He forges his decrees like horseshoes \u2014
\nsome get it in the groin, some in the forehead.
\nSome in the brows, some in the eyes.<\/i><\/p>\n
Osip Mandelstam1<\/a><\/sup>(Translated from Russian by: David McDufff: Osip Mandelstam.\u00a0Selected Poems.\u00a0London: Writers and Readers, 1983.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The words of Osip Mandelstam about the actions of the \u201csoul-killer and peasant-slayer\u201d Stalin remain fully relevant today. Decrees are still being forged rapidly in our very<\/span> time as well, striking blows at all kinds of \u201cpeasants,\u201d that is, ordinary people \u2014 and gender is not always relevant<\/span> here (although in matters of military service it is still men who are being targeted).<\/p>\n Even those who might seem to benefit from the military-patriotic mobilisation of all the forces of the Russian Federation are suffering. Arms manufacturers and various military companies are also being hit. Rostec, a<\/span> Russian state-owned defence conglomerate, reacting nervously to reports about the hardships faced by the military-industrial sector, has acknowledged: \u201cSevere liability has been introduced in Russia for failure to fulfil the state defence order \u2014 this is the demand of the time, and there can be no alternative\u201d (the post is illustrated with a photograph of Stalin and promotes what is presented as a \u201c<\/span>grand national idea\u201d<\/span>).<\/p>\n Special decrees now regulate matters of loyalty and devotion to the interests of the state. Previously, people receiving a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation were not required to take a swear<\/span>; later this requirement was introduced for adults \u2014 and now, under the latest decree, it has been extended to children from the age of 14. Children are now required to solemnly swear \u201cto be loyal to Russia and to respect its culture, history, and traditions.\u201d Those (children or adults) who refuse to take the swear<\/span> will have the decision on granting citizenship revoked; the decision will also be revoked if citizenship has been granted but a<\/span> person dies before taking the swear<\/span> of loyalty and respect for traditions.<\/p>\n Revoking a decision in case<\/span> of a dead<\/span> person \u2014 for whom an irresistible circumstance such as death prevented the taking of a solemn swear<\/span> \u2014 is strange and cruel. Yet such revocation will have consequences for descendants: a passport itself is of no use after a person\u2019s death (it is usually confiscated in exchange for a death certificate), but the fact of a parent\u2019s citizenship can be extremely important, as it confers rights to<\/span> children. It is unclear why a decision on citizenship must be revoked, since a dead<\/span> person is no longer capable of betraying the country or its traditions, even if they did not swear when receiving a passport (especially given that the decision to grant citizenship is taken before the passport is issued and before the swear<\/span>).<\/p>\n But this is not even the main point. What is most striking, in my view, is the medieval belief that people who have sworn will be more bound in matters of loyalty than those who were unable \u2014 or simply did not manage \u2014 to swear.<\/p>\n I have worked with medieval swear<\/span>s of loyalty, and this is a very interesting subject. Swears<\/span> were usually articulated<\/span> on reliquaries \u2014 that is, containers holding the remains of saints \u2014 or on other objects regarded as sacred at the time (the Bible, an icon, or a cross, in the case of Christian swear<\/span>s). When people believed that divine punishment awaited them for breaking a swear<\/span>, there was a real point in demanding such promises of loyalty, although betrayals still occurred \u2014 but with fear and trembling. Swear<\/span>s and pledges have survived to nowadays<\/span> in those areas of social relations that took shape in the Middle Ages \u2014 church institutions, monarchical ceremonies, and to some extent the army. But children receiving passports are something entirely different. Not only in the Middle Ages, but even quite recently, children were not provided with <\/span>passports at the age of 14, and the passport system itself belongs to modern and contemporary history.<\/p>\n Other groups of people are also required, under wartime decrees, to pronounce <\/span>a swear<\/span> \u201cof loyalty to the Russian Federation.\u201d Back in 2023, Putin signed a decree<\/a> obliging volunteers, employees of state enterprises (established in regions during periods of martial law), and members of territorial defence units to swear in <\/span>the following words:<\/p>\n \u201cI solemnly swear loyalty to the Russian Federation, undertake to observe sacredly the Constitution of the Russian Federation, strictly to carry out the orders of commanders and superiors, and conscientiously to fulfil the duties entrusted to me. I swear to be devoted to Russia and courageously to defend its independence and constitutional order.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What stands out in this text is the touching choice of adverbs: the Constitution must be observed \u201csacredly,\u201d orders from superiors must be carried out \u201cstrictly,\u201d and independence must be defended \u201ccourageously.\u201d The sacredness of the Constitution (which would seem to be a legal document rather than a sacral text) is evidently linked to the idea of what is essentially a military swear<\/span> rather than a civilian pledge. Moreover, employees of state enterprises established \u201cduring periods of martial law,\u201d upon examination of Federal Law No. 207 of 13 June 2023 (to which the decree is tied), turn out to be employees of little more than \u201cknife and axe\u201d: the law concerns a militarised structure, Okhrana (State Unitary Enterprise \u201cSpecial Purpose Centre \u2018Okhrana\u2019 of Zaporizhzhia Region\u201d) operating in the occupied territories of Ukraine. These employees are tasked with carrying weapons both to combat drones and to \u201cassist\u201d the police and security services.<\/p>\n The theme of war is also linked to applications for citizenship or residence permits by male migrants from almost all countries of the former USSR. The relevant Presidential Decree No. 821<\/a> has been in force since November 2025. Men aged 18 to 65 are now required to present either a contract with the Russian army or a substitute document (a certificate of completed service or of inapplicability<\/span> for service). An exception is made for citizens of allied Belarus, while for migrants from certain other countries (Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine) this requirement applies only to citizenship applications and not to residence permits.