ALTERNATIVE CIVIL SERVICE

The group of the law-makers in State Duma recently received the document with official position of the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation on the law On alternative civil service, signed by the First Vice-Minister of the Defence Ministry - Mr. M.Kolesnikov.

The main shortcomings of this draft bill according to the Defence Ministry are following:

1 The spectrum of the reasons for claiming the right to alternative civil service creats the conditions for the evasion from military service for anybody irrespective of one's convictions.

Under the conditions of implementation of this law the quantity of persons interested in alternative civil service in our country each year can form about 150.000 young men, what means 1/3 of all men, called up for military service in Russian Federation.

2. The only possible reasons for claiming alternative civil service must be those, written in the article 18 of the General Declaration of Human Rights and which are called there the liberty of conscience (The freedom to confess one's convictions in studies, divine service and in execution of the religious and ritual orders.)

3. The terms of the alternative civil service must be one and a half - two times more then that in military service with regard of the time for military periodical traning.

It is also important to take into account that there are now in the Russian Federation some other reasons which make the Defence Ministry obstain from edopting or putting this law in force at least till 1997.

The Position of the Committee of Soldiers Mothers, which was announced in an unofficial talk.

"Frankly saing, we don't need any law on alternative civil service, because our sons according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation "have the right to the substitution of an alternative civil service for military service in case his convictions and faith are at odds with military service", and they could serve neither military nor alternative service", - said Mrs. Chechina.

"We don't need any law on alternative civil service now till the war in Chechenia is'n over. We are afraid that our sons will be send in that region to participate in the arrangements on the restoration of peace in Chechenia. We'd better wait with that law."

Now I'd like to express my own position, not as a member of the Parliaments working group, not as a member of the General Counsil of the Radical Party, but simple my civic position. Unfortunately in our country we are not used to live according to the legal rules. We succeed only in evasion of the law, because till now we didn't have real democratic laws. Unfortunately the mentality of the people is very difficalt to change. The changes needed more time.

I hope that radicals understand that it's better to have the law, even if it's not the best one, than to live lying to owerselfs, to everybody, according to some instructions of the state bureaucracy.