wfn.org | Adventist News Network: Adventists in Russia Track Progress of

["Beckett, John" <BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org>]

> Adventist News Network
> www.adventist.org
> Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
> February 13, 2002
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Adventists in Russia Track Progress of Military Service Law
> Moscow, Russia .... [ESD Staff/Rebecca Scoggins/ANN]
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> An estimated 1,400 young Seventh-day Adventists in Russia are watching the
> progress of a draft law that would provide alternatives to required
> military service. Many of the 1,400 men, all in their late teens or early
> 20s, could be called up for one or two years of compulsory army duty as
> early as this spring.
> 
> Valery Ivanov, communication director for Seventh-day Adventists in
> Euro-Asia, says that Russian military and government officials reached
> agreement on all key points in the draft late last week. A. Pochinok,
> Russia's Minister of Labor and Social Development, is scheduled to present
> a version of the proposed alternative service law to the Russian Cabinet
> of Ministers on February 14. If cabinet members are satisfied with the
> current draft, it will be sent to the Russian Duma, or parliament, for
> further consideration.
> 
> "For many years, Adventists in Russia have urged the adoption of an
> alternative service plan," says Ivanov. "Many of our young men have strong
> convictions against taking another life. Most of them feel strongly that
> they cannot bear arms or be trained to kill. But they are not opposed to
> serving in a way that strengthens peace."
> 
> For Adventists, who reserve the seventh day, or Sabbath, as a holy time
> for worship, the Saturday activities often associated with military
> service are an additional burden.
> 
> The proposed law would allow pacifists to fill out a special application
> for alternative service. Acceptance in the program would not be automatic,
> Pochinok said last week. "The committee needs to speak with each young man
> and determine that his conviction is genuine," he said.
> 
> After acceptance for alternative service, young men would be required to
> perform varied assignments in their home cities or regions. Pochinok warns
> that the tasks "can't be called easy." Possible work sites include fire
> departments, disaster sites, nursing homes, and orphanages. Workers would
> receive a salary and would be allowed to continue their education during
> non-work hours.
> 
> Normally all healthy Russian males are required to perform two years of
> military duty beginning at age 18. Full-time university and college
> students may have their service deferred, and usually they are required to
> serve only one year after finishing their courses. Men accepted for
> alternative assignments would probably be required to serve longer than
> the typical two years.
> 
> "This law could be the next step toward shaping democracy in our country,"
> says Ivanov. "Citizens with true convictions against killing could serve
> according to their consciences. And we expect Adventist believers would
> have an easier time keeping Sabbath under the proposed plan. In the army,
> their day of worship is rarely respected."
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