therefore, now the requirements of the state are the same for everyone, they must update their military registration documents. this step in itself does not mean immediate mobilization, but it is not in vain to hope that hundreds of thousands of men abroad will do so. my name is vlasta lazur, this is svoboda live. lithuania may start denying residence permits to those ukrainians who evade military service. very carefully. the prime minister of the country, ingrid shimonite, said. in an interview for the financial times, the prime minister of lithuania said that ukrainians may be denied permanent residence, provided that kyiv proves that they evaded military service. at the same time, according to shemonita, lithuania will not arrange deportations and will not independently search for ukrainian men. it would be illegal, she said. šimonite denied reports that lithuania was helping. return men

of draft age to ukraine, which is desperately trying to recruit more soldiers. we will not arrange deportations or look for ukrainian men in the country, because that would be illegal, shemonita said. adding that the eu guaranteed them protection until march 2025. however, those whom kyiv proves to be evading military service may be denied a permanent residence permit, shemonite said. it seeks to help ukraine, to ensure that it has potential. to renew their armed forces and give people who have been fighting for a long time a rest. after the adoption of the law on mobilization, ukraine restricted citizens of conscription age who went abroad to receive consular services. such men can currently issue only a document to return to ukraine. according to eurostat, only after the start of the full-scale war, more than 4 million ukrainians, including more than 800,000 men of military age, left for the countries of the european union. after the adoption

of the law on mobilization and restrictions on consular services for men abroad, a number of european countries expressed the possibility of forced return of ukrainians. various statements were made here , including readiness to facilitate the return, the polish minister of defense spoke about this in particular, but most of the top officials of the eu countries still pointed the finger at brussels. they said, it is at the level of the european union that they should decide what the policy will be regarding the citizens of ukraine in the european union. we talked to men, citizens. ukrainians living in the czech republic, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, we asked them what they plan to do next, whether they are ready to return to ukraine when their passports expire, and what they think about the ongoing war. listen: congratulations, good day, congratulations, david, i invite you. david kalinyuchenko invites rfe/rl to his apartment in prague, where he lives with his family. the husband took his wife and three sons out of ukraine a week after the start.

full-scale russian invasion of ukraine. the first two days, i just didn't know what to do. whether to go home, or somehow, in some way , to make the family leave. while the family went to the husband, he rented this apartment and began to furnish it for living. david has been living and working in the czech republic since 2016. several times a year, the man came to ukraine to see family news about restrictions on consular services for people. negatively, because before the introduction of these norms, he planned to return to ukraine after the end of the war. what were you even thinking when it all happened? well, first of all, we're all waiting for the war to end. but when the state turns its back on its citizens, i simply do not understand what is happening in the world, how is that possible. leave your people.

david's foreign passport expires in 3 years, according to the new rules, from april 25, 2024, get a new document a man will be able to only in ukraine. well, to be honest , if i don't get a ukrainian passport when it expires, i'll probably get a passport from another country. well, because i... don't see the point in coming home to a country that doesn't need you, somehow. david heard the arguments, in particular, of the minister of foreign affairs of ukraine, dmytro koleba, about the fairness of such a decision. he said, why should ukraine provide consular services to people who refuse to fulfill their constitutional duty. in my opinion. well,

if there is mobilization, it should be for everyone, regardless of positions, just not... or for nothing, for everyone. and this 44-year-old father of three children left for prague shortly after russia's full-scale invasion of ukraine. now he, like david and all men of legal age living abroad, must update their credentials. he agreed to speak to rfe/rl anonymously. everyone who left, whether before the war itself or during the war, i think that somewhere in the soul, a person has transgressed because of some moral value, right? and if she couldn't, she couldn't convince herself that she did moral value is more important. shot. the man says that his friends are now fighting on the front lines. he calls the decision not to return to ukraine difficult. well, if they ask me why

