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#13
Alternative service introduction to have no effect on number of dodgers -- military

MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax-AVN) - The introduction of alternative civil service will have no effect on the number of draft dodgers in Russia, a spokesman for the General Staff main mobilization department said on Thursday.

"We came to this conclusion after analyzing the first results of the experiment that is taking place in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Draftees are allowed to opt for alternative service in a first-aid hospital there," the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency. Only 60 out of 9,885 draftees submitted requests for alternative service, and only 15 indeed showed up at the hospital, the spokesman said citing his department's data.

The number of people dodging both alternative and military services exceeds 700 and has not changed in comparison with the past few years. "Those who have been shrinking his duty to the society continue doing it," the spokesman said.

The experiment in the Nizhny Novgorod region is not authorized by any laws, it is a local initiative. "However even local human rights activists who initiated it now have to admit that their idea is dough," the spokesman stressed.

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