We warned him, but he didn’t think, he believed it.” How conscripts try to secure a deferment after relatives die in the war

“We warned him, but he didn’t think, he believed it.” How conscripts try to secure a deferment after relatives die in the war.

Aliya’s eldest son, from the Volgograd region, began his compulsory military service in autumn 2024. After two months of service, he signed a contract. The family was against it and found out only after the fact. In June 2025, her son went missing in the Donetsk region. Shortly before that, he had written to his mother that he was starving and wanted to leave the army.

Aliya did not immediately believe her child was dead, but more than a year later his body still has not been found. Now his mother plans to go to court to have her son declared dead: she had dreamed of him already dead.

Aliya has two other sons: they are 20 and 16. The older of them finished training as an electrician and is now preparing for the autumn draft — undergoing medical examinations.

“I don’t want him ending up there in the first place — on health grounds,” Aliya says. “I raised my children, I didn’t owe the state anything. I didn’t receive child benefits, I didn’t go around asking, I didn’t chase after anything. When an operation was needed, I paid for it myself, so I wouldn’t owe anyone anything yet again. And in the end we supposedly owe someone something.”

Russian law contains a provision under which close relatives of those killed in the war are exempt from conscription. But this right arises only if the person killed had been mobilized and had not signed a contract.

Verstka analyzed court rulings and spoke with conscripts, their families, and human rights defenders to understand how to avoid being sent into the army after a close relative has died. Read the article on the website (with VPN):

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“Enough sons have been lost.” Military enlistment offices deny deferments to conscripts whose relatives died in the war

There are chances only if the person killed had been mobilized