you don't come, i don't have an answer. these are people who left during the invasion, or like me, just before the invasion. from the point of view of those people who are fighting, they have every right to call us that, everyone who left, every right. ukraine is his home, but to return there would put at risk everything that the man had already built in prague. he says that he is trying to help ukraine from abroad, but he would rather not see his eldest son, who just turned 19, go to war. shot! i didn't think about the situation if he... was called, because automatically the whole family has to go after him, i can't go like that, he, i, the family here can't exist without us. davyd kalinichenko has a similar opinion about a potential return to ukraine. according to him, even restrictions on

consular services are unlikely to force him to return home. family is your country small country and i will just do it for my family. to be everything, so that everything will be fine for them, if i go to the war, who will worry about my family, the same is the case in ukraine, guys who are fighting, who worries about their families. officials of several european countries, in particular poland and lithuania , have already declared that they can help ukraine in returning men of conscription age who left the country, the minister of... affairs of the czech republic said that the country does not support ukrainian men who are trying to hide from mobilization in ukraine , sitting abroad. according to official data, there are currently almost 95,000 ukrainian men of conscription age in the czech republic who are receiving temporary protection in connection with the war. according

to the latest eurostat data, about 860,000 adult men from ukraine currently live on the territory of eu countries. oleksiy garan, scientific director of the democratic initiative foundation named after olko kuchariv, and professor of political science at the kyiv-mohyla academy, joined our broadcast. good evening. good evening. you watched with us this material that we did in prague. ot look, i understand that there are currently no scientific studies or sociological surveys abroad, but from your point of view, what are the demographic, social, or even political consequences of the ukrainian decision. authorities to restrict consular services for men abroad? this is a very, very difficult question, because there are arguments in favor of the decision that was taken, which was eventually published by the ministry of foreign affairs, there are arguments against. i see here myself,

first of all, the problem is that it is a communication one, i see here myself, first of all the problem is that the communication authorities lost here, they are not prepared... to immediately explain clearly to people what and how to do, well, for example, yes, we just listened, the man who was anonymous, he said that if my son goes to ukraine at the age of 19, he will be sent to the front, well , that’s not true, yes, that is, we are sent to the front from the age of 25, yes, my son can be drafted into the army for military service, but he will not be sent to the front, likewise, tell me... regarding the fact that people who do not update their data, they, in case of problems, some extraordinary problems, they will not get consular assistance, they will get clarification on what they are getting, and more on, let's say, their

wards, children, it is extended, independent consular assistance, regardless of whether the father has updated his data, father or not but er, in my opinion, the communication was weak, and it led to the fact that it caused a lot of misunderstandings among people, and in the end. mistrust in, ultimately mistrust in the actions, in the actions of the authorities, and this is already worse, because in this way people will lose contact with ukraine, in i have examples of people who have lived abroad for a very, very long time, in canada specifically, so a person is 58 years old, that is, by and large, well, nothing prevents him from passing. his data and well , it is unlikely that he will be drafted for 58 years, but he

said: no, if the state does not trust me, then in the end i will accept the passport of a canadian citizen, i have been offered this for a long time, i will do it, that is, such a decision, it is again , the fact that there was not enough clarification, it led to the fact that this decision became ... taken in the bayonet, by the way, i will say that after all, if we most of our men are of draft age, they went abroad long before the start of a full-scale invasion, when it was possible to do it, and well, they are already used there, if we really want to pull them out of there, it's not that big, it's not that big a number potentially mobilized. that is, it is unlikely to radically change anything or anything, but

instead, we understand that if they settled there, who will settle abroad? first of all, these are women with children, and if they are already integrated into this society, then more likely even after the end of the war, let's say, men from ukraine will leave for them, well , actually you mentioned it. the example of an acquaintance from canada, and there are a lot of assumptions there from sociologists and political scientists that ukraine irretrievably lost all these people, and those who left during the war, and those who left long before, and their families, if they had already left because even those who ever planned to return there either after the end of the war, or to work, or to restore business in a word, they will no longer return and will be the opposite seek ways to obtain citizenship or passports of other countries. i understand that you share this opinion, to a certain extent,

