According to Victoria Syumar, both the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff admitted that the norm on demobilization after 36 months “is declarative.”

The updated mobilization bill contains corruption risks. This conclusion was reached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, said committee member Victoria Syumar.

According to her, during the discussion of the document, representatives of both the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff present at the meeting admitted that the norm on demobilization after 36 months “is declarative.”

“Because in essence, after 36 months, a serviceman only gets the right to write a report on his dismissal. But the decision of who and when to demobilize will be made by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters,” the deputy noted.

She emphasized that in the end the committee recognized the new bill as one that contains corruption risks.

“And due to the fact that the Cabinet of Ministers will determine which of the law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies will have reservations and who should be mobilized. And that the Cabinet of Ministers may further limit travel abroad for other categories without any clarity. And because of the uncertainty of which documents must be provided for those caring for disabled people to prove the fact of care. And because there may be risks when imposing a penalty for not opening a conscript’s electronic account,” Syumar clarified.

She believes that as long as “the TCC will transfer the data of those who the cabinet did not do, to the police and the police will write reports of violations.”

“Everything is again not written out clearly and is doubtful regarding its compliance with the Constitution. We proposed how to finalize it. But while the army is a “one-way ticket” with a declarative report after 36 months, there will be even less motivation for service,” the parliamentarian concluded.

New mobilization bill

On January 30, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the Rada an updated version of the mobilization bill. The document, in particular, assumes that people with disabilities of all groups will be exempt from military service. After mobilization, all citizens undergo mandatory military training for a period of 2-3 months. Also, a person cannot be sent immediately to the front after mobilization.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Defense explained how the number of conscripts would be determined. They noted that the bill provides for the creation of a mechanism that will allow recruiting as many people as needed into the army.