Police officers have detained Moscow resident Daniil Panov, 25, and taken him to a draft office, his girlfriend Darya Sergeeva told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Photo: Daniil Panov's Instagram
Daniil was stopped by the police around 1-2 PM in downtown Moscow. According to Darya, officers and, supposedly, draft office employees approached him. The police left soon after, while Panov “barely blinked before he was detained”.
Daniil was then taken to a draft office. According to Darya, he and several other men had their passports confiscated, they have been held in a room for several hours now. Nobody is let in or out of the building. Draft officers also refuse to answer the men’s questions, saying that “they don’t care that they [Daniil and others] are held there illegally”.
Panov’s girlfriend said that he never served in the army. He also has many health issues that warrant a conscription deferment.
“There are several health problems. The main ones are disc protrusions and a foot ligament issue (he injured his leg and tore a ligament, it either never healed or healed wrong, that is why he has constant pains when he walks a lot or carries a heavy load),” Sergeeva said.
Daniil told his girlfriend that they were pushed into a police bus and are now being taken to an assembly point in Moscow. The men had their phones taken away, so Panov had to use somebody else’s smartphone to call Sergeeva.
“You are fit for active service, fag,” a draft officer told Daniil.
Earlier, the police in Moscow tricked a man by staging a fake meeting through an online part-time job platform. He was detained and taken to a draft office. The man then had to go through a medical checkup and later taken to the same assembly point as Daniil.
“Some wanker from the draft office was told to supervise me. <…> Two cops, traffic police and Russian National Guard officers were waiting for me at the checkpoint exit. I said my goodbyes, nodded, calmly turned the corner, and then bolted away,” the conscript says.
Moreover, Vasily Slezkin, Moscow Polytechnic University student, was detained near his house building entrance and taken to a draft office on 3 December. However, he had every ground not to be conscripted, his parents had to bring all the necessary documents for a review.
