War in Ukraine: Putin signs two new amendments to promote military mobilization

A new turning point in the mobilization of Russian civilians?

Vladimir Putin signed this Saturday amendments to the Russian Criminal Code, adopted urgently by Parliament just before the announcement of the "partial mobilization".

These introduce the terms "mobilization", "martial law" and "time of war" into the Penal Code, as Lukas Aubin, specialist in Russian geopolitics and research director at Iris, pointed out to Le Parisien on Wednesday. .

Reservists mainly targeted

The text signed by the Russian president provides in particular for sanctions in the event of absence or unauthorized exit from the place of service for reservists, in the same way as soldiers under contract.

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Measures which appear to be dissuasive with regard to Russian men who would be tempted by desertion, since voluntary surrender will be punished by a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and the violation of service obligations may be punished by up to to eight years in prison, reports BBC Russian.

Looting will also be punished with 15 years of imprisonment.

If these acts are committed “during the period of mobilization or martial law, in time of war”, this may also constitute an aggravating circumstance.

Published in the wake of the signature on the website of the equivalent of the Official Journal, these provisions therefore came into force on Saturday.

Citizenship for voluntary foreigners

Vladimir Putin has also signed a law that will allow foreigners who enlist in the Russian army to apply for Russian citizenship, even if they do not have a residence permit or the five years of residence normally required.

This will be valid only for people who have signed a contract of at least one year with the armed forces, specifies the news agency TASS.

This provision is mainly intended for citizens of former Soviet republics, many of whom have immigrated to Russia.

These measures come as many demonstrations are still underway across the country to denounce this massive mobilization of civilians.

A military recruitment office and a local of United Russia, Vladimir Putin's party, were set on fire in Kansk on the night of Friday to Saturday, local media report.