed to a grinding artillery contest with Moscow focused on taking territory in eastern Ukraine.
Putin is betting on a professional army that the West says has sustained significant losses in the war. If the army cannot recruit enough contract soldiers, Putin’s options would include using conscripts, mobilising Russian society or scaling back his ambitions.
Although Putin has repeatedly publicly said conscripts should not fight in the Ukraine conflict, the defence ministry in early March said some already have. Last month, a military prosecutor told the upper house of parliament that about 600 conscripts had been drawn into the conflict and that around a dozen officers had been disciplined as a result.
Ukraine has imposed martial law: men aged 18 to 60 are banned from leaving the country. Kyiv says it will fight to the end against what it casts as an unprovoked imperial-style land grab.
