Mobilization in Russia for April 22-23, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Crocus City Hall Terrorist Attack
In April, denunciations by residents of the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject] led to the deportation of three illegal migrants from Uzbekistan, the regional counter-terrorism commission announced. Reporting on the success of a chatbot created for this purpose, the commission claimed that local residents had submitted more than 100 complaints concerning illegal migrants in the last week of March and the first week of April.
Authorities and Legislation
120 civilians of the Belgorod region have been killed since the beginning of the war, says Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, adding that another 651 individuals have been injured. The figures include 11 killed and 51 injured minors.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Ufa law enforcement agencies presented the results of "preventive raids" on migrants conducted in the city. They checked 370 individuals, detained 105 of them and took them to police stations. 27 foreign nationals are to be deported for violating the migration law. 11 naturalized citizens were taken to draft offices for military registration. The others were informed of the possibility to acquire Russian citizenship after signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The death of Vladimir Frolov, a disabled man who was illegally mobilized, has been reported. He was ordered to undergo a medical re-examination, but instead was forcibly sent to an assault where he was injured. According to Frolov's wife, commanders were holding him and other injured soldiers in a basement prison without medical care. According to the death certificate, Frolov was killed during the Krasnohorivka assault on April 15.
The Astra Telegram channel has reported on a mobilized soldier who is being forced to go to war despite his refusal and serious illness. In January 2023, he filed a report refusing to participate in combat operations and was thrown into a pit. The mobilized man underwent a medical evaluation and was diagnosed with thrombocythemia and hepatitis B, and was found fit for limited military service. However, the command decided to conduct an unplanned medical evaluation, which could result in a change in the man's service fitness category. He is now being threatened with criminal charges for refusing to go to war.
A mobilized soldier Aleksandr Beznoshchenko who spent eight months in Ukrainian captivity and returned to Russia in a POW exchange is being pressured into joining the war again. Beznoshchenko’s relatives said that he had been deemed fit for service and had not been allowed a medical examination despite his severe injuries. The family then tried to reach out to the commander of his unit in the village of Sibirtsevo in the Primorsky region, but the commander refused to talk to them. Earlier, Astra reported numerous occasions when the command of the 60th Motorized Rifle Brigade stationed in Sibirtsevo forced refuseniks into duty and ordered injured personnel still in need of treatment to return to service.
Injured servicemen stationed in the Samara region reported being locked and unlawfully detained in the barracks of the 91st Brigade. Many of them are still in need of treatment or unable to walk without crutches. Some soldiers need bandages for their wounds, but there are no bandages available.
​Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Vyacheslav Usov, a contract soldier found guilty of shooting and killing an innocent bystander, to 12 years in a maximum security colony. On July 9, 2023, while on duty on a navy vessel, Usov was under the influence of drugs when he opened fire on an unfamiliar man standing on the pier. The victim died of abdominal gunshot wounds. The convict requested to be deployed to Ukraine in order to avoid years of imprisonment.
The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel has reported that in the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], the number of criminal cases against military personnel for failure to execute orders has significantly increased. In 2023, the Borzya Garrison Military Court issued only three verdicts under the article on refusal to execute orders for deployment to combat, but already in the first four months of 2024, 23 such verdicts were issued, 10 of them in April. In most cases, the soldiers were sentenced to two to three years of imprisonment in a penal settlement.
A resident of Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic] has been sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony for treason and sabotage. The Republican Supreme Court found that the man had set fire to a "transport infrastructure facility."
The First Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow has increased the sentence of Akhadzhon Zokhidov to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony for high treason and preparing for smuggling. Previously, the Moscow City Court sentenced a 36-year-old father of multiple children from Krasnogorsk to 13 years of imprisonment. The hearings were conducted behind closed doors.
Oleg, the son of Aleksandr Demidenko, a volunteer who died in a pre-trial detention center in Belgorod, told the Pervy Otdel [First Department] human rights project that the day before his father's death, Aleksandr was accused of high treason. Oleg doubts the suicide version of the Federal Penitentiary Service. He clarified that initially, he believed that his father committed suicide because a few weeks before his death, his father wanted to make a will. However, Oleg later changed his opinion as he remembered that his father asked him to prepare things for him before transferring to a Saint Petersburg facility. Additionally, Oleg notes that his father never hinted at suicidal thoughts nor did he leave a death note.
Assistance
In the Nizhny Novgorod region, over a thousand families receive death gratuity for soldiers killed in the war. In 2024, the government allocated 42.57 million rubles [$455,100] for these payments.
Ratmir Mavliev, the head of Ufa, announced that the city will cancel the May 9 [Victory Day in WWII] fireworks. The budget allocated for the show will be redirected to support the military.
Children and Educational System
Svetlana Ushakova, a senior Interior Ministry official, told at the meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy that places where children gather in large numbers should be equipped with shelters from drones. Ushakova called the risk of children being injured by drones "increasing."
Andrey Belousov, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, announced that starting July 1, drone management courses will be launched in 523 schools and 30 colleges across Russia. According to him, educational institutions will be equipped with drones and specialists for their use. In total, the authorities plan to purchase 17,000 drones for this purpose. The educational project has been allocated 1.4 billion rubles [$14.97 million] from the state budget.
An exhibition of anti-Ukrainian caricatures titled "Maidan of the Brain" was held at the Moscow State Linguistic University under the auspices of the Union of Journalists and the Union of Artists of Moscow. Earlier, the Moscow State Linguistic University opened a department of the pseudo-scientific discipline "Destructology."
Miscellaneous
The Aziaty Rossii [Asians of Russia] independent media outlet conducted a survey on how the attitudes of the Buryat and Tuvan populations towards the war have changed. The survey involved 573 people. The majority of respondents, 474, were Tuvans, the rest were Buryats. According to 74% of those surveyed, their relatives or acquaintances were killed in the war with Ukraine. 86% of respondents have someone who is currently participating in the war. 81% believe that the fighting should be ended through peace negotiation, while only 10% think that the war should continue.
Longreads
Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has analyzed job offers in the occupied territories and the corresponding salaries. The most sought-after positions are doctors, drivers, and engineers, while the salaries in the occupied territories are usually several times higher than for similar positions in Russia.
Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] released a review of the book "Storm Z. You Have No Other Us" by Daniil Tulenkov, a businessman from the Tula region who was convicted of fraud and enlisted in the war. Although the book is promoted by pro-war media, the author testifies to incompetent command and war crimes by Russian soldiers.
The Okno [Window] independent journalists' website tells the story of 43-year-old Aleksey Serotetto, a reindeer herder from the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region [Russia's federal subject], who went to war so that "his family wouldn't starve." Out of a squad of 20 people, only two fellow soldiers survived the assault with him. At the end of 2023, Serotetto recorded a video address to Putin, asking to be released from further service due to his injuries and partial loss of speech. The man is now in a field hospital.