Moscow Financial University students arrested and sent to a military enlistment office

Several full-time students from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, in Moscow, were arrested in their dormitory and taken to a military enlistment office. Kirill Yudin, the brother of one of the students, reported the events to publication Kholod.

According to Kirill, police and military recruitment officers detained his brother and another six or seven students at 7:00am on December 2. The young men were taken to the military enlistment office in Moscow’s Savyolovsky district.

Matvey Yudin was out of touch for 13 hours, after which he called relatives and said that the military enlistment office continued to hold him and the other students, and that they had not been given medical examinations. After that, he disappeared again.

Two hours later, an officer who answered the phone at the enlistment office told Kholod, that “they [the students] had been sent” to a collection point on Ugreshskaya Street. He did not specify exactly how many students had been at the enlistment office.

Kirill Yudin claims that his brother is a full-time student and is not subject to military service. He also told publication Sota that university leadership “refused to help” the arrested students. 

On December 3, Kirill Yudin told Sota that a lawyer was not permitted at the collection point, where his brother was sent.

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Russia announced mobilization on September 21. According to President Vladimir Putin, it was complete by October 31 (although this is not officially correct, since Putin has not signed the corresponding decree). From November 1 to December 31, Russia is conducting its fall conscription drive for military service. However, full-time students are legally entitled to exemptions from both conscription and mobilization.