<\/p>\n Thus, the requirement to sign a contract with the army of a country at war is imposed on foreign nationals even before they are able to apply for permission to reside in the Russian Federation. In doing so, citizens of many countries are pushed towards violating the laws of their countries of nationality (in all countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, mercenarism is a criminal offence), without any guarantee that they will even receive the desired document in return, since applications may be rejected for various reasons. For example, having a wife who is a citizen of the Russian Federation is no longer considered as a <\/span>ground for obtaining a residence permit; lawyers report that there are already cases of people being stripped of Russian documents that they had obtained on the basis of marriage. As a result, in order to obtain the desired right to live with one\u2019s family in Russia, such<\/span> persons<\/span> must violate the law of their<\/span> own country, risking a serious prison sentence at home, while still possibly being denied the right to live in their spouse\u2019s household.<\/p>\n In a joint publication<\/a> issued on the occasion of International Migrants Day (18 December), the Anti-Discrimination Centre \u201cMemorial\u201d and human rights defenders from Kyrgyzstan noted:<\/p>\n \u201cThe rights of migrant workers \u2014 most of whom are citizens of Central Asian countries \u2014 are grossly violated by Russia, where millions of migrant labourers still live and work. Migrants\u2019 families are being forced out of the country, with children denied access to schools; electronic surveillance of migrants\u2019 lives and movements is being carried out; unbearable living conditions are being created through police control, harassment, and deportations. The gravest crime committed by Russia against citizens of neighbouring countries is the waging of an aggressive war against Ukraine, in which citizens of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and other Central Asian republics are often coerced into participation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The fate of citizens of Kyrgyzstan who signed contracts with the Russian army and later ended up in captivity is described in a short documentary film<\/a>. The main conclusion of that publication is clear: involvement of foreign nationals in the<\/span> aggressive war constitutes a war crime of the Russian Federation. No decrees can justify this.<\/p>\n Stefania KULAEVA<\/em> He forges his decrees like horseshoes \u2014 some get it in the groin, some in the forehead. Some in the brows, some in the eyes. Osip Mandelstam The words of Osip Mandelstam about the actions of the \u201csoul-killer and peasant-slayer\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[362],"tags":[179],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[515],"class_list":["post-37340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","tag-migrant-rights-en","regions-russia"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3.png",922,576,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-125x125.png",125,125,true],"medium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-300x187.png",300,187,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-768x480.png",640,400,true],"large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-650x406.png",640,400,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3.png",922,576,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3.png",922,576,false],"pub-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-220x137.png",220,137,true],"post-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-170x170.png",170,170,true],"wcicon":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-48x48.png",48,48,true],"wcsquare":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-300x300.png",300,300,true],"wcsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-250x156.png",250,156,true],"wcstandard":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-550x344.png",550,344,true],"wcbig":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-800x500.png",800,500,true],"wcfixedheightsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-288x180.png",288,180,true],"wcfixedheightmedium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-480x300.png",480,300,true],"wcfixedheight":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-800x500.png",800,500,true],"wccarouselsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-210x150.png",210,150,true],"wccarousel":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-400x285.png",400,285,true],"wcslider":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hommage3-922x500.png",922,500,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":" He forges his decrees like horseshoes \u2014 some get it in the groin, some in the forehead. Some in the brows, some in the eyes. Osip Mandelstam The words of Osip Mandelstam about the actions of the \u201csoul-killer and peasant-slayer\u201d Stalin remain fully relevant today. Decrees are still being forged rapidly in our very time as well, striking blows at all kinds of \u201cpeasants,\u201d that is, ordinary people \u2014 and gender is not always relevant here (although in matters of military service it is still men who are…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Columns<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"admin3","url":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/author\/admin3\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37340"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37354,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37340\/revisions\/37354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37340"},{"taxonomy":"strategy_cases","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategy_cases?post=37340"},{"taxonomy":"campaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign?post=37340"},{"taxonomy":"archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archive?post=37340"},{"taxonomy":"filter-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter-content?post=37340"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=37340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nExpert, Anti-Discrimination Centre \u201cMemorial\u201d,<\/em>
\nOriginally published on the blog of Radio Svoboda<\/a> (in Russian)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"