Mobilization in Russia for April 14-16, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Lawmakers introduced a bill in the State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] that would change the indexation procedure for combat veteran benefits. Currently, the government adjusts these payments annually on Feb. 1 based on the inflation rate. The bill's authors propose tying the benefit to the living wage, ensuring it would not fall below that threshold during the annual indexation. For 2026, the living wage stands at 18,939 rubles [$250], while the veteran allowance is about 4,800 rubles [$64]. Although the bill does not directly establish a new amount, changing the calculation mechanism could significantly increase payouts.
Army Recruitment
Chuvash State University officials are urging medical students with failing grades to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, telling them they can take a leave of absence to do so and later return to the university to clear their academic records.
In March, the Kursk Railway Technical College held a meeting with a military recruiter for final-year students, offering contracts to serve in the Unmanned Systems Forces and discussing the requirements, benefits and guarantees for military personnel.
In the city of Krasnoyarsk, recruitment of college students into contract service has been ongoing for several months. The campaign is being carried out through multiple channels, including advertisements on the college’s website and social media, as well as in-person meetings. At these meetings, students are promised service opportunities that do not involve being sent to the frontline, the chance to work with drones, and an opportunity to "improve their finances." After these presentations, students are reportedly taken aside one by one for individual conversations, where they are encouraged to sign contracts. According to staff, the college has been given a recruitment target of 13 people. As reported, in March 2026, two students signed contracts.
The Alabuga Polytech College has launched an advertising campaign offering young men the chance to "complete statutory military service" in the "Varyag Brigade" of the Unmanned Systems Forces. The offer includes a stipend of 305,000 rubles [$4,040], enrollment in the college’s military training program under a dual-track scheme, work with Shahed-136 (Geran-2) drones in so-called "drone ports" in the Oryol region, and a diploma from the college. Since April 15, the ads have been circulating in major Telegram channels, including pro-war milblogger and activist channels, as well as more general popular channels and social media groups. The college had previously run a nearly identical campaign for students, offering stipends of 150,000 rubles [$1,990]. Under Russian law, statutory military service cannot be combined with full-time education. Most likely, Alabuga is advertising enrollment in the college itself, during which students can undergo a military training program.
A district court in Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic] has overturned a fine issued to a driver who had been penalized for driving without the legal right to do so due to a restriction imposed by a draft office for failing to appear in response to a draft notice. The man, who had not reported to the draft office for a data verification summons, was stopped by traffic police and fined 5,000 rubles [$66]. Since the incident occurred in December 2024, the restriction had not been imposed through the electronic registry but rather by directly transmitting the data to the State Inspectorate for Road Traffic Safety. The court ultimately ruled that a restriction imposed by an enlistment office does not invalidate a driver’s license or strip a person of the right to drive, and therefore does not constitute an administrative offense. The court also noted that Russian law does not provide for any liability for driving while such restrictions are in place, as long as the license remains valid.
In the Kirov region, bailiffs forcibly took a 56-year-old unemployed man to a medical evaluation board and then attempted to send him to the war. According to his sister, the reason was a debt of 25,000 rubles [$330]. After relatives intervened, demanding his release and threatening to call the police, the man was let go.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Anton Belkov from Udmurtia [Russia's constituent republic], who had previously been charged with murder, has been killed in the war. According to investigators, in December 2024 he fatally stabbed an acquaintance while drinking alcohol, then dismembered the body and hid the remains in different parts of his home. The case was referred to court in February 2025, but proceedings were suspended in March after Belkov signed a military contract. According to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], he was killed no later than May 27, 2025, and in January 2026 the court terminated the criminal case against him.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
Garrison military courts sentenced 8,274 people to prison terms in 2025, the outlet Vyorstka reported after analyzing data from the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court. This is a record high since at least 2010, when such statistics began; the previous peak was recorded in 2024, with 6,838 people sentenced. In total, including non-custodial sentences, military courts issued verdicts against 13,590 individuals in 2025. The increase began after the start of the war against Ukraine: 4,191 convictions in 2022, 7,779 in 2023, and 13,699 in 2024. The number of cases involving illegal arms trafficking has also risen at least threefold since the start of the war: whereas courts previously handled 24–41 such cases annually, in 2023–2024 they handled more than 100 each year.
In the village of Akkermanovka in the Orenburg region, 51-year-old Sergey Basalayev opened fire on police officers who came to detain him. Basalayev has been identified as a war participant who has been on a national wanted list since February 2025 for going AWOL. As a result of the incident, one law enforcement officer was killed, three more were wounded, and Basalayev fled in a car. Later the vehicle was found in the village of Beloshapka 50 kilometers from Akkermanovka. The fugitive himself was not found in it.
In the Saratov region, three suspects have been charged with fraud on an especially large scale for the theft of payments to the family of a deceased war participant. According to investigators, in November 2024, they organized a fictitious marriage with a serviceman, and after his death, the "wife" received insurance and social payments totaling 2.5 million rubles [$33,100], which were then divided among group members. Among the accused is Veronika Zdvizhkova, former head of the migration department of the Interior Ministry.
The "Supreme Court" established by Russia in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic has sentenced Polish citizen Krzysztof Flaczek to 13 years in a penal colony on mercenary charges. The investigation determined that the man, since the fall of 2024, fought for financial compensation as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and was captured by Russian forces near the town of Chasiv Yar several months later. TASS [Russian state-owned news agency] claimed that Flaczek, after being captured, allegedly switched to Russia's side and began fighting as part of the Russian Armed Forces. It remains unclear how Flaczek ended up charged with being a mercenary in a criminal case while fighting as part of Russia's army.
