Press Release, 10.01.2023

Photo by Tatyana Gord / Kommersant

Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia from the Yabloko party Emilia Slabunova and Inna Boluchevskaya received a response to their request to the President of the Russian Federation on the need to issue a decree on the completion of partial mobilisation. Assistant to the President Ms. L. Brycheva, head of the Legal Department of the President, reports that the conscription was carried out until the established number was reached, the number was reached, and in connection with this, the mobilisation conscription was completed, and there are no legal grounds for issuing any act.

It should be noted that at the end of 2022, regional and municipal deputies from Yabloko in Karelia, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pskov and Novgorod sent an appeal to President Vladimir Putin demanding that he issue an official decree on the end of partial mobilisation initiated by his Decree No. 647 of 21 September, 2022 . The authors of the appeal referred to numerous letters from citizens who were interested in whether mobilisation could be considered officially completed. The absence of a document on the completion of partial mobilisation causes public concern and anxiety in connection with a possible “second wave”, and also leads to a violation of the rights of citizens undergoing military service under a contract to be dismissed due to the expiration of their term of service. Commanders of military units and courts, referring to the absence of a normative legal act on the completion of partial mobilisation, refuse contract servicemen in their demands for dismissal from military service. In particular, the Chita Garrison Military Court, in its decision dated 23 November, 2022 in case No. 2a-211/2022, considered the arguments about the completion of partial mobilisation unfounded, since partial mobilisation announced in the Russian Federation since 21 September, 2022, has not been stopped by any normative act, and the presidential decree “On the announcement of partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation” has not been canceled and continues to be in force. According to the court, information received from the media (television) cannot replace normative legal acts published in accordance with the established procedure.

It should be noted that over three weeks passed when Yabloko MPs received the response to their deputies’ appeal to the President. As of today, not all the Yabloko parliamentarians have received answers to their letters to the President.

Emilia Slabunova, MP of the Karelian Legislative Assembly and a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, interprets the answer received from the Presidential Administration as follows: “As everyone knows, the number [of conscripts] was established in secret paragraph No. 7 of the September Decree, and remains unknown. In this case, the statement that the established number has been reached is important. This means that in order to carry out a new stage of partial mobilisation, it is necessary to amend Decree No. 647 of 21 September, 2022, by a new decree. Even if it is reduced to a single secret item.”

It should be also noted that yesterday it became known that deputies of regional parliaments from Yabloko Boris Vishnevsky (St. Petersburg) and Emilia Slabunova (Karelia) were charged with “discrediting the Russian armed forces” (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Protocols of an administrative offense were drawn up against the Yabloko politicians on the eve of the New Year without their participation (https://eng.yabloko.ru/30075-2/). Information about the cases appeared on the web-sites of a district court of St. Petersburg and the City Court of Petrozavodsk.