Vesti: the Golden Youth party in Courchevel has changed the rules of military registration in UkraineThey will try to return to Ukraine men who left the country and do not have a postponement from military service, the Vesti newspaper writes.
However, the government does not have many ways to put fugitives on military registration.
Taras KozubNew rules of military registration have been introduced in Ukraine.
The amendments stipulate that those men who find themselves abroad and do not have a deferral from military service must return to Ukraine. According to paragraph 52 of the new rules, foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine should assist them in this.
A piquant detail: the initiative itself, according to experts, could have appeared due to the behavior of the Ukrainian "golden youth" in the EU countries. Vesti.ua we have figured out the specifics of the new rules, having found out what their "bottlenecks" are.
“Department of Good Deeds"
Consular officers are assigned the task of informing citizens who are on mandatory temporary consular registration and do not have a deferral or exemption from conscription, and can also be mobilized.
The very wording "mandatory registration" hides the first "bottleneck": not all citizens who have left abroad become temporary consular registration. In practice, this is a purely voluntary matter.
"Our consulates abroad keep military records of those persons who are on temporary registration. Which, in turn, is used for the purpose of protection abroad – in theory, this happens, say, in the event of a person's death, although in this situation there are usually a million questions about the activities of our consulates," explains lawyer Rostislav Kravets. – The second reason is the opportunity to vote abroad. But there is no provision for holding elections during the current martial law. And the registration itself is not free, a consular fee of $ 20 or 18 euros is provided."
As explained by a former employee of the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Mishin, the mandatory nature of consular registration is often neglected, including those who left Ukraine not quite legally. And there is no doubt that there are such citizens. After all, there are already enough schemes for legal or completely illegal border crossing for military service.
"Those who used such schemes cannot register as consular citizens of Ukraine. You can go to the consular department only if you have left the country officially," Mishin explained. – In practice, consulates are a kind of "department of good deeds", which has purely service functions. The very nature of this service is not repressive, it connects exactly at the moment when a citizen is in trouble: let's say he got arrested or needs other help."
It is impossible to bring to justice
If so, the main problem, according to lawyer Dmitry Buzanov, is the absence of punishment for non–registration abroad. "This could potentially be an administrative responsibility. Although this is unlikely, because there is at least one "but": the decisions on punishments of military service are made by the heads of territorial centers of equipment (TCC), who are in Ukraine and do not travel abroad," Buzanov said.
Having arrived back to Ukraine, those liable for military service who have not registered abroad are unlikely to be punished, because there are simply no penalties for the fact that they did not show up at the consulate on arrival. "In addition, becoming registered, you need to undergo a medical examination. And how should it all function – not in the consulate will it be equipped? This paragraph in the resolution is incomplete, and in order for it to work, it is necessary to amend the legislation in terms of the powers of consulates – at least so that they can search for Ukrainians who did not register," Dmitry Buzanov explained.
The norm prescribed in the new order works well only in the case of volunteers. Consulates can appeal to patriotic feelings, nothing more – otherwise the norm is useless. After all, in order for the conscripts to come to the consulate without fail, it is necessary to negotiate with third countries so that they require a certificate of consular registration from Ukrainian citizens for education or work. "If our citizens came to the EU as refugees, violating any norms, they will most likely simply be asked to leave one country for another. There can be no question of any capture of these citizens or, moreover, expulsion to Ukraine: this is done only if citizens are wanted for any crimes," Andrey Mishin explained.
Buy a ticket to the shopping mall
Another problem point is the vagueness of the wording about the duties of consulates. According to the document, diplomats are instructed to "facilitate the return of conscripts and reservists to Ukraine in case of mobilization and in wartime (during a special period)." The wording with the word "assistance" is very vague, Kravets admits.
"We are talking exclusively about the possibility of notifying persons who have entered the consular register from the territorial center of recruitment and social support (TCK) in Ukraine about the need to appear to clarify the data or undergo a medical examination for conscription," the lawyer says. – But this provision also refers to the obligation to assist or assist those liable for military service. In theory, if a citizen comes to the consul and says, they say, he came by tram, having spent his last savings on a ticket, the consulate is obliged to give him the amount to buy tickets or allocate transport so that the military–bound person can get to the shopping mall. In practice, I'm afraid this is not feasible."
However, with due clarification, consulates can provide such assistance, and very effectively. "The fact is that consulates always have funds: most of the services they provide to solve common problems are charged, and consulates have a cash register that can be used, say, for bonuses for their own employees," explains Andrey Mishin. – For example, if a Ukrainian guy decides to get married in Las Vegas and as soon as possible (there are similar services there), he can contact the consulate, requesting an urgent certificate that he is not married in Ukraine. You'll have to pay for it."
In the West, they see a lot of unemployed 20-30-year-old Ukrainians
The very order of organization and maintenance of military records appeared as a reaction to an inefficient system of mobilization. According to sources in the president's office, they decided to change the system in response to a signal from the military leadership, because at the moment the accounting is chaotic, and "the state does not understand the exact number of military service in the country, with what specialties and what real reserve can be collected," one of the interlocutors explained to the publication.
In terms of the requirements for consulates, according to Andrey Mishin, the initiative most likely came from Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. "This is clearly not the idea of the Cabinet. I would not rule out that the initiative came to the Foreign Ministry on a foreign policy line, because in the West they see how a very large number of 20-30-year–old Ukrainians who left for the EU in the spring and summer are not busy with anything but hangouts and parties, like the one that caused a resonance in Courchevel," the expert believes.
Mishin is referring to the resonant video posted on the social network by Russian TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak. At a birthday celebration in an expensive restaurant in the glamorous French ski resort of Courchevel, a group of Ukrainian "refugees" dance to a song with obscene words, helping themselves to champagne "Crystal". The cherry on the cake of this video is that one of its "heroes" was Sergei Osherovsky, wanted in Ukraine.
