The head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, and his deputy, Andrey Krasov, submitted a bill to the lower house of parliament that allows convicted and partially fit citizens to serve under the contract during the period of mobilization and martial law.
In the explanatory note, the authors of the bill note that they have identified «a significant number of citizens who want to enter the military service under a contract, from among those with whom a contract cannot be concluded.»
An exception is planned to be made on trial for rape, terrorism, treason and espionage. If the bill is passed in the form in which it was proposed by Kartapolov and Krasov, they will still not be allowed to serve in the army.
In addition, the deputies want the Ministry of Defense to draw up a list of diseases, the presence of which will allow those recognized by the military registration and enlistment offices to be limitedly fit to serve in the army under a contract.
In November, President Vladimir Putin allowed the mobilization of Russians with unexpunged or outstanding convictions for serious crimes. And in the summer, the Wagner PMC and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, and then the Russian Ministry of Defense, began recruiting prisoners for the war in Ukraine. The convicts were promised pardon after six months of service.