Russia’s military is trying to intimidate men into enlistment offices ahead of new restrictions on conscription evasion

Military enlistment offices in Moscow have started notifying conscripts that failing to answer their summonses could result in the revocation of their freedom to leave the country, manage property, run a business, register a vehicle, or borrow money.

Human rights groups say the warnings are just an intimidation tactic for now — an attempt to scare conscripts into reporting for examination. However, legislation introducing these new restrictions on men who ignore electronically delivered conscription summonses will take effect on January 1.

So far, the School of Conscription humanitarian organization says it’s unaware of any cases in which such restrictions were imposed on men who didn’t respond to electronic conscription summonses.

The Russian Defense Ministry is still testing its electronic military registration registry. In September, officials tested the system in three regions of Russia, but the registry was still nonoperational as recently as November 2, according to one human rights lawyer.