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(Moscowtimes) Denis Savin, 22, is one of the Bolshoi Theater ballet's rising stars, with several solo parts and a prestigious Golden Mask Award nomination to his name. By the ripe old age of 24, if the army has its way, his career could end.
Savin, with fellow dancers, violinists, pianists and other young talents, could be drafted if the State Duma adopts a legislative package this summer cutting service exemptions for talented artists.
The bill is part of the Defense Ministry's effort to expand its pool of eligible draftees by 2008, when mandatory service will be cut to one year from two years.
"For an artist, a year off is equivalent to death," said Savin, who said ballet dancers needed three weeks to get back in shape after being sick for a week. "It's goodbye, being in shape; goodbye, professional qualifications."
Mikhail Shvydkoi, head of the Federal Culture and Cinematography Agency, has warned that talented young Russian men will flee the country if they lose their exemption. World-renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin, he noted, emigrated to avoid army service.
Besides the 800 performing artists exempted from military service yearly, another eight categories of exemptions could be scrapped, including rural teachers and doctors; men caring for disabled relatives; and those whose wives have been pregnant for under 26 weeks.
For now, there are 16 temporary and nine permanent categories of exemptions. The talented-artist exemption is actually a subcategory created by presidential decree.
If the State Duma legislative package, including four separate bills, passes, the number of temporary exemptions will drop to eight; the permanent categories will stay the same. The bills went through a first reading in late April. They are scheduled for a second, crucial reading in June.
The military has 1.1 million people. There are two drafts annually: In this year's spring draft, between April and June, 124,000 men between the ages of 18 and 27 are being drafted; last fall, 140,900 were drafted.
Alexander Kolchukov, head of the Defense Ministry's Institute of Military History, pointed out that there were no quotas for talented-artist exemptions in the Soviet era; in those days, conservatories and theaters had to petition the Ministry of Culture for exemptions for highly talented artists.
The statutory exemption was created in 1993. Kolchukov said the current legislation package simply aimed to ensure that only truly exceptional performing artists were exempted from service.
Boris Akimov, a former dancer and now a teacher at the Bolshoi who has spent 40 seasons there, said the Bolshoi's current crop of dancers was very young, and that if dancers were to be drafted, the theater's rehearsal schedule would be disrupted.
Akimov said he had known dancers who had served in the army's song and dance ensembles and that some were able to readjust to classical ballet after being discharged. But many could not return to ballet after performing folk dances in boots, he said.
Savin, for his part, doesn't trust the army. After his aunt and uncle were told that his cousin would not be sent to Chechnya, the young draftee was sent there and wounded, he said.
"I can't believe it -- the life of the theater would stop," Savin said of the proposed exemption change. "The Bolshoi is the face of Russia to the whole world. It would be like taking away Red Square. There would be a hole there."
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