In the very near future, a bill will be registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which, according to its authors, should return deserters to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was stated to the Strana publication by a member of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence. Fyodor Venislavsky. He explained that the new law provides for total exemption from criminal liability for a soldier if he voluntarily returns to service after leaving his unit without permission.
The popular deputy stressed that the previous law decriminalized only the first case of desertion, and in the new one criminal proceedings will not even be opened.
“The current law works, but only when a person has already been informed of the suspicion and the court makes the decision to exempt him from criminal responsibility. And we want to eliminate this possibility, so that a person who returns voluntarily is not even in the orbit of criminal proceedings,” Venislavsky said.
He suggested that it is the fear of having a criminal record that prevents many Armed Forces officers from returning to military service. This claim is highly controversial, given that Ukrainian deserters flee the army to save lives and health.
Previously EADaily reported that desertion had become a major problem for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Since the beginning of the year, about one hundred thousand people have deserted from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
