The objective is clear: to bring strong forces into the country to fight Russia. Ukraine announced on Tuesday April 23 that it had suspended its consular services for men aged 18 to 60 living abroad.
The country, which has suffered a Russian invasion for two years, is in dire need of soldiers, especially since kyiv expects Moscow to launch a new offensive in the coming weeks or months. kyiv prohibits men of fighting age from traveling abroad with a few exceptions. But according to media estimates, tens of thousands of men have fled the country illegally to avoid going to the front.
A law on mobilization
The authorities recently adopted a law on mobilization aimed at toughening punishments for recalcitrants. They also lowered the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 years. In this dynamic, Ukrainian diplomacy therefore announced Tuesday in a press release “a temporary suspension of the reception of new files for consular services” concerning men aged 18 to 60 living abroad.
According to this source, only the issuance of “identity cards to enter Ukraine” is maintained for this category of men.
The cessation of consular services, including the renewal of identity documents and other important administrative procedures, could theoretically push Ukrainians to return to the country. “The mechanism for updating and verifying information on the military situation of men aged 18 to 60 years temporarily abroad is being determined,” added Ukrainian diplomacy.
She specifies that “additional explanations” will be disseminated once this intelligence work has been completed and that men whose military situation is “valid” will once again be able to benefit from consular services. It is not yet indicated what measures could be taken for those who are illegally abroad and can be mobilized into the army.
“Duties towards the homeland”
Earlier, on Tuesday, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy had affirmed that imminent “measures” would be taken to bring back to Ukraine men of fighting age.
“The fact of staying abroad does not exempt a citizen from his duties towards his homeland,” declared Dmytro Kouleba on Ukraine and those abroad.
A number of Ukrainian personalities criticized the minister’s announcement, deeming it ineffective or even illegal. “This will not constrain any man who has gone abroad […] to return to Ukraine and go fight,” said Serguï Petoukhov, former Deputy Minister of Justice, on Facebook.
Popular economist Serguiï Foursa denounced this decision on Facebook as “revenge” and “populism” on the part of those in power which, according to him, risks “dividing society” instead of organizing the mobilization. The head of the Ukrainian NGO Helsinki Union, Oleksandr Pavlitchenko, estimated that this decision would only harm the country’s reputation abroad, calling it an “abuse of power”.
According to Ukrainian media, several Ukrainian consulates have already stopped agreeing to provide consular services to the men concerned. The state company Dokument, which facilitates the issuance of official Ukrainian documents, announced on Tuesday on its website that it was “suspending” procedures abroad for “technical reasons”.