yes, once again, this decision, it has pros and cons, which our government made, and its impact will be ambiguous, that is, some part of the people will make a decision that we we will move on to getting a passport of the state where we are, as far as that is... someone will still return, yes, but we, as it were, somewhat polarized both our citizens abroad and ukrainian citizens here. by the way, what i want to say is that it seems to me that our government is just communicative, ah, communicative, it lost, well, it didn't lose. let's say, lost the pace in conducting mobilization inside ukraine, because

inside ukraine there is actually a rather large group of people who are ready to mobilize and are ready to go to the front, what is it, what percentage is it, i understand that you know sociology, i do, we asked this question in our last survey, which was conducted in march 20... did the democratic initiatives fund, i don't know if you can put it on the screen or not, because then it will be easier to explain, we did it together with the sociological service of the rozumkov center, and we asked the question of what you will do if the war escalates or drags on, so 3% say that they are already part of the defense forces, the armed forces, the national guard, tr defense, yes, seven. says that if they mobilize, we will go, we will not

hide, and another 9% say that if military actions come close to the place of residence, then about 20, then we will go, then we will go to the army, yes, that is, in total, if we will count, it is 19%, in other words, 19% are ready to go to the front in case needs, by the way, we asked... a similar question on the eve of the invasion, and about the same proportion of people who were ready, ready to fight, and three more... 35% say that we are not want to go to the front, but we will provide all possible non-military assistance, i.e. money, blood donation, volunteer work, etc., i.e. we see that still 19% are ready for the front, 35% say that we are not quite ready,

but we will help in every way, and there is a category of people, that is, who will... just try to survive, such 24% and 5% will try to leave the country, i.e. 29%, in which, relatively speaking, and my house is closer, i don’t want to risk it, i already, it’s not the first time i hear similar, similar research results, it seems infosapiens did it, maybe two weeks ago or three, and also about, i think 20% of people said that they would... in case the threat loomed right in front of their town or village or house, what do you say? well, look, that is, what we can talk about, that actually the potential for mobilization, it is also inside the country, yes, and it is obvious that this should have been done, let's say, earlier, again, clarifications are needed,

people need to be explained where they will be sent, where they will not be sent, because the absolute majority... will not go directly to the assault brigades, such a significant number will go to maintenance, electricians, logisticians, they are needed in the army, communications, they are needed, and even there cooks, they are also needed, but you said, and you allow me, i will return to this decision about men abroad, you said that this decision should be considered negative side, both positive, well, we have already discussed the negative side, which is the positive side, well, if... for example, to leave in parentheses, as far as possible, such, you know, moral and ethical plane, yes, but some such very applied, understandable positive, the positive effect that this story can have, i think i didn't say negative and positive, i said contradictory, and there are different aspects because ah a little bit different, yeah, because look,

throw in the social justice they are here inside the country, yes, we know them, and rightly so it is fair to say why some are fighting since the beginning of the invasion, yes, and the rest do not fight at all, why are they not given, well, the opportunity, well, not demobilization, but the opportunity to go on vacation to their families, and uh, well, a large part of society, she says , that all this is evasion and abroad it is... it is evasion, although there, by the way, many people have already helped ukraine for years, decades, are actively involved in volunteering and other things, so i think that our government, when it made such a decision , if he tried to play on the fact that here we are in this way, if we were to restore social justice, but this is not

the restoration of justice, well, as a matter of fact, is it restoration after all, you, you know, i would say that... that a person who is abroad, he should enter the consular register and, accordingly, also to update your details in these military registers and so on, that's normal, right? absolutely, but, but, if it is done unsuccessfully, if people start thinking that they are being forced to do it, if they hear that we will have to go to ukraine , that's one thing, later. there was an explanation that no it is necessary to go, that all this can be done in action, but this is the mechanism, if you do not trust, it, it is launched, and it, therefore, it, it works in a negative way, once again, the communication component, it is very important, and it is very important and in the middle, first of all inside

