The Communist Party of the Russian Federation reprimanded deputies of the faction who did not vote on amendments to the law on military duty and military service, two anonymous sources of Vedomosti in the party report. Dissatisfaction was expressed by the coordinator of the faction Nikolai Kolomeytsev and the head of the Central Control and Audit Commission of the Communist Party.
The Communists were to vote in a consolidated way for the bill at the request of Gennady Zyuganov. Kolomeitsev, according to sources, later voiced the dissatisfaction of the party leader with the behavior of the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party at the internal meeting. “If the head of the faction [Zyuganov] came at the beginning of the meeting and said, no matter what, vote like this, then you need to vote like that,” he said.
In an interview with Vedomosti, Kolomeitsev refused to answer the question of what sanctions await deputies who did not vote for amendments to the law on military duty, saying that they were determined by Zyuganov. In turn, the head of the press service of the party, Alexander Yushchenko, called the consolidated vote of the communist faction "a matter of discipline", and also said that none of the deputies "was dissatisfied with anything."
According to one of the sources of the publication, it was initially assumed that the Communists would vote against the bill, and the decision to vote "for" was made by the leadership of the faction.
In 2018, deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation did not support amendments to the law on military duty in the first reading. In 2023, out of 43 representatives of the faction, 14 did not take part in the voting on the bill in the second reading and 12 in the third.
Amendments to the draft law on military duty and military service, adopted by the State Duma and signed by Vladimir Putin, provide for a host of repressive measures against citizens who evade going to the military registration and enlistment office. Among other things, they will not be able to receive loans, register a business, drive a car and dispose of their real estate.
The new version of the law also spelled out a mechanism for receiving summonses in electronic form and the creation of a register of summonses and persons liable for military service.
On April 17, the chief military commissar of Moscow, Maxim Loktev, announced that electronic subpoenas would be sent out in "test mode" via SMS and "Gosuslug" already during the spring conscription. He also promised to conduct a draft campaign "quite calmly and in a good mood."