Draft exemptions as Russians know them are ending The newsletter Faridaily reveals how new rules are making it far harder for employers to shield staff from mobilization

Russia is narrowing opportunities for mobilization exemptions and further centralizing the state’s control over granting these exceptions. According to the newsletter Faridaily, military draft exemptions issued under Russia’s old rules will expire on March 21, 2025, and many of the men who avoided mobilization previously will not qualify for extensions under the new rules. Meduza reviews Faridaily’s report on these changed regulations and what the new policy could mean for future mobilization in Russia.

In September 2022, when Russia began a “partial mobilization” on Vladimir Putin’s orders, a government decree from 2010 dictated the rules for draft exemptions. Under these regulations, exemptions were available to staff at state and municipal offices and any institutions (including businesses) that met at least one of the following three criteria:

• Implementing defense directives
• Providing training in military occupational specialties
• Carrying out a set of measures to ensure the general public’s livelihood during wartime

This last criterion proved the most elastic, allowing a wide range of companies to shield their employees from mobilization by framing their work as essential public services. Faridaily could not determine the number of organizations that received draft exemptions for staff between 2022 and 2024, but sources told the outlet that the practice was common at major enterprises. 

In June 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a new decree with restricted public access that overhauls Russia’s draft exemption policy. The document took effect immediately, but its effects will not be felt universally until March 21, when existing draft exemptions expire. Employers must reapply if eligible, and in many cases, organizations will no longer be able to do that. The new rules are contained in an unpublished appendix that Faridaily obtained.

Since June last year, and starting in March this year for men with expiring protections, exemptions will be available only to employees of state and municipal authorities, Rosatom, Roscosmos, and the Central Bank, as well as organizations that meet at least one of these new criteria:

• Implementing defense directives and requisitions
• Fulfilling state defense contracts (in industries related to the production and repair of specialized equipment, construction for defense and security needs, and so on)
• Operating under the jurisdiction of federal executive agencies with military service functions.

Additionally, exemption caps vary depending on the source of state directives and requisitions. For example, employers fulfilling a mandate from the government cabinet can exempt up to 90 percent of their staff. Meanwhile, with directives from the Central Bank, Rosatom, and Roscosmos, the exemption rate ceiling falls to 85 percent. With municipal directives, organizations can only shield 75 percent of their workforce.

Russia’s new mobilization rules also expand the grounds for revoking exemptions. Previously, workers only lost this status when they lost their jobs. Under the modified procedure, the state can now rescind draft exemptions by reclassifying an employer or an employee’s expertise as nonessential.

There are also now fewer agencies empowered to grant draft exemptions. Regional and municipal exemption commissions, as well as military commissariats, no longer process requests. Russia’s Interdepartmental Commission, mobilization units in state and local government, and the Central Bank, Roscosmos, and Rosatom retain their right to allocate exemptions. The new limits are designed to “reduce the number of abuses,” a government source told Faridaily.

Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, has described Russia’s old rules on draft exemptions as a holdover from “that period of unrestrained democracy.” “Time moves on, the threats are different now, and the rules will be adjusted,” he explained last November. 

Multiple sources told Faridaily that major corporate enterprises in Russia have stopped hiring new employees with guaranteed exemption from mobilization. Even at the state arms conglomerate Rostec, exemptions will remain only for employees “engaged in tasks related to military objectives,” a source at the company explained. Meanwhile, at the oil giant Rosneft, exemptions are now being decided “on an individual basis.” (Exemptions have reportedly become an even more critical aspect of staff retention and competitive hiring amid Russia’s acute labor shortage.) Faridaily’s sources at the company estimated that, by spring, the number of exemptions will fall to “roughly 70–80 percent of the current total.”

Absent fears of Russia imminently returning to active mobilization, the new limits on draft exemptions have raised concerns without triggering an outright panic, explained Faridaily. For example, one source at a major IT company said, “Everyone has calmed down compared to 2022. And, well, there’s an understanding that no job will be safe if a really big war breaks out.”