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Anti-militarist Radical Association (ARA)

For Immediate Release

Moscow, April 13, 1997

In an interview published on April 12 in the paper Moskovskij Komsomolets, Mr. Igor Rodionov, the Defence Minister of Russian Federation, permitted himself again to criticize perspectives of the transition of Russian armed forces on professional principle of completing which was provided as it is known by the Presidential Decree No. 722 of May 16, 1996 - a decree not yet abolished and still in force. Mr. Rodionov called up again "only to dream" about professional army, declaring that neither by the 2000, nor by the 2005 the realization of the decree would not be possible.

However, there are even more SCANDALOUS things in Mr. Rodionov's interview, directed against the draft law on alternative civilian service. The Defence Minister stated literally as follows: "Passing the law on alternative service would mean the death of armed forces".

It is impossible that the Minister doesn't know that Russian Federation Constitution in its Article 59.3 guaranties every citizen's right on conscientious objection and replacing military service by the alternative civilian service. It also could not be a secret for Mr. Rodionov that the soonest adoption of the alternative civilian service law (unlike transition to the professional army which is till now an internal business of a country) makes an integral part of obligations taken by Russia as condition of joining Council of Europe.

Therefore, the words of an acting minister of current Government (by the way, recently renewed) mean exactly: "Realization of the Basic Law of Russian Federation and its international obligations mean the death of its armed forces." It is difficult to imagine, how such statements can be compatible with work as defence minister. This question Russian society must definitely address to the President and Prime Minister.

Laws in our country are fortunately being adopted not by ministers but by members of parliament. However it is well-known that generals entrenched in the State Duma make their best in order to block already for almost three years the draft law on conscientious objection corresponding to the international norms.

In this situation, the last word remains by the conscripts themselves - by the young citizens of our country whose constitutional right on alternative civilian service does not depend from presence or absence of the respective federal law. Last year, more than two hundred of them only in Moscow already demanded the alternative civilian service and, appealing to the court, did not enlist neither to military nor to not yet existent alternative civilian service. The more conscripts would demand their constitutional rights during the conscription campaign in the Spring and Autumn this year, the more difficult it would be for Rodionov's lobby in the Duma to hinder the law.

In the nearest future the Anti-militarist Radical Association - an organization with about half-thousand of members and adherents in three dozens of Russian regions - intends to launch the mass campaign of direct civilian nonviolent actions: a campaign aimed on several thousands of court suites from side of conscripts objecting military service and demanding to replace it by the alternative civilian service according the Constitution.

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