After the illegal establishment of control over the peninsula, Russia immediately made the Crimeans subject to its national laws. Without their consent, the residents of Crimea were classified as the Russian citizens who are bound to perform "the duties of a citizen of the Russian Federation," specifically — the military service.

Almost immediately after the Russian law On the incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Federation was passed, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on 04/02/2014 that made Crimea part of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation. The so-called "head of Crimea", Sergey Aksyonov , issued an order that the Russian military draft offices should occupy all the premises in which the Ukrainian draft offices had been located before the occupation. 

And so the Russian draft commissions were created on the occupied peninsula as soon as August 2014. For the same purpose, the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation promptly ensured the illegal issuance of the Russian passports, primarily to citizens of Ukraine of the conscription age (born from 1987 to 1996). For a time, they were not sent to military units. Meanwhile, the aggressor began the "automatic" enrollment of the Ukrainian citizens for military service in the Russian Federation. They set up an assembly point at the Simferopol draft office. The first drafting campaign in Sevastopol followed the same scenario.

First Ukrainian citizens were sent to the Russian units stationed in Crimea for military service in the spring of 2015. During the 2015 spring campaign, at least 485 Ukrainian citizens from the occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol were drafted by the Russian authorities. Despite the fact that many did not want to serve Russia, this draft went on to the pomp of the trumped up propaganda events and got an extensive coverage in the Russian and Crimean media. 

Many Crimeans do not want to serve in the Russian army, but they are forced into service by the threat of criminal charges of "draft evasion" in case of refusal. Under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the punishment for draft evasion varies from a fine of up to 200,000 rubles to up to two years of prison. And the person still must serve after paying the fine or doing the prison term. At least 201 criminal cases have been initiated against the Crimeans under these charges, which was reported by the Crimean Human Rights Group on a regular basis.


Aware of the persecution and seeking to avoid the conscription, many Crimeans had to leave their parental homes and move to the territory controlled by Ukraine. And they cannot go back home until they turn at least 27 years of age. Other Crimeans keep changing their place of residence, trying to avoid the Russian military commissariats.


The Prosecutor's Office of the autonomy views such actions of the occupying state and its occupation administration as consistent with the policy of the Russian Federation aimed at altering the demographic composition of the local population, since Crimeans are actually forced to leave the peninsula in order to avoid illegal conscription into the army of the occupying state or criminal liability for "evasion" from such a service. These actions grossly violate international humanitarian law and constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute. 


As of June 2021, the law enforcement agencies of the autonomy have identified and indicted 7 military commissars from different regions of the occupied Crimea, who since 2015 have been directly organizing and conducting these illegal conscription campaigns on the peninsula. The actions of the suspects are qualified as a war crime under Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war).

By the end of 2020, Russia has already carried out 12 mobilization campaigns, drafting at least 28,044 individuals in Crimea. And the number of conscripts has been growing year after year; 1,542 Crimeans were drafted in 2015; 4,500 in 2017, and 6,300 in 2020.

In the limited media space of the occupied peninsula, it is easy to circulate myths about persecution by Ukraine of the Crimeans who were compelled to serve in the Russian army. The number of such individuals has dramatically grown in recent years. Thus the occupation administration continues the policy of the Russian Federation aimed at altering the demographic composition of the local population, since Crimeans are actually forced to leave the peninsula in order to avoid illegal conscription into the army of the occupying state or criminal liability for "evasion" from such a service. These actions grossly violate international humanitarian law and constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute.

However, according to international and Ukrainian laws, it is not the conscripts who are to blame for the war crimes, but rather the officials of the Russian Federation and representatives of the occupation authorities. 

Accordingly, the latter are the criminals whereas the conscripts are regarded as victims of this crime by the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and, therefore, are exempt from any legal liability.

Under the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the occupying state is prohibited from forcibly drafting the population of the occupied territory into its armed forces. Meanwhile, evidence of this war crime perpetrated by the Russian Federation in Crimea has already been collected by human rights activists and the prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. These materials have also been forwarded to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. In December 2020, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor concluded that there was reasonable basis to believe that a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine, including the conscription of Ukrainian citizens to the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. This decision is bringing closer the day when the leadership of the Russian Federation is held responsible for criminal acts and occupation.