Human rights activists from the Pervyi Otdel [First Department] human rights project have uncovered a classified decree by Putin that allows law enforcement officers to place Russian citizens and foreigners in pre-trial detention centers without trial for "obstructing the special military operation." The information is contained in an Investigative Committee document that references a classified "decision" issued by Vladimir Putin on March 8, 2022, granting such authority to the RuAF, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Federal Protective Service. According to the document, in March 2022, the FSB placed a Russian citizen in a detention facility without opening a criminal case on suspicion of "counteracting the special military operation." The document also asserts that an unpublished "temporary instruction" regulating this procedure is in effect. Human rights advocates point out that these provisions contradict Article 22 of the Russian Constitution, under which deprivation of liberty is permissible only by court order. At the same time, Russian legislation contains no definition of "counteracting the special military operation." Individuals detained under this formulation are granted no procedural status and exist outside the legal framework—they are denied access to a lawyer, the ability to conduct correspondence and other rights afforded to ordinary convicts. A human rights advocate told Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] that, in documents he has seen, officials from the Ministry of Defense referenced this "presidential decision" at least once, and during a court hearing, a representative of the military agency referred to it as a "secret decree."
In the city of Cheboksary, a criminal case on charges of committing an act of terror has been opened against a 16-year-old girl after she set fire to a transport police vehicle on the grounds of one of its departments. Prior to the incident, unidentified individuals had allegedly contacted her on Telegram and convinced her that she was helping intelligence services apprehend criminals.
In the Tomsk region, a military court has sentenced a minor born in 2009 to six and a half years in a penal colony on charges of treason and participation in a terrorist organization. According to investigators, the teenager first joined an online community tied to the "Anarcho-Communist Combat Organization" and subsequently established contact with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). He provided the intelligence service with a photograph of a section of railway and then, for monetary compensation, attempted to separate the fishplates between the rails to cause a train derailment, though railway workers repaired the damage. It is alleged that after the act of sabotage, he planned to publish a manifesto demanding a change in the country's leadership and "alterations to the constitutional order and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation."
In annexed Crimea, officers of the FSB detained a resident of Yalta, born in 1993, who is suspected of treason. According to law enforcement, he proactively established contact with a representative of the SBU and, via Telegram, transmitted information about Black Sea Fleet facilities to a resource controlled by the Ukrainian intelligence services.
Additionally, the intelligence services detained a resident of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region who is accused of treason. Law enforcement officers believe that he collected and passed information about Russian soldiers to the Ukrainian side. The data was allegedly used by the AFU to carry out missile and air strikes. The man was placed in a pre-trial detention center.
The Irkutsk Regional Court sentenced 35-year-old software engineer Vadim Nekrashchuk to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason. According to investigators, he photographed the checkpoint of a military unit and sent its geolocation to an alleged сотрудник of Ukrainian intelligence, while the defense argued that this information is publicly available. Nekrashchuk himself said that after his detention in March 2025, he spent two days at an FSB office with a mask over his head and in handcuffs. He then agreed to participate in a state protection program and, for more than three months—until June 23—was kept in a safe apartment without communication. According to him, during this period about 150,000 rubles [$1,990] were stolen from his cryptocurrency wallet. Later, the programmer was transferred to a pre-trial detention center. The Military Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the theft but did not open a criminal case.
A court in the Krasnodar region has sentenced a 63-year-old resident of Novorossiysk to 13 years in a penal colony on charges of treason. According to investigators, the woman, who worked as a cook on a floating crane and sought to relocate to the United States, collected and transmitted via Telegram information on the deployment of Black Sea Fleet vessels and defensive anti-air assets in Novorossiysk, Sochi and Sevastopol. Authorities say she cooperated with a representative of Ukrainian intelligence services in exchange for money. She was detained in June 2025.
Children and Militarization
In Saint Petersburg, schoolchildren and college students are taking part in competitions to identify the best "assault troops" as part of Zarnitsa 2.0, a militarized children’s game. The exercises begin as early as the fifth grade. Participants are organized into 10-person units and assigned roles, including assault troops, UAV operators, medics, sappers and commanders. During the competitions, teenagers strike targets, throw grenades against the clock and attend preparatory courses where they are instructed on how to move with weapons inside buildings. Participants also learn to operate drones and carry out team-based tasks, such as constructing shelters and rehearsing combat maneuvers.
Assistance
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova announced plans to create 10 new prosthetic and orthopedic rehabilitation centers by the end of 2028.
Lawmakers in Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent republic] adopted a law introducing employment quotas for participants in the war in Ukraine. Employers with more than 200 workers will be required to allocate 1 percent of their workforce to such hires.
The Irkutsk region has spent 30 billion rubles [$397 million] since 2022 on assistance to participants in the war in Ukraine. Governor of the Irkutsk region Igor Kobzev said 32,000 family members of "special military operation" participants have received targeted budget support. In the first 3,5 months of 2026, authorities spent 4 billion rubles [$52.95 million] on these programs. The region’s budget deficit is projected to reach 22 billion rubles [$291 million] in 2026.
Longreads
The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet, reports that after mobilization began in 2022, so-called "black widows" emerged in Russia, women who use a simplified marriage registration process with servicemen before deployment.
The outlet also spoke with Aleksandr Sarbaev, a resident of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, who was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony on treason charges for donating to the Ukrainian military.
The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet reports that people with mental disabilities are being recruited for the war.