The following response includes information on alternative military service before the August 1991 attempted coup in the Soviet Union. Information pertaining to alternative military service in the Soviet Union or republics since the failed coup is not currently available to the IRBDC.
An article from Radio Free Europe indicates that military service remains obligatory in the Soviet Union, although the question of alternative military service has become a social issue (RFE 1 June 1990, 7).
According to a 1991 report from Amnesty International, the Law On Universal Military Obligation makes no provision for non-military alternative service in the USSR. In practice, some evidence suggests that religious objectors...who express their willingness to perform unarmed military service may be allowed to do so. It appears that some have been permitted to join a military construction battalion rather than perform armed service. However, such provisions do not exist in any published law and seem to be applied only selectively... (Amnesty International Jan. 1991, 21).

This report also notes that several republics have introduced provisions for alternative service, but that these provisions are not recognized by the central government (Ibid., 22).
A number of reports from Radio Free Europe indicate that some republics have been passing their own legislation pertaining to military service. In April 1990, the Republic of Estonia approved a law making service in the Soviet army voluntary (RFE 20 Apr. 1990, 26). Moldavia also suspended military service in Soviet forces the following September (RFE 14 Sept. 1990, 39). The Ukraine passed a resolution in October 1990 stipulating conditions under which Ukrainian conscripts may serve in the Soviet army (RFE 19 Oct. 1990). Latvia has a provision for alternative service, however, in January 1991, Radio Riga reported that five men believed to be performing alternative service had been detained by Soviet soldiers (RFE 18 Jan. 1991, 23). A March report by The Washington Post indicated that the Soviet Defense Ministry was "deploying thousands of crack troops to enforce presidential decrees against draft dodging in seven restive republics" (3 Mar. 1991, A23). In August 1991, the Soviet military commissar in Lithuania indicated that the USSR did not recognize duty in the Lithuanian National Defense Department as alternative military service (RFE 23 Aug. 1991, 33).
There is no further information currently available to the IRBDC on this topic.

Bibliography

Amnesty International. January 1991. Conscientious Objection to Military Service. London: Amnesty International Publications.

Radio Free Europe. 23 August 1991, Vol. 3, No. 34. Report on the USSR. "Weekly Record of Events."

_____. 18 January 1991. Vol. 3, No. 3. Report on the USSR. "Weekly Record of Events."

_____. 19 October 1990. Vol. 2, No. 42. Report on the USSR. "Weekly Record of Events."

_____.14 September 1990. Vol. 2, No. 37. Report on the USSR. "Weekly Record of Events."

_____. 20 April. Vol. 2, No. 16. Report on the USSR. "Weekly Record of Events."

_____. 1 June 1990. Vol. 2, No. 22. Report on the USSR. Antic, Oxana. "Alternative Military Service for Religious Believers."

The Washington Post. 3 March 1991. "Draft Dodging Rises Dramatically..."

Attachments

Amnesty International. January 1991. Conscientious Objection to Military Service. London: Amnesty International Publications.

Radio Free Europe. 1 June 1990. Vol. 2, No. 22. Report on the USSR. Antic, Oxana. "Alternative Military Service for Religious Believers."