Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Russia: More than 250,000 flee recruitment to war

Russian organizations call for protection and asylum for all conscientious objectors

(20.09.2023) One year after the partial mobilization, Connection e.V. today presents updated figures on the flight of men subject to military service from Russia. Based on a study by the independent network for analysis and policy RE: Russia, Connection e.V. concludes that at least 250,000 men subject to military draft from Russia have left the country since the beginning of the war against Ukraine and are seeking protection in other countries. Connection e.V. and the Protestant Association for Conscientious Objection and Peace (EAK) demand that steps finally be taken to protect these individuals.

Russia: Escape from participation in the war

Current figures, September 2023

(19.09.2023) Based on new information, we update our estimate for the number of fled military service-obligated men from Russia. We arrive now at a figure of at least 250,000 male refugees liable for military service who left Russia.

In September 2022, we had made an estimate, based on various statistics, of how many military service men have fled Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. For Russia, we came up with an estimate there of at least 150,000, for Belarus at least 22,000, and for Ukraine at least 170,000.

Trial of a Draft Dodger: The “Lida Precedent”

(17.07.2023) On July 6, 2023, in Lida (Grodno region), a 28-year-old man was sentenced to one and a half years of imprisonment for draft evasion. This may seem to be nonsense because in Belarus, individuals can only be called for compulsory military service until the age of 27.

Show your solidarity with conscientious objectors and deserters!

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Ask the European Union with us:

- Grant protection and asylum to deserters and conscientious objectors from Belarus and the Russian Federation!

- Urge the Ukrainian government to stop persecuting conscientious objectors to military service and to guarantee them a full right to conscientious objection!

- Open the borders to those who oppose war at great personal risk in their country!

Link to petition

Why is this important? For more than a year, the Russian Federation has been waging a war of aggression in Ukraine, with devastating consequences. There seems to be no end in sight. Yet we know that men and women on all sides are evading the crimes of war. Tens of thousands are fleeing the Russian Federation and Belarus to avoid being recruited for the war. Thousands are leaving Ukraine because they see their human right to conscientious objection in danger. They are all our hope for overcoming violence.

This petition is run by Connection e.V., International Fellowship of Reconciliation, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and War Resisters’ International