Conscientious objection to military service, as defined by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights Resolution “Conscientious Objection to Military Service,” No. E/CN.4/RES/1998/77 of April 22, 1998, is the refusal of military service based on personal principles and beliefs, including deep convictions connected to religious, ethical, humanitarian, or similar motives.
The key mechanism for exercising the right to conscientious objection to military service is alternative civilian service (ACS), enshrined in Part 3 of Article 59 of the Russian Constitution. This right derives directly from the provisions of Article 28 of the Constitution, which guarantees everyone freedom of conscience and religion, including the right to hold religious or other beliefs freely and to act in accordance with them.
Furthermore, Part 3 of Article 56 of the Constitution explicitly prohibits restricting the rights and freedoms provided for in Article 28, among others. Consequently, the right to conscientious objection to military service, stemming from the right to freedom of conscience, is absolute: it cannot be abolished or limited. According to Article 15 of the Constitution, its provisions have direct effect.
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, in Decision No. 63-O of May 22, 1996, stated that the right of citizens to alternative service, as enshrined in constitutional norms and not requiring further specification, is directly applicable and must be ensured regardless of whether corresponding federal laws are adopted.
The Constitutional Court also emphasized that a citizen’s effort to exercise their constitutional right using methods not prohibited by law cannot serve as grounds for criminal or other forms of prosecution. Actions by citizens exercising their constitutional right to conscientious objection to military service cannot be regarded as evasion of military service without valid reason.
Despite the unequivocal interpretation of constitutional provisions regarding alternative civilian service, over the past year, human rights defenders have documented numerous cases of military commissariats illegally denying conscientious objectors the ability to substitute military service with ACS under various pretexts.
Service members seeking to exercise their constitutional right to conscientious objection are increasingly subjected to criminal prosecution under Article 332.2.1 of the Criminal Code for refusal to participate in military or combat operations.
Additionally, media reports indicate that at least 13 illegal prisons have been established in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where more than 600 Russian conscientious objectors are being forcibly detained, threatened, and tortured without court orders. Investigative authorities ignore complaints from relatives and human rights advocates.
A tragic testament to the lack of protection for the right to conscientious objection occurred in Pechora, Komi Republic, where Sergey Gridin, serving in a military unit in the Moscow region, committed suicide. In his final note, Gridin stated that he had expressed a desire to refuse participation in combat operations, and the reaction of his commanders led to his decision.
The ability of Russian citizens to exercise their constitutional right to conscientious objection to military service is currently severely restricted. This issue is particularly pressing given the ongoing “special military operation” in Ukraine. Citizens attempting to exercise this right often become targets of criminal prosecution, illegal detention, threats, torture, and other forms of coercion into military service.
In light of the above, we, the undersigned municipal deputies, human rights defenders, civil activists, and others, demand the following:
1. From the State Duma of the Russian Federation — Reform legislation to unequivocally protect the right to conscientious objection to military service at all levels for all categories of service members and conscripts mobilized for military service.
2. From the State Duma of the Russian Federation — Conduct a parliamentary investigation, in accordance with Federal Law No. 196-FZ “On Parliamentary Investigations by the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation,” into cases of illegal detention of service members who expressed a desire to refuse military service and are being held in unlawful prisons in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
3. From the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation — Investigate cases of unlawful prosecution and deprivation of freedom of service members who expressed a desire to exercise their constitutional right to conscientious objection to military service, including those held in illegal detention facilities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
4.From the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation — Inform military commissariats of the need to unconditionally respect citizens’ constitutional right to conscientious objection to military service, halt illegal refusals to grant alternative service, and prevent coercive measures against conscripts to force them into military service.
We also appeal to the citizens of Russia: Exercise and defend your constitutional rights, inform your friends, colleagues, and relatives about the right to conscientious objection to military service! File complaints, go to court, and don’t be afraid — truth, rights, and the law are on your side. For more information about ACS, visit the website of the human rights coalition “Call to Conscience.”
