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Russia's Duma writes mobilisation into criminal law
Summary
A retrospective on 20 September 2022, when Russian lawmakers moved on wartime offences while fighting continued in Donbas and Kharkiv Oblast.
What did Russia's State Duma change in its criminal law on 20 September 2022, and how did it sit alongside events on the ground? Deputies approved the introduction of the concepts of mobilisation, martial law, wartime and armed conflict into the Criminal Code, together with punishment for desertion.
A legal framework for wartime
The vote put new categories into Russian criminal law. By adding definitions of mobilisation and wartime, and a penalty for desertion, the amendments set out terms that the code had not previously contained. The vote was part of what became known as the 2022 Russian mobilization.
The fighting in the preceding days
The vote followed several days of reported violence. On 19 September 2022, Ukrainian Ground Forces recaptured the village of Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast as they advanced on Lysychansk.
On the same day, explosions in Donetsk, a city held by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, killed thirteen people and injured many others. Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, accused Ukraine of being behind the attacks. Separately, authorities of the Luhansk People's Republic said Ukrainian shelling had killed seven civilians, including three children, in the town of Krasnorichenske.
On 18 September 2022, Russian forces shelled a psychiatric hospital in Strelechya, Kharkiv Oblast, killing four medics and injuring two patients.
A separate commitment withdrawn
Also on 18 September 2022, Ukraine withdrew its 250 troops from the United Nations peacekeeping force MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A Ukrainian Air Force aviation unit pulled out its eight helicopters as well, which made up a third of the UN's fleet in the mission.
What the day showed
Taken together, the reports from 18 to 20 September 2022 show two tracks. On one, Russia's legislature formalised wartime concepts and the penalty for desertion in its criminal code. On the other, Ukrainian forces advanced in Luhansk Oblast, both sides reported civilian casualties, and Ukraine pulled its contingent and helicopters out of a distant UN mission.
