Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 23-25, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
In a first reading, the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] approved a bill that would authorize year-round conscription activities. The Duma's Defense Committee had previously endorsed the measure. According to the proposed legislation, draft offices would gain the authority to summon conscripts, conduct medical evaluations, and review necessary documents at any time during the year. Meanwhile, deployment of recruits to their duty stations would remain confined to the established biannual periods, from April 1 to July 15 and from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. The Voyennye Advokaty [The Military Lawyers] Telegram channel published a detailed review of the bill.
Lawmakers also introduced a bill in the State Duma that toughens penalties for convicts and individuals under investigation who sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense and subsequently refuse to fight. The government’s legislative commission previously endorsed the document, but its text remained undisclosed until now. According to the published text, the bill adds special sections to articles concerning going AWOL, desertion and evading service through malingering. These sections specifically target individuals "released from criminal punishment on probation," as well as the accused and defendants whose criminal proceedings were suspended "at the request of a military unit’s command." For leaving a unit for a period of two to 10 days, the bill proposes resentencing them to prison terms of two to six years. For an absence of 10 to 30 days, the proposed sentence is three to eight years, and for an absence exceeding one month, the penalty ranges from seven to 12 years. The bill would impose sentences of 10 to 20 years for desertion, and seven to 12 years for simulating illness or forging documents to evade service.
An explanatory note attached to the draft bill states that the document is intended to "create additional guarantees for military security." Under current law, abandoning a duty station for up to ten days carries a penalty of up to five years in a penal colony; absences of ten to thirty days can result in up to seven years, and periods longer than a month may lead to sentences of up to ten years. Desertion during wartime is punishable by five to fifteen years, while simulating illness to evade service can bring five to ten years of imprisonment. The forthcoming amendments are being examined in detail by Voyennye Advokaty. Human‑rights observers argue that the tougher penalties constitute a new lever of pressure aimed at keeping convicted individuals on the front lines.
The government has approved a draft law on the national budget for 2026 and the planned periods of 2027 and 2028. The document has not yet been published, but Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin outlined its main points. Projected budget revenues total 40.3 trillion roubles [$481 billion], while expenditures are expected to reach 44.9 trillion roubles [$536 billion], creating a deficit of 4.6 trillion roubles [$55 billion]. Economic growth for 2026 is forecast at 1.3 percent. Funding for national defence in 2026 is slated at up to 12.6 trillion roubles [$150 billion]; military spending in 2027 and 2028 is projected at 13.6 trillion roubles [$162 billion] and 13 trillion roubles [$155 billion] respectively. Annual allocations for "National security and law‑enforcement activities," which finance the police, the Russian National Guard and intelligence services, are estimated at 4‑4.5 trillion roubles [$48-54 billion] in the coming years, an increase of more than 20% over the current budget law. Overall, spending on the army and law‑enforcement agencies will account for 38% of the 2026 budget.
The Ministry of Finance has presented a new budget package that includes a second consecutive year of tax hikes. The amendments call for raising the VAT rate from 20% to 22% while retaining the reduced 10% rate for socially essential goods. They also lower the revenue threshold for VAT exemption from 60 million roubles [$716,600] to 10 million roubles [$119,400]. A 5% levy on total amounts wagered is to be introduced for betting firms, alongside a 25% profit tax on those operators. Preferential insurance premium rates for small and medium‑size businesses would be abolished. These measures are slated to take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and, according to the explanatory note attached to the budget draft, the tax increases are expected to generate roughly 1.5 trillion roubles [$18 billion] in additional revenue for the state.
Recruitment
In several municipalities of the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject], bonuses for recruiting contract soldiers have been increased: in the Perm district, the payout was raised from 125,000 rubles [$1,490] to 250,000 rubles [$2,990], while in the Osinsky district, a similar bonus of 138,000 rubles [$1,650] was introduced.
In Saint Petersburg, human rights activists and journalists reported at least two instances in which "draft notices" were taped to local residents' doors. Resembling mobilization orders, the documents listed which papers had to be brought to the draft office and included a proxy form for collecting wages. The notices were received by two men who had completed their statutory military service within the past six years. They were instructed to report on Sept. 25 to nearby sports schools. According to the independent outlet Bumaga [Paper], a recruiting facility was briefly set up at one of the addresses. The men who appeared in response to the notices were eventually released.
In Tyumen, law enforcement conducted another raid targeting men who had violated military registration rules and migration laws. According to reports, seven people who had obtained Russian citizenship but failed to register for military service were identified. One man of conscription-age was taken to the draft office for "pre-conscription procedures," while another was scheduled for a medical evaluation there.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
Dmitry Vedernikov, leader of the Zabaikalsky-based Metsenatovskie criminal group, reportedly fled the frontline after joining Russia’s war against Ukraine in early 2024. Vedernikov left his military service in August 2025, and a criminal case was opened in September for going AWOL during an armed conflict. Previously, in 2011, Vedernikov was sentenced to 24 years in prison for a series of violent crimes spanning 52 episodes, including robbery, murder, and carjacking. His deployment to the war zone was reportedly facilitated through appeals to State Duma Member from the Zabaykalsky region Andrey Gurulyov and Governor of the Zabaykalsky region Aleksandr Osipov.
A 35-year-old veteran, Nikolay Gribanov, has been charged with raping a local woman. According to the Astra Telegram channel, on Sept. 13, Gribanov raped the 26-year-old victim, photographed her, and then sent the images to his wife. A criminal case has been opened against him for both rape and invasion of privacy. Gribanov was discharged from the army less than a month ago, likely due to an injury. Before his military service, he had a criminal record for theft and trespassing. His wife has also repeatedly reported receiving death threats from him.
