A court in the city of Chelyabinsk, in Russia’s Ural region, has stripped two men of their Russian citizenship for attempting to avoid conscription, the Interior Ministry’s regional press service reported.
The two men, aged 21 and 24, are reportedly citizens of former Soviet republics who recently acquired Russian citizenship. Upon doing so, they were told to register with the military enlistment office within two weeks.
“When applying for Russian citizenship, the young men knowingly provided false information in order to evade military service. The Central District Court of Chelyabinsk has therefore decided to strip them of their Russian citizenship,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The pair’s defence team attempted to appeal the decision unsuccessfully. Both men must now leave the country and will be deported if they fail to do so.
This is the first known case of recently naturalised Russians having their citizenship withdrawn for failure to perform military service.
