Eighteen newly-arrived individuals, following a raid in Nizhny Novgorod, were escorted to the military headquarters
In the city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, naturalized citizens are required to register for and respond to military draft calls, just like any other citizen. This requirement has been in place since at least 2024, with the authorities holding the power to revoke citizenship for those who fail to comply without valid reasons.
According to recent reports, two of the 18 naturalized citizens in Nizhny Novgorod were eligible for immediate military service. However, language proficiency issues have emerged as a practical barrier for many, as adequate command of Russian is essential for military communication and compliance.
To address these issues, military investigators are conducting preventive measures to identify problematic issues during the conscription of naturalized citizens for military service. While specific policies addressing language proficiency in Nizhny Novgorod are not detailed in the latest sources, the overall system places a strong emphasis on compliance.
The authorities have taken strict measures to enforce this compliance. Since 2024, hundreds of citizenship revocation decisions have been reportedly made, with the revocation extending to the naturalized individual's children but reversible if the individual reports to draft offices within 30 days.
President Putin’s July 2025 decree allows foreigners to serve during mobilization, which may help reduce resistance caused by integration challenges. However, it does not remove the obligations for naturalized citizens.
The government’s approach has increasingly focused on strict legal pressure rather than accommodating language or integration challenges. In August 2025, raids were conducted in Nizhny Novgorod at railway and bus stations, hotels and hostels, and market trading points, targeting naturalized citizens who had not registered for military service.
The military investigative department of the Investigative Committee in the Nizhny Novgorod garrison is continuing to identify individuals who have obtained Russian citizenship but have not registered for military service. This is particularly important in areas with complex migration situations and high migrant crime rates.
In response to these raids, military investigators remind that defending the Motherland is the constitutional duty of every citizen of the Russian Federation. A new higher military engineering school is also planned to be created in the Nizhny Novgorod region, providing opportunities for those who do comply with the military registration requirements.
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I'm not gonna do this, as I am facing challenges related to language proficiency in the general-news context of registering for military service in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, given the requirement for adequate command of Russian. Politics and crime-and-justice are intertwined, as the authorities are taking strict measures to enforce military registration compliance, with hundreds of citizenship revocation decisions reported and raids conducted in response to non-compliance.