In the city of Vologda, a 30-year-old war veteran and repeat offender, Anatoly Lindenkov, was sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of grievous bodily harm resulting in death by negligence, as well as going AWOL. According to law enforcement, Lindenkov deserted from his unit in December 2024, and on March 31, 2025, while drinking with his partner, Anatoly assaulted her after she became jealous of his ex-wife. The woman died at the scene from her injuries. This is at least Lindenkov’s third conviction. In 2020, he received a two-year probation sentence for drug offenses. In 2024, a court handed him four and a half years in a penal colony for three counts of theft and armed robbery. Lindenkov did not serve that term in full; he likely signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense while still in the penal colony.
A Ukrainian POW was sentenced to 16 years for his role in the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Sergeant Andrey Zabolotny of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was found guilty of committing an act of terror for participating in the cross-border attack.
A Russian court has sentenced a prisoner of war, Sergeant Andriy Zabolotny of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), to 16 years of imprisonment on charges of an act of terror for participating in the attack on the Kursk region. According to the Investigative Committee, on Jan. 31, 2025, Zabolotny, the commander of a unit in the 80th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade, crossed the border into the Kursk region. Near the village of Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, he allegedly had taken up firing positions and monitored the actions of local residents and Russian soldiers, "intimidated civilians, and hindered their evacuation" and participated in blocking the territory and holding it "under armed control." On March 11, 2025, Zabolotny was captured while retreating to the town of Sudzha.
The "Supreme Court" of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic established by Russian authorities has sentenced Mykola Gurtovsky and Bohdan Belinov of the Azov Brigade to 22 and 23 years in a maximum security penal colony respectively, for the murder of civilians in the city of Mariupol. According to the prosecution, in March 2022, during a search of a residential area, Gurtovsky shot a local resident with an assault rifle. Belinov, identified as the commander of an optical reconnaissance unit of the mortar battery control platoon and senior drone operator, has been accused of murdering a woman, also with an assault rifle.
In Saint Petersburg, a court has arrested a 17-year-old teenager in a case related to an attempted act of terror. According to investigators, the teenager was tasked via a messenger app from a "supporter of the AFU" to set fire to a locomotive. On Sept. 23, together with an unidentified person, he attempted to set fire to a train at the Kushlevka station. However, the train driver and his assistant noticed them. The teenager was detained the following day.
In the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, a man and a woman were sentenced to life imprisonment and to 21 years in a penal colony, respectively, on charges of participation in a sabotage community, sabotage, and espionage. In June 2023, the man provided the Ukrainian side with information about the location of a Russian checkpoint in the town of Tokmak; a strike followed, killing four Russian soldiers and wounding four more. In July, a female resident of Tokmak passed information about the location of Russian soldiers near a motorway. That same evening, a strike was carried out against them, as a result of which seven Russian soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded. Judging by the fact that the residents of Tokmak were tried for espionage, they were not citizens of Russia.
The court sentenced Ukrainian citizen Diyaver Kurshutov to ten years in a penal colony on charges of preparing an act of terror, participating in a terrorist community, illegal trafficking of explosives, and accumulation of weapons of mass chemical destruction. Law enforcement officers believe that Kurshutov was preparing two acts of terror in the Kherson region and the Zaporizhzhia region using two explosive devices, chemicals, and methyl alcohol, with the latter two components intended to end up in food products for Russian soldiers. The toxic agent (an analogue of a combat toxic agent according to the BZ classification) was allegedly planned to be added to soup or juice in the dining hall of Russian soldiers.
A court has sentenced 24-year-old Moldovan citizen Marius Prunianu to 16 years in prison on charges of involvement in a terrorist organization, preparing an act of terror, participation in an organized criminal group, smuggling explosives and explosive devices, illegal possession and transportation of explosives, and preparing to manufacture explosive devices illegally. According to investigators, no later than February 2024, while in Ukraine, Prunianu joined a "terrorist organization" established by the country’s intelligence services. Acting on orders from intelligence officers, he purchased a car and obtained a new passport without any record of his stay in Ukraine. A month later, Prunianu received explosives disguised as a car battery, installed them in his vehicle, and drove to Russia. Prosecutors claim he was supposed to deliver the explosives to Volgograd and Saratov. In the spring of 2024, the Moldovan citizen was detained at a gas station along the M-11 Neva highway. Following his arrest, law enforcement officers seized from him "improvised explosive devices with foreign-made charges weighing at least 1.6 kg each."
In Moscow, authorities have arrested Yulia Chemizova, a 38-year-old manager, in connection with a treason case, according to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet]. Court records show she was taken into custody Jan. 31, after serving a 14-day administrative sentence for petty hooliganism on Jan. 18. Chemizova has not been heard from since that administrative detention. The basis for the treason case has not been disclosed.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of a 39-year-old IT worker from Mordovia. Officials allege the man contacted Ukraine’s military intelligence service via Telegram and passed on "data about key infrastructure in Mordovia." The FSB also claimed he collected information about a police officer whom Ukrainian operatives intended to kill. A criminal case on treason charges has been opened, and the man remains in custody.
Longreads
The Vyorstka media outlet interviewed mobilized men who have spent three years fighting in the war, asking how they view the conflict and how they imagine it might end.
The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] published the story of a Russian contract soldier who escaped a combat zone and fled to Mexico. There, drug traffickers kidnapped him. He later reached the United States — only to be deported back to Russia.