‘They Handed Me The Summons And Escorted Me To Military Commissariat’

A Belarusian man told how he got to the March military training.

In mid-March, combat readiness testing began throughout Belarus. Thousands of conscripts were called up for military training. Mediazona spoke with a Belarusian who attended the March training camp.

Mikalai lives in the regional center, but is registered in another city with his parents. On the eve of the training camp, he received a call from his place of registration and was told to come and receive a summons to the training camp.

— They assigned the task to the locals, and they called from there. Those who answered the phone were told to attend mandatory training at their place of registration. They handed me the summons already on the spot, and escorted me to the military registration and enlistment office.

Mikalai was not going to attend the training camp, but he had no way to avoid being called up:

— There was a call in the evening, the caller said — be there in the morning. I thought they would just clarify the data. As they say, I have never been so wrong.

Over the phone, the man was advised to dress warmly, take his passport, military ID and hygiene products with him. From the administration, Mikalai was taken to the military registration and enlistment office. There he was informed that he was going to military training as part of the territorial defense forces.

From the military registration and enlistment office, the man was escorted to a bus and taken to the training camp. There, Mikalai was dressed in military uniform and sent to a location for those liable for military service. The man says that more than 150 people were at the training camp with him. They were housed in a room provided by local authorities.

Mikalai says that among those called to the training camp, many are dissatisfied with this event, but no one is openly indignant. Everyone has things to do at home, work, family. Some men were taken to training camps without warning directly from their workplace.

The military registration and enlistment office informed Mikalai that the training would end on April 5. So far, no exercises have been conducted:

— Units are being staffed. Roughly speaking, we settle in and adapt.