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According to the director of the human rights group "Citizen. Army. Law" Sergei Krivenko, vacations are given to military personnel only by decision of the commander and may not be given for a year or two.  

Since the spring of this year, demands from the wives of mobilized soldiers addressed to President Putin have been appearing almost weekly in the form of recorded video messages or petitions – the essence is the same: to send their husbands, who were mobilized a year ago, home on leave, through rotation.

10 May Online change.org on behalf of mobilized military personnel from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast, Sverdlovsk Oblast and other regions Zarema Zemtsova asks for the law identify length of service of mobilized military personnel in the special military operation zone for six months. The petition was signed by 1322 people.

In July, a Muscovite Vera Potapova wrote in the new Outstanding Addressing the authorities: "It is unfair that employees of the Russian National Guard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other security agencies are sent to the SVO zone for a specific period of time as part of a three- or six-month work assignment. Our men have been in the SVO for at least nine months already, and many still haven't had the vacation they are entitled to, which should be granted every six months." The petition has over 2500 signatories.

Similar appeals were published by Irina from St. Petersburg, Nastya Melnikova from Tomsk, Tatyana Kapitonova from Tikhvin, Olga Grosheva from Moscow, and Liliya Litvinova from Birsk.

In Putin's Order No. 647 The decree of September 21, 2022, regarding partial mobilization, makes no mention of leave or rotation for those called up for military service. It only mentions three grounds for discharge: health, reaching the maximum age for service, or a criminal court verdict.

At the end of last year, during the address to the Federal Assembly Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin сообщил compatriots that every participant in a special operation should have the opportunity to take a two-week vacation once every six months and instructed premiere Mishustin To establish all the necessary regulations for this. The deadline was April 15. Following this, Mikhail Mishustin, at a meeting of the Coordinating Council for Providing for the Armed Forces' Needs on March 1, issued orders to his subordinates on the president's instructions. Six months have passed, and those mobilized still cannot, to quote Putin, "visit their families, be with their loved ones."

In mid-June, during a meeting with war correspondents, the master of the Kremlin again expressed regarding the rotation of mobilized personnel and confirmed, in essence, that the law does not provide for specific timeframes for the rotation of military personnel.

According to him, it is necessary to bring those mobilized home from the war; such issues are being discussed at the Ministry of Defense.

  The law does not provide for specific deadlines, and it will be necessary to proceed primarily from the availability of personnel, from how the situation is developing on the line of contact, and from how the special military operation itself is proceeding, he said on June 13, noting that this concerns the rotation of mobilized personnel.   We need to proceed based on the current situation on the line of contact, the development of the situation on the line of contact, and the progress of the Second Military Operation. At my suggestion, we decided to introduce regular leave every six months. Some doubted whether they would return to the front. Almost everyone is returning, 99% of the personnel.

In nine days, on September 21, it will be a year since the announcement of partial mobilization in Russia, but the issue of vacations remains unresolved.

Wives of mobilized Russians continue to fight in departmental chats, petition websites, write to the new “Defenders of the Fatherland” fund.

For example, Anna, the wife of a mobilized soldier from Moscow, told the website "NotMoscow Speaking" that "the authorities are well aware that mobilized soldiers don't get vacation. But they can't influence the Ministry of Defense, and their answer is always the same: 'At the discretion of the command, based on the combat situation.'"

Indeed, according to the director of the human rights group "Citizen. Army. Law" Sergei Krivenko, vacations are given to military personnel only by decision of the commander and may not be given for a year or more.

The right of military personnel to leave is enshrined in article 11 the Law "On the Status of Military Personnel" and Regulations on the procedure for military service.

There are several types of leave, including basic leave, vacation leave, maternity leave, and maternity leave for female military personnel. There are also maternity and even creative leave, sick leave, rehabilitation leave, and personal leave, such as the death of a loved one. Leave for mobilized personnel a year after mobilization for the war with Ukraine is not legally regulated. Despite the fact that Russians conscripted after September 21 have the same rights as contract service members.

The latest official information about leave for mobilized personnel was answer Ministry of Defense to the State Duma deputy Nina Ostanina 2 September.

  The Ministry reports that a series of measures are currently being implemented to provide leave, taking into account the decision made to provide mandatory leave to this category of military personnel at least once every six months for a minimum of 14 days, excluding travel time to and from the vacation location. Leave planning and provision are carried out by the commander (chief of staff) of the military unit, taking into account the unconditional fulfillment of the assigned tasks facing the military unit. To this end, the military unit headquarters develops a leave schedule aimed at ensuring that military personnel fully realize their right to rest.   Ostanina wrote on Telegram.

The Ministry of Defense has essentially sent everyone to military unit headquarters, where they are required to adjust their leave, but only based on the operational situation in the combat zone where the individual mobilized personnel is located. Rotation is based on the unit's combat readiness and the combat missions they face.

And given that "information concerning the organization and implementation of rotation of military personnel called up for military service during mobilization and participating in the Special Military Operations is impossible to obtain, as it is classified information," the issue of vacations for mobilized personnel remains unregulated by any laws.

Even local officials are trying to reach out to the Minister of Defense. Sergei Shoigu with a request for rotation of mobilized personnel. Thus, the governor of the Leningrad region Alexander Drozdenko after a woman whose husband had been at war for 10 months contacted the hotline, He pledged write letters to Putin and Shoigu about rotation.  

My husband has been fighting for almost ten months now, living, sleeping, and eating in the trenches. He hasn't taken a single vacation during this time. Of course, he's become incredibly tired physically and mentally. I'd even say exhausted. We, wives, children, and mothers of mobilized soldiers, are sending truckloads of humanitarian aid to the SVO zone. We've taken on all the men's work, the household chores, and raising the children. But human resources are not limitless. Elena, a resident of the Leningrad region, said:

According to Drozdenko, a year ago he and the Ministry of Defense stated that mobilization would last for six months.

But now, the fighters have been there for 11 months already. Rotation is definitely needed. I'm preparing a letter to the country's leadership, he said during the direct line.

State Duma deputy, General Andrei Gurulev, who back in July She urged Regarding rotation at the front: "The soldiers want to eat properly, wash, and sleep peacefully, without things whistling or flying overhead. They're working, after all." However, on September 7, following the governor's proposal, Drozdenko stated that a second wave of mobilization would be ineffective, claiming it would take a long time to train soldiers and, besides, would deprive the home front of working hands. However, he noted that leave is granted once every six months and that this schedule is "strictly enforced," and that it can be denied due to participation in heavy fighting.

Today, there is no difference between mobilized units and combat units – everyone is performing a combat mission!   the deputy advocates, forgetting that the 300 thousand Russian men driven off to war did not plan to go to war.

 Military expert Vladislav Shurygin surethat after a year from the first wave of conscription, the question of replacing the 300 thousand mobilized for the war will become acute.

Otherwise, it will simply cause social tension in that part of our society that is connected with mobilized family and comradely ties, and a drop in motivation among those mobilized themselves, who have simply, as they say, been “hung” with the war “for the whole country.” he writes on Telegram, believing that rotation is needed.

This means a new wave of mobilization, which will need to begin at least two to three months before the start of the first wave of demobilization.

It turns out that rotation could become a new wave of mobilization.