Russian courts may acquit service members who deserted or left their posts because of harsh living conditions, including illness affecting relatives or abuse by colleagues. This understanding comes from a draft resolution discussed by the plenary session of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, as reported by DEA News. The draft resolution specifies that penalties for unauthorized absence from service and desertion could be mitigated when the soldier faced such extenuating circumstances. These excuses would be limited to a single application for each act and would not be treated as a general exemption. According to the draft plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the term difficult circumstances should cover adverse life situations of a personal, family, or service nature that existed at the moment of the act and were perceived negatively by the soldier. The draft notes that these conditions might include situations where the individual felt he could not otherwise protect lives or health or obtain needed medical care. In these cases, acquittal would be possible because there would be no corpus delicti, meaning no legally punishable act would be established. The document also stresses that if a soldier remains outside of the military unit illegally after the difficult conditions have been removed or addressed, he would generally face criminal liability as a continuing offense. Earlier reports stated that the RF Investigation Committee accused eight soldiers from the Kaliningrad region of deserting and crossing from the LPR to Podolsk near Moscow. The case illustrates the ongoing attention to how deserts are evaluated when personal or family hardships intersect with military duties and legal responsibility. In summary, the draft resolution presents a framework in which desertion or unauthorized absence may be treated with leniency when earned by genuine adverse life circumstances present at the time of the act. It also clarifies that once those conditions cease to exist, the existing rules on discipline and accountability apply again. This approach seeks to balance the need for discipline within the armed forces with recognition of humanitarian pressures faced by personnel in difficult situations, including health crises, family emergencies, and conflicts with peers that affect a service member’s ability to serve.
