Preliminary results of the 2013 draft

According to the Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel General Vasily Smirnov, and head of the supervision of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office Major General Alexander Nikitin, the situation around the draft to the Russian army is improving, both in terms of public opinion and in legal terms.

"There is a positive trend. A positive public attitude to military service is starting to appear. The number of evaders decreased by 18% compared to last fall. And there are 15% fewer of those refusing to receive the call or who unregistered themselves and moved to other regions. Nearly a thousand students took a break in their studies and went to serve in the army," Smirnov told journalists on Thursday. He emphasized that, to date, the Defense Ministry has been doing its best for the draft to be open.

"A trend of reduction in crime by 10 percent has been observed in 2012, and it remains the same in the first half of this year. This is due to the improvement of the commanders, tightening of the Defense Ministry and the new forms such as science units," the head of the supervision of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office Major-General Alexander Nikitin said at a round-table discussion at RIA Novosti. According to him, 800-1000 young people are convicted annually Russia for draft evasion. He noted that about a thousand students in 2013 took a break in their studies to join the army.