Signed by:
Coalitions and Human Rights Organizations:
Call to Conscience Coalition (Коалиция правозащитников «Призыв к совести»)
Conscript’s School (правозащитно-просветительский проект «Школа призывника»)
Citizen. Army. Law (правозащитная группа «Гражданин. Армия. Право»)
Go to the Woods (Идите лесом)
Conscious Objectors Movement (Движение сознательных отказчиков)
Zemsky Defender (Земский защитник)
Youth Democratic Movement “Vesna” (Молодёжное демократическое движение «Весна»)
Feminist Anti-War Resistance (Феминистское антивоенное сопротивление)
Media Partisans (Медиа Партизаны)
Soft Power Movement (Общественно-политическое движение «Мягкая сила»)
Wake Up (Движение «Очнись»)
Anti-War Sick Leave (Антивоенный больничный)
Lightning Project (Правозащитный проект для студентов «Молния»)
It Will Work (Поддерживающее медиа «Получится»)
Voice of Reason (Проект «Голос Разума»)
NITKA Media Project (Медиа-проект «NITKA»)
FreeRussiaNL
Former and Current Municipal Deputies:
Svetlana Dmitrieva, Municipal Deputy, Pravoberezhny Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Olga Podolskaya, Municipal Deputy, Yefremov, Tula Region
Ksenia Torström, Municipal Deputy, Semyonovsky Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Natalya Komissarova, Former Municipal Deputy, Preobrazhenskoye Municipal District, Moscow
Yulia Shcherbakova, Former Municipal Deputy, Cheryomushki Municipal District, Moscow
Nikolay Bobrinsky, Former Municipal Deputy, Ramenki Municipal District, Moscow
Alexey Kalenov, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Polina Sizova, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Vasily Kunin, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Dmitry Markevich, Municipal Deputy, Liteyny Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Sergey Vlasov, Former Municipal Deputy, Pechatniki Municipal District, Moscow
Sergey Tsukasov, Former Municipal Deputy, Ostankinsky Municipal District, Moscow
Alexandra Evseeva, Municipal Deputy, Sergiev Posad, Moscow Region
Elizaveta Alieva, Former Municipal Deputy, Maryina Roshcha Municipal District, Moscow
Anna Kruglova, Former Municipal Deputy, Sokol Municipal District, Moscow
Nodari Khananashvili, Former Municipal Deputy, Akademichesky Municipal District, Moscow
Vitaly Bovary, Municipal Deputy, Deputy Head of Vladimirsky Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Yulia Galyamina, Former Municipal Deputy, Timiryazevsky Municipal District, Moscow
Artem Golev, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Anna Cherepanova, Municipal Deputy, Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod Region
Irina Gaisina, Municipal Deputy, Vladimirsky Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Denis Smirnykh, Municipal Deputy, Vladimirsky Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Roman Volga, Municipal Deputy, Kolpino Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Maxim Khalimovsky, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Felix Nachalov, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Galina Filchenko, Former Municipal Deputy, Tverskoy Municipal District, Moscow
Anton Kostromichev, Former Municipal Deputy, Severnoye Tushino Municipal District, Moscow
Vasily Khoroshilov, Former Municipal Deputy, Akademichesky Municipal District, Moscow
Sergey Samusev, Municipal Deputy, Municipal District No. 15, Saint Petersburg
Pavel Kirikov, Former Municipal Deputy, Ostankinsky Municipal District, Moscow
Konstantin Kosov, Municipal Deputy, Pushkin, Saint Petersburg
Marina Urazaeva, Former Municipal Deputy, Zamoskvorechye Municipal District, Moscow
Vasily Dikaryov, Municipal Deputy, Yakimanka Municipal District, Moscow
Alexander Korovainy, Former Municipal Deputy, Yeysk, Krasnodar Krai
Nikita Kirillov, Municipal Deputy, Ulyanka Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Ivan Kamshilov, Municipal Deputy, Kurgan, Kurgan Region
Diana Volga, Municipal Deputy, Kolpino Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Ekaterina Silaeva, Former Municipal Deputy, Severnoye Izmailovo Municipal District, Moscow
Elena Kotyonochkina, Former Municipal Deputy, Krasnoselsky Municipal District, Moscow
Igor Voronin, Former Municipal Deputy, Shatura, Moscow Region
Yegor Batozhok, Municipal Deputy, Morskoy Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Elena Klyuchko, Former Municipal Deputy, Ust-Kulomsky District, Komi Republic
Anton Klimov, Municipal Deputy, Vyritskoye Urban Settlement, Leningrad Region
Svetlana Utkina, Municipal Deputy, Finlyandsky Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Dmitry Mochalin, Municipal Deputy, Vyksa, Nizhny Novgorod Region
Oksana Sergeeva, Municipal Deputy, Novgorod Municipal District, Novgorod Region
Anna Karulicheva, Former Municipal Deputy, Narvsky Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Vladimir Zalishchak, Former Municipal Deputy, Donskoy Municipal District, Moscow
Elena Rusakova, Former Municipal Deputy and Head of Gagarinsky Municipal District, Moscow
Alexey Kasatkin, Municipal Deputy, Vasilyevsky Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Andrey Prokofiev, Former Municipal Deputy, Severnoye Tushino Municipal District, Moscow
Maria Solenova, Former Municipal Deputy, Sokol Municipal District, Moscow
Vitaly Nikitin, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Margarita Sharipova, Municipal Deputy, Gagarinsky Municipal District, Moscow
Alexander Budberg, Municipal Deputy, Moskovskaya Zastava Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Dmitry Gorchakov, Former Municipal Deputy, Alexeyevsky Municipal District, Moscow
Olga Moskovskikh, Former Municipal Deputy, Markovsky Municipal District, Irkutsk Region
Anton Kartavin, Municipal Deputy, Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk Region
Vera Morozova, Municipal Deputy, Malaya Okhta Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Alexander Grebenkin, Municipal Deputy, Grazhdanka Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Andrey Moiseykin, Municipal Deputy, Dvortsovy Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Natalia Krisyatskaya, Municipal Deputy, Pargolovo, Saint Petersburg
Denis Vasilyev, Municipal Deputy, Morskoy Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Vladimir Volokhonsky, Municipal Deputy, Municipal District No. 72, Saint Petersburg
Dmitry Gorokhov, Member of the Bureau of the Saint Petersburg Yabloko Party, Municipal Deputy, Narodny Municipal District, Saint Petersburg
Additional Signatories:
Ivan Zhdanov, Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation
Maxim Katz, Politician and Co-Founder of “Urban Projects”
Fyodor Krasheninnikov, Publicist and Public Figure
Ksenia Cherepanova, Chairperson, Regional Center for Human Rights, Novgorod Region
