Russia’s Defence Ministry refuses to limit conscription to one year

The Russian Defence Ministry has turned down a request from Boris Vishnevsky, a member of St. Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly, to introduce a one-year limit to the time mobilised reservists are required to serve in the Russian military, the Yabloko political party said on Wednesday.

The liberal deputy initially wrote to Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu directly with his request following a joint appeal made by the wives of conscripts from Russia’s Northwestern Federal District for their husbands to be allowed to return home after a year at the front.

In its statement on the matter, Yabloko noted that regional deputies from the cities of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Pskov and the northern Karelia region had repeatedly submitted appeals to Russian President Vladimir Putin for him to decree an end to mobilisation, only to have their requests turned down each time.