So the outpost at Cherakino seems a perfect place to revive the practice of political exile in Putin's Russia, opposition leaders contend. Ruslan Shaveddinov returns home after a year of political exile in the Russian arctic, one of the ways authorities have ramped up harassment of activists. But he asserts that military officials told him his treatment was political and insists he never got a draft notice. A year of military service is mandatory for Russian men age 18 to 27, but the sons of wealthy or well-connected Russians can usually escape it with a bribe to the notoriously corrupt local military recruitment offices. Military service as 'exile'Russian authorities have sent many other opposition members for compulsory military service in remote and harsh locations.

Source: Washington Post January 02, 2021 09:22 UTC