Freedom of religion in Russia
There is a universal military draft for men, but the Constitution provides for alternative service for those who refuse to bear arms for reasons of conscience. The length of alternative service is longer than the standard military service. The standard length of military service is 18 months, alternative service in a Ministry of Defense agency is 27 months, and alternative service in a nondefense agency is 31.5 months. Some human rights groups have complained that the extended length of service for draftees requesting alternative assignments acts as a punishment for those who exercise their convictions.
LGBT history in Russia
In 2003, a new statute about military and medical expertise was adopted (1 July 2003) and it contained a clause of "deviations of gender identification and sexual preferences" among the reasons of disability for military service [...] this clause irritated the proponents of having equal rights for people of different sexual orientation [...] [while] another clause said that different sexual orientation should not be considered a deviation". Finally, Valery Kulikov, the Major-General of the Medical Service, announced: 
In May 2005, LGBT human rights project Gayrussia.ru was founded by Nikolai Alekseev to fight discriminations on the basis of sexual orientation and raise awareness of LGBT issues in Russia. In July 2005, Alekseev launched the Moscow Pride initiative which has been organized every year since May 2006. As of July 2009, Gayrussia.ru is a transnational organization promoting LGBT rights in Russia and Belarus.