Updated 18 September 2026
In brief
Russia's register of draft notices has been fully operational since May 2025, and the restrictions it triggers apply automatically, without regard to where a person physically is. An emigrant can be entered in it, and made subject to an exit ban and a package of further measures, without ever learning of it. For those who have left, the risk does not materialise abroad. It materialises at the border on the way back.
This article is part of Way Out, a legal project by FACTUM.PRESS. We set out what the law actually permits and what happens in practice when the state comes for you.
What the law requires of those who leave
A citizen leaving Russia for more than six months is obliged to notify the military commissariat and be removed from the conscription register. Failure to report a departure or a return carries a fine of 5,000 to 15,000 roubles under Article 21.5(3) of the Code of Administrative Offences.
Anyone permanently resident abroad is not subject to Russian military registration at all. That is precisely what the removal procedure is for.
For a short visit to Russia — under three months — the commissariat must be notified within two weeks of entry.
Coming off the register without going back
The law allows three routes: in person, through a representative acting under a notarised power of attorney, and by registered post. An application can be filed through the Gosuslugi state services portal, with documents showing long-term residence abroad attached: a residence permit, a work permit or a long-stay visa.
The procedure cannot be completed entirely at a distance. The original military ID or registration certificate has to be handed in to the commissariat. In practice, that makes a notarised power of attorney, granted to someone still in Russia who can surrender the document, the workable route.
One detail catches people out. What has to be evidenced is not that you have already been absent for six months, but that you will be absent for at least six months going forward. A document attesting to past absence is not, on its own, a ground for removal.
What happens in practice
Commissariats routinely refuse to process removals made by proxy, on the argument that the law makes no provision for it. The law does not prohibit it either, and a refusal can be challenged — through a higher commissariat or the military prosecutor's office. That route works, but it takes weeks.
Human rights lawyers give a second piece of advice: do not go to the commissariat yourself. While the mobilisation decree remains in force, the visit carries its own risk, since staff may serve a notice on the spot. Acting through a proxy removes that risk altogether.
Can a notice be served through a consulate?
No. Russian consulates and embassies have no powers to serve draft notices or conduct mobilisation measures — in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Germany, the United States or anywhere else. Under Russian law a notice is served in person against signature, by registered post, or through the register.
Dual nationality is a separate question. A second passport offers no protection inside Russia, where the holder is treated solely as a Russian citizen. Outside Russia it has no bearing on military registration at all.
The register works without you
An electronic notice is deemed served seven days after it is posted, whether or not the person knew of it. What follows is automatic: a ban on leaving Russia from the day of posting, and, twenty days after the date given for appearance, a package of further measures — no registration as a sole trader or self-employed person, suspension of property transactions, a ban on driving, and restrictions on credit.
For someone already abroad, these restrictions lie dormant. They do not expire, and they are waiting on re-entry.
Enforcement began in earnest in 2026. Artyom Klyga, a lawyer with the Movement of Conscientious Objectors, estimated in July that exit bans were being recorded at roughly five to seven cases a month. Idite Lesom has reported a sole-trader registration refused in Kabardino-Balkaria, a flat sale blocked in Krasnoyarsk in June 2026, and travellers stopped at Vnukovo and Pulkovo airports and at the land border with Abkhazia.
What to check and what to do
Start by establishing your actual position rather than guessing. The personal account on the register shows whether a notice exists, what it is for, the date set for appearance and which restrictions have been imposed. Access is through a Gosuslugi account.
After that it depends on the situation.
If there is no notice and you have left for the long term, begin the removal through a proxy without delay. The procedure takes time, and the window for a calm decision is open only while you are not in the register.
If a notice is already in the register, you are barred from leaving Russia — but you are outside it, and your stay abroad is unaffected. The question is what happens on entry: a notice may be served and departure may be blocked. Take any decision about travelling with that in mind.
If you are planning a short visit, remember the two-week notification duty, and that the visit to the commissariat itself carries a risk while the decree stands.
What could change this picture
The register's restrictions have only just begun to be applied, and practice is moving faster than the law. Failures are documented: people subject to a formal ban have left the country, and in one recorded case a traveller was stopped only a month after the notice appeared in the register. None of that is a strategy to rely on — the gaps are being closed.
A further question remains open: the position of reservists holding a military ID. The Movement of Conscientious Objectors takes the view that the exit ban does not extend to them and that they receive notifications only. That reading has not yet been tested in practice to the same degree as the position of those liable for conscription.
Where to get individual help
We do not give individual legal advice. For personal assistance, approach the organisations that do: Idite Lesom, Pervy Otdel (First Department), the Conscript's School and the Movement of Conscientious Objectors.
Sources
Federal Law on Military Duty and Military Service (Article 7.1, temporary measures); Code of Administrative Offences (Article 21.5); Federal Law on Mobilisation Preparation and Mobilisation in the Russian Federation; Meduza, Radio Liberty, Novaya Gazeta Europe, and reporting by Idite Lesom and the Movement of Conscientious Objectors.
Estimates of how often these restrictions have been enforced come from human rights organisations and are not independently verified. This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice.