Russia’s Central Election Commission has postponed 43 municipal elections across eight districts in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, declaring the elections will be held "when a brighter time comes." The decision effects election campaigns in the Belovsky, Bolshesoldatsky, Glushkovsky, Korenevsky, Lgovsky, Rylsky, Sudzhansky, and Khomutovsky districts.
The federal government has introduced legislation in the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] that would permit members of "volunteer units" to obtain military ranks without completing a military training course or attestation. At present, the law does not provide for this, even if these “volunteer fighters” participate in combat operations. They are not military personnel because they sign short-term contracts not for military service, but for "voluntary assistance in the fulfillment of tasks" for the Russian Armed Forces. However, beginning in 2025, members of volunteer units became liable for crimes against military service.
Vasily Starkov, the former head of the Sverdlovsk region's Ministry of Transport, has departed for the war in Ukraine. Previously, a court sentenced him to six and a half years in a maximum security prison for accepting a kickback of 4 million rubles [$50,600] from a construction company in September 2023 in exchange for signing a contract. In the fall of that year, he voluntarily resigned from his ministerial position, announcing he was heading "to the special military operation zone." However, it later emerged he was serving in the city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities detained Starkov in July 2024, initially placing him under house arrest before releasing him on his own recognizance. Even before the court delivered its verdict, the...
A new section to help users find their nearest bomb shelter will soon appear on the Gosuslugi public services portal, according to Sergey Starovoytov, Deputy Director of the Civil Defense and Population Protection Department at the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He stated that this system has already undergone testing in the Kursk and Belgorod regions and could be extended to the entire country by the end of the year. Separately, officials plan to display videos with maps of bomb shelters on public transport in Moscow during UAV attacks.
A group of lawmakers introduced a bill to the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] under which the families of orphaned military personnel who died in service could claim a housing allowance owed to the deceased. If a widow remarries, she would forfeit the right to this benefit. According to the document, the law would apply retroactively to cases occurring since Feb. 24, 2022. Currently, if an orphaned service member dies before receiving a housing allowance, his family, including his widow and children, loses the right to this benefit.
An estimated 374,200 to 407,200 individuals signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense in 2024. Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] derived this figure from federal budget expenditure data and the size of sign-up bonuses. An August 2024 increase to the federal component of the sign-up bonus — from 195,000 to 400,000 rubles [from $2,500 to $5,120] — explains the estimate's range and made precise calculations of contract soldiers for Q3 2024 difficult. By the end of the year, Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov announced that authorities had recruited 427,000 contract soldiers, while Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, reported 450,000. Consequently, official...
The State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] Defense Committee declined to endorse a bill that would exempt cadets expelled from military academies from repaying tuition fees if they took part in the war against Ukraine as mobilized or contract soldiers, or as members of a volunteer unit under the command of the Ministry of Defense. Neither the federal government nor the Accounts Chamber endorsed the initiative.
Authorities in the Magadan region increased the one-time regional payment to 2.6 million rubles [$32,600] for individuals who sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense. The region last raised this sum in January 2025 to 2.1 million rubles [$26,300]. Now, factoring in the federal component of 400,000 rubles [$5,010], an enlistee can receive a total of 3 million rubles [$37,600] at once.
Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law establishing a separate quota for state-funded higher education for the children of individuals who participated in combat operations on Russian Federation territory.
In Moscow, draft offices have begun to write en masse to legal entities and demand they register with them, citing a 2006 government decree. Legal entities on the military register must annually reconcile records with the draft office, inform it about employee hiring and dismissals, and deliver draft notices to their employees. Failure to fulfill these obligations may result in fines up to 400,000 rubles [$5,000].