Conscientious Objection in Russia

Report by Sergej Sorokin

In the Russian Federation the age for conscription is 18 years, the length of the military service is 2 years. Each year 400,000 men are summoned, 200,000 in spring and the same number again in autumn. In the Russian army of 2 million soldiers constantly 800,000 are conscripts.

In 1989 the then president Gorbatschev signed in Copenhagen a human rights document which made likely the possibility of an alternative civil service in the Soviet Union. Conscientious objection is regulated by the article 59 of the Russian constitution. It reads: Every citizen whose convictions prevent him from military service has the right to a replacement of this military service by an alternative service. Yet there is no law which regulates the implementation of such an alternative service. Already back in 1994 on a conference we have asked when the Russian parliament will possibly decide on such a law on conscientious objection. Today the passing of such a law by the Duma has become practically impossible if one considers the majority ratios. General Rochin as chair of the defence committee in the Duma lately had more the strengthening and support of the army on his mind.

But from our point of view a law on an alternative service is not even necessary to exercise the right to conscientious objection. The constitution is the highest directly ruling law and the constitutional right to conscientious objection can not be removed by any other law. COs and their parents just have to trust in the existence of this right and the possibility of its implementation. To put this right into practice an open declaration of conscientious objection is necessary. 90% of those who seek advice from me have merely to be shown the possibility of putting this right into practice, that it can be exercised without having to fear anything, one only has to declare the conscientious objection openly.

The, historical, basis for my present practise is the work of Human and Civil Rights activists in Soviet times, among others the work of Sacharov and Juri Arlov. Arlov is the one who inspired the Moscow-Helsinki-Group. He implemented the idea that citizens have to control the observance of Civil Rights in their own countries by themselves on the basis of the Helsinki documents. The then activities were concentrated on demanding the observance of the constitution from the Soviet leaders. This is practically what we are demanding now.

I am now going to describe a few cases which prove the existence of COs in the former Soviet Union. My friend and collaborator in the anti militaristic radical association, Nikolai Ramov, had been arrested as a CO, in the street, in 1984. He was then 20 years old. A Volga stopped beside him, some persons jumped out and dragged him into the car, brought him to the airport and away from Moscow to Charov, in the far east. This shows the involvement of the KGB in CO affairs. Ramov’s insistence on his conscientious objection lead to a development that left his superiors no other alternative than to discharge him for medical reasons from the army after three months of service.

Another case, also quoted from the book "Dangerous Times" by Juri Arlov: Micha Gartinov was a happy astute young man from the countryside who did not join the army but crossed the Turkish border. But from there he was sent back to the Soviet Union and was consequently imprisoned in Russia. The Turks had not believed him that traversing the border could have been so easy. He was too healthy and above all still alive so it seemed unbelievable to them that he could have managed to overcome the paranoid and highly graded Soviet border security systems. "But it was a bank holiday, the Day of the Border Troops" Micha laughingly told them. "The border guards were celebrating and even the signals did not work".

One more case: In 1962 Patrushev who is now living in Austria swam across the Black Sea, from Batumi to Turkey. To arrive there took him two days. He could only swim at night, during daytime it was impossible. During the day he rested on a submarine basis, literally the most forbidden place of all. Fortunately nobody came to this place and he therefore was safe there all day.

My work primarily is linked with the increasing number of COs as well as the consequently higher numbers of consultations. The official number of COs in 1996 as given by the military administration, was 675. But the number of those who just went into hiding, this means did not appear at the military office, is given as being approximately 100,000. Against these 100,000 in hiding criminal action has been taken on the grounds of them being offenders and anti-social, although the only thing they want is to live in peace. This dead-end situation is due to the fact that the military administration keeps silent about the constitutional given possibility of conscientious objection.

In building a peaceful society in Europe and the whole world the to me the main problem is the issue of Human Rights. Anti-militaristic activities and most of all resistance against the military, the military budget and a militaristic conscience are the most important conditions for a safe and danger-free life. Every European parliamentarian, every minister and every politically active person who takes a neutral stance on the issues of CO, the military budget or linked ones is in fact making a pro-military decision. A conscript’s consent to military service in principle is also a consent to to kill in certain situations. I stand against asking this duty of young people. If one tries to learn from history the two world wars of this century show that even a victory has no positive consequences for a society which has become evident in the Soviet Union. After the war the prevailing mood in the Soviet Union was militaristic and this has an impact until today. It lead to the people’s still militaristic attitude and their wish to be in a winning, superior position.

Up to now I have given advice to more than 2,000 COs, none of them is presently imprisoned or under arrest. All are at home and engaged in anti-militaristic activities. On October 1, 1997 on the Red Square in Moscow an event took place. More than 25 COs made a jigsaw puzzle of the figure 59,3 -for article 53, paragraph 3 of the constitution, the constitutional regulation of conscientious objection- on the Red Square. They were all wearing the T-shirts we had just produced. They read: "Conscription? No, thank you". One of these T-shirts I have brought with me to give it to Kalle Seng, the organiser of the Hamburg Peace Net. Up to now he has supported our work very much.