To give away a part: awol was suggested not to be considered a service
More than two days of AWOL without valid reasons will not be counted as service life. The bill of the Ministry of Defense was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. Valid reasons for going awol are serious illness, violence or harassment, or force majeure. At the same time, leaving a part is considered a criminal offense, for which you can get up to ten years in prison. Now soldiers are not allowed to be absent from the unit "for more than ten days." The amendments should have an impact on improving discipline among soldiers, experts believe. About how awol will prolong the service life — in the material of Izvestia.
What restrictions are imposed
The term of military service will no longer be counted during the unauthorized abandonment of a military unit. Such a bill by the Ministry of Defense was approved by the government commission on legislative activity on Monday, October 27. This was reported to Izvestia by sources in the Cabinet of Ministers.
We are talking about those who serve both on conscription and under contract, Vladimir Gruzdev, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Bar Association, told Izvestia. The bill actually lowers the threshold for the duration of a serviceman's absence without valid reasons.
— The measure is probably aimed at increasing discipline and responsibility, — says Vladimir Gruzdev.
He explained that the amendments apply to contract military personnel who are absent from their assigned duty station for no valid reason for more than two days.
— Now such a period of unauthorized abandonment is more than ten days. The amendments are designed to bring this rule in line with the disposition of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which also operates for a period of "more than two days," the expert said.
In 2022, Article 337 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service") was amended: now a serviceman faces criminal prosecution for being absent from his post for more than two days. Awol means illegally leaving a place of service or failing to appear on time without valid reasons for service in the absence of signs of desertion.
— For unauthorized abandonment of a unit without valid reasons, it is expected to be punished with imprisonment for up to six months or detention in a disciplinary military unit for up to a year, — said Tatyana Kurushina, senior associate at the Mikhailov & Co. legal Agency. — At the same time, the period of absence should not exceed ten days.
The maximum penalty under the Criminal Code for going awol is up to ten years in prison.
There may be many valid reasons, but the law does not clearly describe them, the lawyer added. In particular, difficult family circumstances, medical necessity or force majeure.
— There is a clause in the law on exemption from liability and without valid reasons, but as a result of a combination of "difficult circumstances", — said Tatiana Kurushina. — The existence of both valid reasons and a combination of difficult circumstances in case of absence for a period of more than two days remains to be proved.
How will the amendments affect the situation
Unauthorized abandonment of a unit is always an emergency, especially now, when a special military operation is underway, Alexey Mendrik, ex—head of the Military and Security Service of the Baltic Fleet military service, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Kaliningrad region, told Izvestia.
"A man from a military unit can run away with a weapon," he noted. — Reducing the time limit for initiating a criminal case from ten to two days is a disciplinary measure. A person will begin to be afraid, to think once again before committing an act, as the criminal case will affect his entire future life. Of course, the reasons for such an act may be different. For example, a family situation or a manifestation of bullying, when a person was brought to an extreme point. Here, when clarifying all the circumstances, it is necessary to carefully understand the reasons for leaving the unit, so as not to ruin the life of a serviceman.
The burden on the investigative authorities should not increase significantly, Alexey Mendrik noted.
"First of all, the military personnel who voluntarily left the military unit will be dealt with by the commander of the unit, the investigator, the military police, and only then the investigative authorities will be involved in the work," he explained.
For a long time, the unauthorized abandonment of the unit was recorded after ten days of absence from service, Oleg Zherdev, founder of the Russian association of lawyers of law enforcement agencies, told Izvestia.
—In 2022, amendments were made to the Criminal Code, which outlined shorter deadlines during the period of mobilization, military operations, and a special period, which we are witnessing now," he recalled. — The logic is clear: if after two days of absence from service we bring a person to criminal responsibility, why do we count eight more days in his term of service? Thus, our legislation is brought to uniform criteria. The fact that the time spent during the unauthorized abandonment of the unit will not be counted towards the service life is fair and logical.
The main purpose of the bill, according to Tatyana Kurushina, is not to tighten legislation, but to exclude the period of awol from the total service life of a serviceman with the deprivation of his payments for missed time without valid reasons.
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