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The Russian government’s legislative commission has backed amendments that would allow the country’s mobilization reserve to be used for defense-related missions in peacetime, including outside Russia, according to a report by the state-controlled news outlet TASS.
According to the proposal drafted by the country’s Ministry of Defense, the government plans to amend the federal laws “On Defense,” “On Military Duty and Military Service,” and “On the Status of Servicemen.” The new provisions would permit citizens who have signed reserve contracts to be called up for defensive tasks not only during mobilization or wartime, but also in peacetime.
Due to the Kremlin's categorization of the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” — a status similar, but not identical, to that of a counter-terrorist operation — Russia is not formally in a state of war, which has created the need for legislative maneuvering and ad hoc legal measures to fill gaps.
The bill opens up the possibility that reservists could be called up for “special training assemblies” by presidential order, in addition to existing training and inspection exercises.
These special assemblies would be intended as military call-ups “for carrying out specific defense-related tasks” in cases of armed conflicts, counterterrorism operations, or the use of military force outside Russian territory. Only reservists would take part in these deployments, adds the business publication RBC.
The authors of the bill propose limiting the duration of these “assemblies” to no more than two months, with participants receiving additional monetary compensation during their service.
The explanatory note attached to the bill states that current law allows for the use of reservists only during mobilization or wartime, and it “does not provide for their use in peacetime.”
The legislation expands the Defense Ministry’s ability to employ reservists in different situations, head of the State Duma’s Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov clarified in comments to RBC. Kartapolov noted that the bill uses broad language allowing reservists to be deployed under various circumstances without the need for separate legislation in each case.
He added that this includes the clause on using reservists outside Russian territory, since, as he put it, “the Sumy and Kharkiv regions, where fighting is also taking place, are de jure located outside the country,” RBC reported.
Russia’s mobilization reserve consists of citizens who voluntarily sign contracts to remain in reserve. Vladimir Putin created the reserve by decree in 2015. The initial contract between a citizen and the military lasts three years, and reservists are required to undergo annual training. Contract reservists also receive monthly stipends and salaries during training or deployment.
After the announcement of partial mobilization in September 2022, then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed Russia had an “enormous mobilization resource” of about 25 million people.