the country, and here we have troubles, and you said, you said that it is resolved. polarizing society very much, that is polarization, and do you think, clarify this point, this could be deliberately done, again, to try to create the illusion of restoration of justice for those men who remained in ukraine, whether it is unconsciously, well , because we have many such unsuccessful cases from the point of view of communication from the state authorities, i think that the authorities actually wanted. this is to tell people, yes, even to tell people in ukraine, that this is how we are restoring social justice, but she failed to do it, to convey it. and to convey the main thing that the state treats all its citizens with respect, yes, even independently, they are on the consular register, they are not, which

is wrong, by the way, then they were once again clarification, as i reread before the broadcast today, where it is said, well, if there is a critical situation, disaster, trouble, something like that, someone's attack, the state will protect, will fulfill its consular obligations, it will affect children ... but from the very beginning it was somehow not explained, and that's why we got such a certain, certain aggravation, well, i'll say also for the picture for the russian videos, plus the picture for those western videos, for the western reporters, who knowingly or unknowingly they play along putin, and even we put... our allies in some difficult situation, because some countries said: well, i'm sorry, we will not fix these citizens, we will not help them

return to, and some, and some said that we will, so how can it be imagined that they will be detected and they will be forcibly deported, but it seems that not a single country is ready to take any... step and everyone is waiting for some joint decision from brussels, that this will be some kind of policy developed by the european commission. well, let's not transfer what we have to brussels do, right? no, no, i mean, we hear the statements, the statements of the leaders of lithuania, poland, and the czech republic, and they do not speak in unison at all, even there representatives of the same government, for example, in poland, the minister of defense leaves and says that we will help in... the country to return, and the minister of foreign affairs comes out and says: we will not violate human rights, that is, we see that in europe they do not even know what to do about it, well, that's what i'm talking about, because it is necessary to work out a policy, it is necessary

to try to agree on it, yes, it is obvious, no there was time, it was not worked out, the appropriate decisions were worked out, well, because all this quickly, if only, quickly accepted, quickly developed, i am sure. by the way, this was adopted in consultation with our partners, i think that this is a surprise for partners, i think so, and that is why we hear such a variety of voices, thank you very much, mr. professor oleksiy haran, scientific director of the foundation of the ilko kuchariv democratic initiative and professor of political science at the kyiv-mohyla academy, was on radio liberty, thank you, and... today, the verkhovna rada of ukraine approved already in the second reading, the draft law, which allows certain categories of imprisoned citizens to mobilize to the armed forces of ukraine. as david

arahamia, head of the servant of the people faction, reported today, the number of prisoners who can potentially be mobilized is 15-20,000 people. the draft law, in particular, allows military service for prisoners who have been sentenced to restriction of liberty or deprivation of liberty for committing minor crimes, but convicted persons are not subject to mobilization. for intentional murder, sexual violence, crimes against the foundations of national security. in addition, those convicted of corruption will not be allowed to replace their punishment with military service, although this possibility was preserved in the draft law until recently. at the same time, during the years 2022-24 , almost 11,000 criminal cases were suspended in ukraine. the reason is the mobilization of the accused. this was investigated by journalists of ngl media. courts were often suspended. criminal cases were instituted under the articles of theft, traffic accident with victims, drug trafficking, minor injuries and desertion. as noted the authors of the investigation, court decisions

