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Russian National Guard troops denied discharge as mobilization is “not over,” contrary to Putin's claims

The Insider

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Members of Russia’s National Guard cannot be discharged to the “unfinished” “partial” mobilization, according to a report by Telegram channel “Military Ombudsman.”

The channel published a letter from the National Guard, which states that those who serve under contract, including those whose contract has expired, have no grounds to be discharged. This is due to the fact that Vladimir Putin's decree on “partial” mobilization has not been suspended or terminated. The “Military Ombudsman” stresses that only those whose contract expired before September 21 can be dismissed by taking their case to court.

A letter from the National Guard stating troops under contract have no grounds to be discharged
Military Ombudsman Telegram Channel

The director of the human rights group “Grazhdanin. Armiya. Pravo” (“Citizen. Army. Rights”) Sergei Krivenko confirmed to The Insider that Russia’s mobilization cannot in fact be considered over without Putin signing a corresponding decree:

“Yes, absolutely right. Until the repeal of clause 4 of the presidential decree of September 21, a discharge won’t be possible at the end of the contracts. And yes, in theory it is possible to challenge dismissal under contracts which ended before that date in court.”

Earlier, commenting on the absence of a decree announcing the end of the mobilization, Putin said: “I’ll talk to the lawyers, I haven’t even thought about it, whether it’s [even] necessary to declare [the end of the mobilization] by decree.”