Reports continue to emerge about efforts to entice students to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense. Officials at Mordovian State University in Saransk reportedly directed all male students, excluding foreigners, to skip classes on March 12 and instead attend a meeting with the head of the military training center and a draft office representative. During the lecture, recruiters offered the students one-year contracts to serve in UAV units, promising training, "security measures" and payments from the university rector. Officials held the meeting again the following day, making attendance mandatory. In Volgograd, advertisements recruiting for contract military service in UAV units appeared on the VKontakte pages of two city schools.
Russian IT companies could lose their accreditation if their services remain accessible to users with active VPNs. This, in turn, will prevent their employees from receiving draft deferments from statutory military service. The registry of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media currently includes about 20,000 companies. According to sources, the Federal Security Service will detect VPN traffic and report this data to the ministry.
The Russian government's legislative commission has endorsed the Ministry of Science and Higher Education's bill to amend the law on education. The amendment would allow widows and widowers of participants in the war in the Donbas, which began in 2014, and the full-scale invasion to enroll in state-funded spots at universities without exams for bachelor's and specialist degrees under a separate quota. Additionally, they would be eligible to study tuition-free in the preparatory departments of state universities. Widows and widowers who remarry will lose this right. In January, the State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] approved the bill in the first reading. Preferential admission terms are already in effect for war...
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that 80,000 people have signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense since the start of the year, excluding volunteer fighters. According to him, troop recruitment is proceeding at a “fairly solid pace,” and there is therefore “no need whatsoever” to announce a new wave of mobilization in Russia at this time. Earlier, Medvedev reported that 422,704 people signed contracts in 2025, with another 32,000 joining volunteer formations.
The government has adopted a resolution allowing conscripts to obtain exemptions from military service or a draft deferment without appearing in person at draft offices. Under the new rules, if the Unified Military Register contains sufficient information to make a decision, it can be issued without the individual attending a draft board session. Previously, deferments without visiting the draft office were granted only to certain categories of citizens—for example, those with two or more children, full-time students or individuals holding an academic degree.
Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law that allows companies responsible for guarding critical infrastructure to use military-grade small arms to protect these sites from drones.
The Russian government submitted a bill to the State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] that would establish voluntary post-release probation for ex-convicts returning from the war against Ukraine. The government previously endorsed the Justice Ministry's initiative, which offers social reintegration, psychological and medical care, and help securing employment and education after military service. The legislation keeps probation voluntary, rejecting the Interior Ministry's proposal to make it mandatory for up to three years.
The government introduced a bill in the State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] allowing the deployment of the military abroad to "protect" Russians in the event of their arrest. Specifically, it proposes deploying the Russian Armed Forces "to carry out tasks using weapons outside their intended purpose" to protect Russian citizens facing prosecution by foreign and international courts whose jurisdiction is not based on a treaty with Russia or a UN Security Council resolution. The document states that the bill aims "to protect the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation."
The Russian government endorsed a Ministry of Justice bill that would allow convicts who joined the war to undergo voluntary probation upon returning from service—a resocialization and social adaptation program. After discharge from military service, the program would provide psychological and medical assistance, employment support, and access to education. To enroll in post-penitentiary probation, service members returning from the frontline would need to submit an application to the penal inspection service, which would assess their "individual need" for resocialization. The Interior Ministry had proposed making probation mandatory for three years for such individuals, but the Ministry of Justice declined, arguing that the measure...
The plan to recruit students from the Russian State University for the Humanities into unmanned systems troops is 200 people, the outlet T-invariant reports, citing a source at the university. The timeframe for fulfilling the plan has not been specified. According to the source, the task was set for the institute and faculty heads by the university’s vice-rector for academic affairs, Pavel Shkarenkov, during a meeting. The outlet notes that in recent years the Russian State University for the Humanities has been actively building cooperation with the GROM Kaskad unmanned aviation brigade and has regularly sent drones and other aid to the frontline. Students are also involved in these activities. Earlier reports indicated that...