also affected those accused of corruption crimes, as well as those who were accused of domestic violence or aiding and abetting murder. there are actually a minority of such examples, but they do exist when the court stops proceedings on accusations of serious crimes, that is, in fact, the accused person joins the army. and journalists. give an example of such cases. since the beginning of 2019 , the case of the rape of a minor has been heard in the brovarsky district court of the kyiv region. names both the defendant and the victim are closed, probably due to the high sensitivity of this information. according to the version of the investigation, the accused, together with a group of accomplices, used physical violence against a minor girl and raped her, including in an unnatural way. but in may 2020, the court stopped the proceedings due to his mobilization, a special feeling of shame is caused by the fact that he serves not just anyone, but as the deputy commander of the military

unit for moral and psychological. ilya vorobyov joined our broadcast, attorney and partner in the criminal practice of the miller law firm. good evening. good evening. i'll start with the last one, but actually the consideration of 11,000 criminal cases stopped because the people accused of these criminal cases were sent to the army. am i correct in my understanding that, as of now, the ukrainian legislation is such that you can replace the prison with the army, without waiting for the court's decision, and even if... it is a serious crime, you can also not wait for the court's verdict and go to the army, like we cited the last one example, but actually, this is not quite the case, in fact, article 335 of the criminal procedure code of ukraine provides for the possibility of stopping the case during the trial in the event that the accused mobilizo was mobilized for military service, but actually this does not mean. that

the case was closed, or the person was released from criminal responsibility in general, this only means that for the time being, while the person will undergo military service, the case will be stopped, and after the release of the person from military service, the trial will be continued, but it sounds like, you know, we don't know when the war will end, well, actually , we don't know when the war will end, but the criminal procedure code provides for this... gives the courts the opportunity to do this, and in fact, in this case, there is no distinction grave not a serious crime, but there is the only criterion provided in this case, that a person is mobilized for military service, and this is the basis for stopping the trial, but in no case not closing in this case and not being released from criminal charges not closing and not releasing just like suspension, that is, did i understand you correctly, that by and large everything is for

the court, a person is accused there of serious crimes, such as intentional murder or rape, or some petty theft, and the first and second have the right of suspension to suspend his case in court, if he mobilized, if we are talking about suspension, then there is no limitation regarding the severity of the criminal offense, if you are talking in the context of the suspension itself, it is defined there by article 335 of the criminal procedure code, it is from from the point of view of the letter of the law, and i will allow you for... well, look, from the point of view of the spirit of the law or the practice of applying the law, the judges have different positions, for the most part, they still boil down to the fact that we stop the proceedings due to the fact that in principle, this is provided for by the criminal procedural code of ukraine, and in fact, if there is documentary evidence that a person is mobilized to the ranks of the armed forces of ukraine, but there are cases when...

when judges refuse to satisfy such requests and nevertheless oblige, in order to the accused took part in the court session, but to be honest, i know of only one such case in our practice so far, please tell me whether the current law, which was adopted in the verkhovna rada, regarding convicts who are already serving their sentences, and they they can also join the army, if they want, he can change this practice, it's just that... understand, it turns out that now according to this law, which was adopted today, it is not possible, but the deputies say that it will not be possible to dismiss and to recruit people who committed serious crimes, how does this correlate with what is happening now? look, here it is necessary to distinguish a little the procedural status in which people are, i.e. the accused, this means that the trial procedure is currently taking place and the court decision, which has gained legal force, is not yet in the case, i.e.

there is no verdict yet... has, convicted, this is a slightly different procedural status, this is when the case accusing a person of committing a crime or other criminal offense has already been considered, there is a conviction that has entered into legal force, and the person punishment is carried out in places of deprivation of liberty, if we speak in the context of the law that was adopted today, then the punishment there is in the form of restriction of liberty or deprivation of liberty, that is, in essence, these are different procedural. statuses, this will in no way affect the possibility of stopping, but it gives the opportunity to conditionally release a certain category of people who have already been convicted of a crime, but not all of us are lawyers, i will try to translate and i will check if, for example, there is a person who has been convicted, i don't know there for rape or for some serious murder, she, according to this law that

was passed today. can't join the army because it's hard.