Currently, the unofficial (and illegal) cost of staying out of the army is either a $500 a year to get yourself deferred until you are 28 (and then exempt from conscription.) A one time bribe (if you can find the right official) of $5-10,000 gets your conscription records permanently "lost." For those short of cash, a low level criminal conviction (car theft, if the car is recovered, is a favorite), will get you a suspended sentence (Russia has a severe shortage of jail space) and a two year deferment from military service. In Chechnya, rebel operations left five local policemen and one Russian soldier dead. In Georgia, Russian troops withdrew from a disputed area in Abkhazia, defusing a confrontation with Georgian troops.