An opposition district councilman in Moscow loses his seat on a local draft board, and he says it's the mayor's fault

Opposition activist and municipal deputy Ilya Yashin has lost his seat on the Krasnoselsky district draft board. Yashin, who was elected as a local councilman in September 2017, says Mayor Sergey Sobyanin removed him for political reasons and appointed Mikhail Biryukov in his place, defying a law that says either Yashin or his deputy must head the district’s draft board.

City Hall says this was the draft board’s decision, denying that it even has any paperwork documenting Yashin’s dismissal (though the mayor’s office is supposed to approve these decisions).

But what does the draft board say?

Members of the Krasnoselsky district draft board told the newspaper Kommersant that Yashin basically shirked his board duties. He reportedly attended just three of the last 15 meetings, leaving Mikhail Biryukov to perform his role as chairman (which is why the board apparently offered the job to him formally this week).

In January, the district chief enlistment officer says he asked Yashin to submit his candidacy for the next board, but he allegedly never responded. A month later, Yashin supposedly agreed to a new membership arrangement that listed Biryukov as the board’s chairman, sources told Kommersant. Yashin denies this, calling it a “blatant lie.”