Kirill, 24, from Leningrad Region applied to the military enlistment office for six years in a row to replace conscription service. On his eighth attempt, he was approved thanks to Harry Potter fanfiction.

Kirill, 24, from Leningrad Region applied to the military enlistment office for six years in a row to replace conscription service. On his eighth attempt, he was approved thanks to Harry Potter fanfiction.

The young man told Verstka that after finishing school he consistently sought to be assigned to alternative civilian service. The last time, he said that his pacifist views had been shaped by the book series Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, a fanfic written by an American artificial intelligence researcher.

“The only true enemy is death,” Kirill wrote in the petition that the draft commission approved. The young man is now waiting to be assigned to alternative civilian service.

Kirill became one of several thousand conscripts who were allowed not to do compulsory military service because of his anti-war views.

Many others were less lucky. Ivan, 18, from Saratov Region, who applied for the first time this year, was rejected by the draft commission because he had received an excellent grade in Life Safety Basics. The argument against 28-year-old Dmitry was karate, which he practiced at the age of seven.

Read more about who is approved and who is rejected for alternative civilian service in Russia in 2026 on Verstka’s website (with VPN):

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