The Cabinet of Ministers, with its bill on strengthening mobilization, proposes to introduce a new mechanism for clarifying the military registration data of Ukrainians liable for military service - even for those who currently live abroad. Moreover, if the requirements of the TCC are ignored, consular actions for Ukrainian citizens aged 18 to 60 years abroad may be blocked. In addition, their accounts may also be seized. To what extent are these provisions of the bill feasible?
If they don't come, they won't know
According to bill No. 10449 “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on certain issues of military service, mobilization and military registration”, Ukrainian citizens registered with the military are obliged to clarify the address of residence and communication means numbers within 60 days from the date of publication of the law , email addresses and other military credentials. That is, they need to update their personal data in the TCC.
If a person liable for military service is abroad, he must contact his TCC (at the place of military registration) by phone or email. Or in the electronic account of a conscript/service member/reservist. Or come to the diplomatic office of Ukraine in the host country to clarify the data.
If the person liable for military service does not do this, the head of the TCC must, within five days, send the citizen a requirement to fulfill the obligation to defend the Motherland, again in an electronic account, or in paper form (by mail). Well, if the person liable for military service does not respond further within 10 days, then that’s all - sanctions.
“I can’t even imagine how these norms can be implemented in terms of notifying a person liable for military service. And if a person does not have an electronic account, then what? By mail to the consulate? Firstly, it is necessary that the person is registered there, and the TCC knows about this person. And secondly, can you imagine the work of Ukrposhta? If anything, notifications should only be sent by diplomatic mail. In general, asking men to come back when it’s just Las Vegas in Kyiv: as they say, “cinema, wine and dominoes,” and in the regional centers they shovel everyone in a row - the idea, in my opinion, is a little unusual,” Lugansk resident Oleg Shapovalov tells Apostrophe , currently living in Ireland.
It should be noted that if a person is not registered with the consulate, then he actually (more precisely, legally) does not exist for a diplomatic institution.
“When a person comes, they will know that there is such a person. If he doesn’t come, they won’t know. In general, a citizen of Ukraine cannot simply register with the consulate - only if he is studying, receiving treatment or permanently residing. Those who live abroad temporarily - and these are all migrants who received temporary protection status after February 24, 2022 - are not simply registered at the consulate,” the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation, former general, tells Apostrophe. Consul of Ukraine in Edinburgh and Istanbul Bogdan Yaremenko.
Questionable refusal
If we take into account the problematic nature of receiving the TCC notification by our Ukrainian citizens abroad, then the sanctions themselves - the possibility of limiting consular services for those liable for military service and blocking accounts - can be quite painful.
“Sooner or later there comes a time when you simply need the help of the consulate. New passport (old one has expired). Open a bank account. Get a driver's license. A trip to another country. Some kind of consultations... No one will specifically bother looking for you. But as soon as you show up, they can immediately take over. As for blocking accounts, this is probably easy. The same social assistance payments as a refugee: uncheck the box in the database - and there is no benefit. That's all. What will you do, what will you live on? Return home. If there is somewhere to return. Yes, there is an option - to hide, live, relatively speaking, in some “Chinatown”. But this is not life,” Evgeniy Kolotov, a former resident of the Kharkov district of Northern Saltovka, who is now in Canada, tells Apostrophe.
Blocking accounts for payment of benefits is, of course, a very effective thing and does not violate the basic rights of citizens. But the refusal of consular assistance is already a questionable thing from the point of view of the Ukrainian Constitution.
“According to the Constitution, the consulate, which is part of Ukraine abroad, is obliged to protect the rights of its citizens. We even help those who have committed a crime abroad. And here it is proposed to limit the rights of citizens who have not actually violated anything. There’s even a paradox here - maybe the person himself already wanted to clarify his data and register. But he came too late and was denied this help. I definitely won’t vote for such a norm,” says Bogdan Yaremenko.
Indeed, this provision of the bill does not take into account many objective factors. For example, a person liable for military service from Ukraine, who is abroad, miraculously left the occupied territory - and he simply physically cannot fulfill the requirements of the TCC.
“In 2022, a man fled from Mariupol, left only with a foreign passport, and got to Europe through Russia. And now the document expires. He comes to the consulate, which is a defender of the rights of its citizens. And they will tell him - no, give me a military ID. But it doesn’t exist, and there is no base. And where to get the necessary documents, where to register? The consulate does not provide military registration, and military medical commissions are not provided for. So what should a person do now?” says lawyer Nikolai Golbin.
In a word, if the rule of blocking accounts for the payment of benefits is quite feasible (moreover, in the West they themselves are interested in this - you can’t always help those who do not work), then with other accounts, personal ones, there is already an issue. As a rule, they are placed in private banks, which are not obliged to fulfill the requests of the Ukrainian side. But as for the rule regarding the suspension of consular assistance, its implementation is, of course, realistic. But the norm itself is questionable.
“We kind of want Ukrainians to return to their homeland, don’t we? But this norm only encourages our men who are abroad to renounce Ukrainian citizenship and obtain citizenship of another country,” sums up current people’s deputy and former diplomat Bohdan Yaremenko.
