Current as of 18 September 2026
In brief
In 2026 a draft notice can count as served without a single sheet of paper changing hands. An entry in an electronic system can start legal deadlines running whether or not the person ever opened the notification.
Three dates matter here, and they do not coincide: the day the notice was posted in the register, the day it is legally deemed served, and the day set for appearance. The first step is not deciding whether to go, but establishing which of those dates have already passed, and why you are being summoned: the purpose of the summons is stated on the notice as a separate line, and everything else depends on it.
What the law says: when a notice counts as served
There are several methods of service, and each sets its own starting point. Paper notices have not gone away: service in person against signature, collection at the commissariat and registered post all operate alongside electronic notices. Refusing to accept a notice counts as service on the day of refusal.
An electronic notice counts as served from the moment it is posted to the person's Gosuslugi account. Whether you have read it is irrelevant: the law requires neither that the text be opened nor that it be signed.
If the notice has not been served by another method, it is deemed served seven calendar days after it was posted in the register of notices. The rule applies both to those without a verified Gosuslugi account and to those who never go online.
The practical conclusion: counting seven days makes sense only if no notice has appeared in your account. If it has appeared there, service has already occurred, and there is no waiting for the week to run out.
What the law says: the deadlines that follow
The date of appearance is stated on the notice itself. Failure without good reason to appear at the time and place stated carries liability under Article 21.5(1) of the Code of Administrative Offences: a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 roubles. How administrative liability differs from the temporary measures and from the criminal article is covered separately.
A twenty-day period runs separately. Twenty calendar days after the date given in the notice, where there is no good reason for the absence, a ground arises for applying the temporary measures under Article 7.1 of the law on military duty. The decision is generated in the register and takes effect once the military commissar has signed it electronically. The measures themselves: a bar on registering as a sole trader or self-employed person, suspension of property transactions, a driving ban, and restrictions on credit.
The exit ban works differently. On the literal wording of Article 7.1(1) it applies to citizens liable for conscription into military service, and Article 22 defines that category as men aged 18 to 30 who are not in the reserve. The twenty-day measures in Article 7.1(4) are framed more broadly, covering those registered or required to be registered for military service. How the system actually handles notices sent to reservists is a separate question of practice, with no settled answer. What these restrictions mean for those who have already left is covered separately.
Evasion of medical examination is a separate offence under Article 21.6, carrying 15,000 to 25,000 roubles.
Criminal liability under Article 328(1) of the Criminal Code, up to two years' imprisonment, does not follow automatically from non-appearance. The subject of that article is a conscript, not any person liable for military service. The Supreme Court Plenum requires that an intention to evade conscription be established: repeated failures to appear without good reason may indicate such intent, and cases of changing residence or leaving in order to avoid conscription measures are treated separately.
What the law says: why you may be summoned
What matters is not how the notice looks but the stated reason for the summons. The military commissariat notice has a single standard form, with the purpose of the summons given on a separate line.
The Regulation on Military Registration lists those purposes directly: clarifying military registration documents, verifying records, medical examination and assessment, professional psychological selection, changes to documents, and others.
The difference is practical. A summons to verify records involves neither a sitting of the conscription commission nor dispatch to a unit: the commissariat checks passport details, address, marital status, education and employer. A summons for conscription measures involves a medical board and possible assignment to service. The two visits need different preparation, and that line is the first thing worth reading on the notice.
Holding a deferment does not in itself release a person from the duty to appear on a properly served notice for a lawful purpose. Conscription measures, including medical examination, are however governed separately for those with a deferment: Article 5.1 provides that for those with grounds for deferment or exemption, the examination is conducted at their own request, save for the exceptions the law provides. Which grounds give exemption, deferment or a reserved occupation is covered in a separate article.
One further change: Federal Law 412-FZ of 4 November 2025 introduced year-round conscription for those not in the reserve from 1 January 2026. A summons for medical examination or a conscription commission sitting may come in any month. The dispatch periods to places of service are unchanged, 1 April to 15 July and 1 October to 31 December, with the exceptions the law provides.
What practice shows
In mid-August 2026 residents of several cities, Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk among them, began receiving electronic notices "to verify personal data" in large numbers. The notifications arrived through Gosuslugi and by text message. According to those summoned, on some days twenty or thirty people turned up at a commissariat for appointments; the recipients included women and men older than the usual conscription age.
According to people who attended verification appointments in Yekaterinburg, some were fined during the visit itself, for having failed to submit information to the commissariat earlier. The figures named run from one to twenty thousand roubles. This comes from those fined, relayed through the media, and is not independently verified.
Human rights defenders record isolated cases of people crossing the border while an electronic notice for data verification was pending in the register. These reports do not add up to a systematic picture from which a rule could be drawn. What is known about the state of mobilisation as of September 2026 is set out in the overview of this topic.
What to do in the first days
Start by checking, not by deciding. The personal account on the register of notices is accessed through a verified Gosuslugi account; it shows whether there is a notice, what kind, when it was posted and which restrictions have been applied. An extract can be downloaded from there too.
Write the three dates down separately: posting in the register, legal service, and the appearance date. Liability for non-appearance and the twenty-day period both run from the third.
Read the line giving the reason for the summons. A data verification appointment and conscription measures call for different preparation.
A notification that your details have been entered in the unified register is not a notice and imposes no obligation by itself.
Receiving a notice does not cancel the right to a deferment or exemption. Those questions are decided separately, and receiving a notice is not the point at which they are closed. If a decision has already been taken, the remaining question is how to appeal it.
What could change this picture
How the system handles notices sent to reservists remains an open question: practice may settle either way, or be clarified by the ministry. For now the only reliable way to establish your position is an extract from the register, not a general rule.
The deadlines and amounts in this article are as of September 2026. Article 21.5 was amended in 2023 and 2025, and year-round conscription took effect in January 2026. Legislation in this area changes more than once a year, so it is worth checking the publication date of any analysis, this one included, before relying on it.
Where to turn
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. We do not give individual legal advice and we do not take on cases.
For personal assistance, approach the organisations that provide it: 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 (Articles 5.1, 7.1, 22); Regulation on Military Registration; Code of Administrative Offences (Articles 21.5, 21.6); Criminal Code (Article 328) and guidance of the Supreme Court Plenum; Federal Law 412-FZ of 4 November 2025; Federal Law 202-FZ of 7 July 2025; Important Stories, Novaya Gazeta Europe, RBC, Lenta.ru, URA.RU, and reports from the Idite Lesom and Conscript's School projects. Some of the account of practice comes from those summoned themselves, relayed through the media, and is not independently verified. This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice.