Cabinet approved new Procedure for keeping military records. According to the plan of the government, all conscripted Ukrainians must be registered. How the new rules will work in practice.
The government adopted the procedure for keeping military records on December 30. The goal is to digitize the process and collect complete information about the existing military reserves in the country, says an interlocutor from the leadership of the Servant of the People presidential party on the condition of anonymity.
According to the document, conscripts can be accepted for work or training after confirming that they are on the military register. State companies and private enterprises must keep records of conscripted workers and submit information to recruiting centers. And employment centers and consulates - about the unemployed and those who have been abroad for more than three months, respectively.
Conscripts must register for military service from the age of 16 (in the year they turn 17) to the age of 27.
Another innovation is that records will be kept in a fully electronic format in the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts and reservists. Conscripts will be able to submit data to the registry through the "Action" application. An electronic military ID should appear in the application.
State bodies and ministries are given six months to implement the new order. By this time, a new option should appear in "Diya", says the OP's interlocutor on the condition of anonymity.
Why the Cabinet of Ministers decided to change the reservation rules
The government has been discussing the issue of streamlining military records since the first months of the war, say two interlocutors in the Office of the President (OP), who asked not to be named in this article. "The system was not working properly, there was a clear signal from the military leadership that it needed to be changed," says an interlocutor in the OP. "At the end of last year, this issue already "sore", so we decided not to drag it out and symbolically launch it at the beginning of the year."
Currently, accounting is conducted chaotically, there is no coordination between recruitment centers, most of the personal files of conscripts are kept in paper form, and some of the documents that were in the military commissariats in the temporarily occupied territories have been completely destroyed, explains the OP consultant on the basis of anonymity. "The state does not understand the exact number of conscripts in the country, with what specialties and what real reserve can be gathered," he says.
They tried to change the accounting system in the authorities during the past year, remembers Yevgenia Ryabek, the coordinator of the ZSU lawyers' movement. At the beginning of July, the General Staff wanted to limit the right of conscripts to leave their place of residence without the permission of military commissars. After a wave of criticism in society, the decision was canceled by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who considered such restrictions inappropriate.
In autumn, the authorities discussed military registration for women. The initial list from the Ministry of Defense included 35 specialties, but on November 10, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law on the voluntary enrollment of women in the military. The exception is women who have a medical specialty.
The new document details all accounting processes, so it is logical that the authorities moved from spot solutions to a more thorough approach, Ryabeka believes.
Is the new accounting related to the need to mobilize more conscripts?
OP assures that such a task is not worth it. "These things are not directly related. The main goal is to normalize the process and make it civilized," says the OP's interlocutor.
On December 6, 2022, Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov stated that there is no need for an additional wave of mobilization in Ukraine. "Today, we have enough people in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and in general in the security and defense sector," he said on the air of the national telethon.
How the new booking rules will work
The employer must keep records of conscripts. "This norm is not new and existed before, but it was not properly implemented," explains Andrii Novak, lawyer of the Miller law firm.
Now the Cabinet of Ministers has prescribed a clearer algorithm of actions. The HR specialist has to keep records, for additional duties he should be charged up to 50% of the official salary. Data on employees must be transferred to the procurement centers once a year by January 25. Also, enterprises must place a notice about the rules of military registration in a prominent place in publicly accessible premises, the text of the Cabinet of Ministers resolution states. A similar memo can be issued to each employee, says Ryabeka from the ZSU lawyers' movement.
According to Novak, the representatives of the picking centers can check the appropriateness of the record keeping: "They can come to the enterprise and check the information."
Enterprises will impose a fine in the amount of UAH 3400 to UAH 5100 for record-keeping violations. And per employee - from 1700 to 3400 hryvnias.
Also, the employer can issue subpoenas to employees if such an order comes from the picking centers, says Ryabeka.
Conscripts can be accepted for work or training after confirming that they are on the military register. "Actually, the employer should check that the conscript has a military ticket, which will state that he is on the register," says Novak.
It will be necessary to register for the military from the age of 16. This norm was developed to improve planning, says Ryabeka: "Such a person will not be subject to mobilization, it is only about accounting and understanding what reserve the country will have in the future." Novak confirms that a person cannot be conscripted into military service before reaching the age of 18.
Return of conscripts from abroad. Ukrainians who live abroad and are on the consular register can be registered for military service. This does not apply to persons who have left for less than three months.
Diplomatic institutions should inform such citizens about the start of the next conscription and facilitate their return to Ukraine. However, exactly how this step will be implemented is not specified in the Cabinet resolution. "Perhaps, the consulates will conduct informational and explanatory work, send out notifications about the start of the draft," Novak suggests.
Ryabek does not rule out that consulates will be able to issue subpoenas at the request of procurement centers.
The decree simplifies the registration of women with medical or pharmaceutical education. They may not be registered and employed as non-military conscripts until the end of 2026. After the end of this term, you will have to register.
At the same time, women who will enter medical institutions from this year (when the new regulation came into force) are subject to military registration. Higher education institutions must submit information about them to recruitment centers two months before the end of their studies.
