Russian Youths Lie About HIV Infection to Avoid Conscription

Russia Autumn Regular Conscription Begins
Surge in Online Posts About Avoiding Conscription

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters a prolonged phase, reports have emerged that various scams to evade military service are rampant in Russia, where the autumn conscription season has begun.

According to the Russian daily Izvestiya on the 2nd (local time), Russia started its autumn conscription across the federation from the 1st. This conscription is a regular draft conducted twice a year and will continue until December 31. It is unrelated to the mobilization order for the "special military operation" Russia is conducting in Ukraine.

Conscripted Russian youths. [Photo by Yonhap News]

Russian men aged 18 to 27 are required to serve one year of mandatory military service, but since last month, posts related to draft evasion have been rampant on the internet.

For example, there are posts online claiming that by paying 2 million rubles (about 28 million won), one can be made to appear employed at an IT company located in Moscow City, the Moscow business district, by using a system that exempts certified IT company employees from conscription. There is also a Telegram bot offering to issue fake health examination certificates. This is to pretend to be infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) to receive a medical exemption from the draft. Some even obtain fake certificates claiming they have immigrated to another country or obtained refugee status.

Izvestiya explained that even if young people avoid conscription through such scams, they may become victims of other frauds due to personal information leaks. Young people may have their identities stolen or suffer financial losses during these scams, and even if their information is used for spam or cyberattacks, they cannot report it to the police because they are accomplices to the fraud.

In Russia, those caught evading conscription can face up to two years in prison. Those providing illegal services to help evade conscription can be sentenced to up to three years in prison.