Russians may be deprived of all-wheel drive vehicles for the needs of the army

How it might look in practice and a list of cars that may fall under mobilization

During mobilization activities, vehicles can be confiscated from citizens. This possibility is directly spelled out in the law “On mobilization training and mobilization in the Russian Federation.” Lawyer Maksim Yedryshov told MSK1.RU what kind of vehicles we are talking about.

“In accordance with the list of vehicles provided to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, vehicles of categories M1G, N1G (off-road vehicles), buses (except trolleybuses), trucks and trailers can be seized from owners,” Edryshov explained. – Almost all construction equipment can be seized, as well as snowmobiles, ATVs and ATVs.

Vehicles can be seized both from legal entities (in other words, companies) and ordinary citizens. The latter mostly belong to the categories M1G and N1G.

“The M1G includes Suzuki Grand Vitara, Nissan X-Trail, Chevrolet Niva, Mitsubishi Outlander, the list is endless – this is what people call “jeeps,” said Yedryshov. – All UAZs or all-wheel drive Gazelle are suitable for N1G.

  • Category M1 includes cars that transport passengers, and there are no more than 8 seats in the configuration (not counting the driver’s seat).
  • Category N1 includes vehicles that transport goods with a permissible weight of not more than 3.5 tons.

Postfix G means that the vehicle belongs to off-road vehicles. The list of requirements for compliance with such transport is listed in detail in the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union dated 09.12.2011 No. 877 “On the adoption of the technical regulation of the Customs Union “On the safety of wheeled vehicles”.

The possibility of mobilizing cars, including private ones, was provided for in the legislation of the USSR. At that time, the owners of certain types of cars, such as UAZs, had the obligation to register them at the military registration and enlistment offices. In 2018, the Ministry of Defense prepared an order according to which all cars were subject to mobilization, and records were kept using the traffic police database, which made it much easier to identify the right cars and their owners. That order never entered into force, but the relevant provisions were gradually introduced into other normative acts, in particular, they are in Article 13 of the Law “On Mobilization …”.

How can this be in practice

Auto lawyer Lev Voropaev studied the documents and explained the following.

“Since there have been no such events before, it is difficult to say for sure how it will look in practice, but from the analysis of the laws we can draw the following conclusion: during the period of mobilization, military registration and enlistment offices have the right to notify vehicle owners, including private individuals, of the need to appear for military registration cars,” the expert said. – And they can notify their owners in any way, including the dissemination of information through the media.

After that, the owners must provide serviceable vehicles to the draft board, but at first only for registration.

“Vehicles can be seized during the announcement of mobilization only from legal entities, as for private cars, martial law must be declared throughout the country or in part of it,” added Lev Voropaev.

The discussion about the possibility of seizing cars has been going on for a long time, but the authorities have always explained that the army is mainly interested not in cars, but in construction and trucks, sometimes domestic SUVs.

Sanctions for ignoring the order are fines under Article 19.25 of the Code of Administrative Offenses: for individuals – 300-500 rubles, for legal entities – up to 20 thousand.

– As far as I can tell, the mobilization of vehicles should not be confused with conscription, therefore, as such, criminal liability is not provided, – the auto lawyer concluded.

This is the new WARAN armored vehicle. He will be producing it at Autosan

WARAN is a vehicle created by Huta Stalowa Wola, and its production will be carried out by the Autosana factory in Sanok. It is intended for missile forces and artillery as a command vehicle.

It is a vehicle mounted on a Tatra chassis, similar to the previously described Autosan 4×4, on which the Ottokar Brzoza tank destroyer will be created. Although the chassis is based on a Czech construction, the body and armor were created by engineers from the Polish Armaments Group.

WARAN 4x4

Mine resistant

The vehicle is equipped with a remotely controlled weapon module with an A3 UKM 2000C machine gun caliber 7.62 mm, the OBRA-3 vehicle self-protection system with radiation detectors, laser beams and smoke grenade launchers. There are also external and internal means of communication, an observation head with a day/night camera, a thermal imaging camera and a reconnaissance drone. On the roof, there is a place for, for example, an observation system or a shooting position.

Its armor meets the standard of ballistic protection according to the STANAG 4569 standard at level 2. WARAN protects the crew against 7.62 mm anti-tank missiles and will survive the explosion of an anti-personnel mine. WARANA equipment may also include protection against weapons of mass destruction. The permissible total weight of the vehicle is 18 tons and it can take up to 5 tons of cargo.

The vehicle can take a total of eight people on board, including six soldiers with equipment. It also has air conditioning and auxiliary heating, so it is able to operate in very unfavorable weather conditions. RunFlat tires are mounted on the wheels, there is of course a central pumping system, and the cabin and engine compartment have an automatic fire protection system.

WARAN 4x4

A V8 diesel under the hood

Under the bonnet, there is a V8 diesel engine with a capacity of 12.7 liters and 400 hp. The motor is connected to an Allison automatic gearbox. WARAN can accelerate up to 110 km/h and overcome a wall half a meter high or a ditch 0.9 m wide. The range on one fuel tank is 650 km.

The structure of the vehicle is modular, so the vehicle can be not only 4×4, but also 6×6 or even 8×8. Interestingly, the most important element of the structure is a steel pipe, inside which there is a drive shaft and gears. This solution is intended to prevent damage to the drive system components in the field.

The vehicle could be used as a light tank destroyer, but it could also be used by special forces, border patrol vehicles, or to identify chemical and radioactive contamination. WARAN could replace outdated command vehicles still based on UAZs.