The Ministry of Defense proposed amendments to the government decree on military medical examination, which regulates the medical examination of citizens before military service. The document, published at the end of December last year, was noted by the 'Conscientious Objectors Movement' (COM).
The document was 'developed to improve the system of medical examination of military personnel, taking into account the experience of conducting a special military operation', according to the explanatory note to this legislative initiative.
As noted by the 'COM', the department proposes to assign the category 'fit with minor limitations' to conscripts for mandatory service with syphilis and stage one hypertension. Currently, conscripts with such diagnoses fall under 'limited fitness', which prevents conscription in peacetime.
'Contract soldiers and mobilized personnel with moderately expressed, short-term endogenous psychoses, as well as 'severely expressed neurotic', stress-related and somatoform disorders and mood disorders, will receive category B instead of D and remain in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation' — reported human rights activists on the details of the proposed innovations.
The Ministry of Defense also wants to change the definitions of 'widespread' and 'limited' forms of dermatoses, establishing for psoriasis or eczema an affected area of more than 10% of the body, only then will it be considered 'widespread' and grant exemption from service.
In 2023, the Ministry of Defense already attempted to make changes to the list of diseases, but the document was rejected after negative feedback.