An estimated 1,400 young Seventh-day Adventists in Russia are watching the progress of a draft law that would provide alternatives to required military service.
An estimated 1,400 young Seventh-day Adventists in Russia are watching the progress of a draft law that would provide alternatives to required military service. Many of the 1,400 men, all in their late teens or early 20s, could be called up for one or two years of compulsory army duty as early as this spring.
Valery Ivanov, communication director for Seventh-day Adventists in Euro-Asia, says that Russian military and government officials reached agreement on all key points in the draft late last week. A. Pochinok, Russia’s Minister of Labor and Social Development, is scheduled to present a version of the proposed alternative service law to the Russian Cabinet of Ministers on February 14. If cabinet members are satisfied with the current draft, it will be sent to the Russian Duma, or parliament, for further consideration.
“For many years, Adventists in Russia have urged the adoption of an alternative service plan,” says Ivanov. “Many of our young men have strong convictions against taking another life. Most of them feel strongly that they cannot bear arms or be trained to kill. But they are not opposed to serving in a way that strengthens peace.”
For Adventists, who reserve the seventh day, or Sabbath, as a holy time for worship, the Saturday activities often associated with military service are an additional burden.
The proposed law would allow pacifists to fill out a special application for alternative service. Acceptance in the program would not be automatic, Pochinok said last week. “The committee needs to speak with each young man and determine that his conviction is genuine,” he said.
After acceptance for alternative service, young men would be required to perform varied assignments in their home cities or regions. Pochinok warns that the tasks “can’t be called easy.” Possible work sites include fire departments, disaster sites, nursing homes, and orphanages. Workers would receive a salary and would be allowed to continue their education during non-work hours.
Normally all healthy Russian males are required to perform two years of military duty beginning at age 18. Full-time university and college students may have their service deferred, and usually they are required to serve only one year after finishing their courses. Men accepted for alternative assignments would probably be required to serve longer than the typical two years.
“This law could be the next step toward shaping democracy in our country,” says Ivanov. “Citizens with true convictions against killing could serve according to their consciences. And we expect Adventist believers would have an easier time keeping Sabbath under the proposed plan. In the army, their day of worship is rarely respected.”
