#3
BBC Monitoring
Russia: Nine conscientious objectors allowed to do
alternative service
Source: TV6, Moscow, in Russian 0700 gmt 19 Oct 01
[Presenter Aleksey Frolov] An important experiment is under way in Nizhniy Novgorod - an attempt to resolve the problem of draft dodgers. But the recipe is an old one - alternative forms of service.
[Correspondent] The call-up commission applied strict selection criteria. Out of 34 applicants, only 14 were invited to put their cases to the commission. Of these, only nine were given the right to fulfil their military service working as hospital orderlies. The young men managed to convince the call-up commission that they are members of a pacifist movement and that they have been working as volunteers in a variety of social institutions for many years. Their main argument was not that they are afraid of the army, but that they do not want to take weapons into their hands.
[Andrey Matveyev, captioned as conscript] I am not against the army and I am not making a stand against the army. I agree that each country needs to have an army, but let it be a professional one.
[Correspondent] The convictions of these young men are so strong that they are ready to do three years [of alternative service, as opposed to the statutory two years in the military] and even more if a law is passed increasing the time of alternative service to four years. There is a variety of opinions amongst the military on the decision of these lads, but one argument worked strongly in their favour: they did not evade the draft, like so many conscripts.
Some members of the commission and, for the main part, the heads of call-up offices are opposed both to this experiment and the whole idea of alternative service. But even they acknowledge the fact that, according to the [Russian] constitution, each conscript has the right to alternative service, and that most importantly of all, it will not have an effect on the results of the call-up in Nizhniy Novgorod.
[Lev Pavlov, captioned as chairman of the committee for the affairs of servicemen, Nizhniy Novgorod] This alternative service will have no negative effect whatsoever, either on our level of military preparedness, or on the call-up. Judge for yourself: 1,200 are dodgers. Do you think that in comparison 34 are a problem? That's only 4 people for each call-up office.
[Correspondent] The top brass acknowledges the following, too: that the experiment in Nizhniy Novgorod does not at all mean that all conscripts will start declaring that they want to do civilian service. However, this might change if alternative service is institutionalized all over the country.
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