“It doesn’t matter what your papers are.” In Moscow, they tried to mobilize the CEO and employees of an IT company with a “booking”

The Lefortovo military registration and enlistment office of Moscow tried to mobilize the general director and five employees of the RDL-Telecom company to the front, who were granted a respite from mobilization by the Ministry of Digital Development.

At the end of September, the company’s employees used the instructions of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and applied for a deferment for IT specialists through the State Services portal. All of them received messages that the ministry included them in the appropriate list.

Despite this, on October 11, the company received summons from the South-Eastern Administrative District of Moscow for six employees, including the general director. Everyone was required to come to the mobilization point of the United Military Commissariat Lefortovo. At the same time, RDL-Telecom employees were assigned to other military registration and enlistment offices.

The Lefortovo military registration and enlistment office said that they “do not care about all your documents and public services,” emphasizing that their names are not on the lists of the General Staff for deferment, RBC was told in the company’s press service. Their passports and military ID cards were confiscated. Everyone was escorted to the waiting room, accompanied by the police. “When asked whether to regard this as a detention, the police and the Lefortovo administration answered “no”, but no one was allowed out of the waiting room. The lawful demand to return the documents was refused by the police and the council,” the press service said.

Then everyone was sent for a medical examination, and for one employee, the unsuitable group was “crossed out and the group A was written. After handing orders to appear the next day at the collection point for sending to military units. Passports and military tickets were not returned, saying that they could be picked up tomorrow. After questions about the legality of such a decision and the seizure of documents “with the use of force”, the general director was taken out by the police. The military commissar refused to accept a statement from the company’s lawyer.

From the Ministry of Digital Development, the company received government telegrams confirming the presence of a deferment for each employee signed by the Minister of Digital Development. The military registration and enlistment offices, to which employees are assigned, confirmed the presence of delays. However, the military commissar of the Lefortovo UWC does not accept government telegrams from the minister or any other documents, says Yevgeny Krekoten, general director of RDL-Telecom. He noted that the company decided to seek a solution to the problem through the prosecutor’s office and the courts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization on 21 September. In early October, he noted that a lot of “stupidity” was taking place during its implementation. He demanded to “update the bases” and organize the work of draft boards in a modern way. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu promised to call up 300,000 reservists with combat experience, but in practice, absolutely everyone falls under mobilization.