STATEMENT BY THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS (ATYAŃ EZEM)
The Children of Erźań Mastor Are Not a Resource for the Kremlin’s Wars
17 October 2026
Of late, the Council of Elders has been hearing from more and more parents of young Erzyan men: “conscription into regular service” has become the first step toward being sent to war. Once in the units, young conscripts come under pressure from officers and commanders who push them to sign a contract. We know of dozens of such cases.
Moscow lies when it insists that conscripts are not sent to the front. This is a lie. Conscripts are among the dead, and they are among those taken prisoner.
This “army pipeline” is part of the same policy that brings migrant workers onto our land and shuts down our hospitals and our schools. The federal centre needs soldiers from the national republics and from depressed regions, where voices of protest are barely heard.
If conscripts truly do not take part in combat, as Moscow claims, why are they not sent to serve near their homes? The heads of the Republic of Mordovia and of Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions do not dare put this question to the federal authorities. Why? The answer is plain. Conscription has become recruitment — not the defence of one’s own land.
Erźań Mastor has no reason to surrender its sons to someone else’s war. The peoples of the Volga–Ural region have no interests for which their sons should die on foreign soil. This is not our war.
Today, conscription is a trap that leads to a contract. No guarantee from the Ministry of Defence can be trusted.
We therefore demand:
- Conscripts must serve exclusively within the region where they live. If conscripts are not sent to fight — let them serve at home.
- A ban on recruitment into contract service during the term of conscription, and a formal investigation of every case of pressure from commanders.
- An open public register of young men from the Republic of Mordovia and from Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions — of those who have been killed or taken prisoner during conscription, or after signing a contract under duress.
To the parents of young Erzyan, Mokshan, Tatar and Russian men — to the parents of Erźań Mastor:
Do not give your children up to conscription. Your son’s life is the greatest treasure of this land, and no one but us will save him from this pipeline — the one that begins with a draft notice and ends in a zinc coffin or in Ukrainian captivity. This is not our war.
Use every lawful means: deferments, alternative civilian service (ACS), medical examinations, legal aid. Talk to other parents. Stand together — to save your children, and to save the right to a future.
This pipeline holds together on nothing but our silence.
We answer for our children, and we answer for our land. Do not help them kill your own sons. This is not our war. No one has attacked the Erzyans, Mokshans, Tatars or Russians who live in Erźań Mastor.
Vejsë, erźat, vijevťano! — Together, Erzyans, we are strong!
The Council of Elders (Atyań Ezem)
