Mobilization in Russia for April 7-9, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
Citing students, the Molniya project reports that the military is urging young people at colleges in the Krasnodar region, including underage students, to join the Unmanned Systems Forces. As part of this recruitment effort, military representatives have been inviting them for personal interviews and asking them to sign statements reading, "I commit to signing a contract," addressed to the head of a contract military service recruitment facility in Krasnodar. By law, minors cannot sign contracts with Russia's Ministry of Defense, but human rights advocates note that while such statements lack legal force, authorities use them to exert pressure and create a false sense of obligation among the targeted youth.
The Astra Telegram channel published a recording of a promotional conversation that Tyumen State University Vice Rector Yevgeny Vdovin held with students on academic probation. During the meeting, he encouraged them to sign a one-year contract with the MoD, presenting it as an "alternative" to conscription. Vdovin claimed that service in drone units takes place in the rear and counts as statutory military service. He warned the students that if the university expels them, authorities could immediately conscript them into the army and "persuade" them to sign a contract at the draft office. As an alternative, he offered them academic leave on the condition that they sign a contract.
Andrey Budanov, the military commissar of the Irkutsk region, also presented the option of signing a contract as an "alternative" to statutory military service. He similarly placed special emphasis on unmanned systems units. Despite his claims of a "one-year contract," under the mobilization decree, all contracts are automatically extended. If a soldier were to terminate the contract early (should that become possible), he would have to finish the required year of statutory military service, with two days of contract service counting as only one day of statutory service. Furthermore, under Russian law, initial military contracts are signed for two or three years, the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel notes.
In the city of Tambov, students at the Institute of Law and National Security of Tambov State University were enrolled in UAV operator training courses held from March 30 to April 7, 2026. The Movement of Conscientious Objectors, a human rights organization supporting those who refuse to perform military service, published the course schedule, which included tactical medicine, instruction on the use of drones in wartime and practical flight sessions. The final stage of the program took place at the Avangard Youth Military-Patriotic Training Center under a barracks-style regime. According to the Movement of Conscientious Objectors, the university is making participation effectively mandatory, despite the fact that the program is not part of the official curriculum and is not required by law. The Doxa online student magazine has identified some of the instructors involved in these courses.
In the Kurgan region, local residents are being summoned to draft offices, with some men receiving SMS notifications rather than formal draft notices. These messages are being sent even to those who have already completed their statutory military service. When they report to the draft office, officials are adding mobilization orders to their military ID documents.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
The case concerning the death of conscript Danila Minyailo, who died in the summer of 2025 at a military unit on Sakhalin from heatstroke and dehydration, was closed after eight months. According to fellow conscripts, during basic training they were forced to drill for several days in temperatures of +35°C without being given water. On July 7, Minyailo was taken to hospital, fell into a coma and died later that same day. The command was unable to explain the cause of his death to his relatives. Following the incident, a criminal case for negligence was opened against M. Borovikov, who had been conducting the training exercises. In the end, however, the investigator ruled that there was insufficient evidence of guilt on the part of M. M. Borovikov and the other individuals involved, and the case was closed.
In the Moscow Military District, 21-year-old conscript Rafael Karabakhchyan was recorded as a contract soldier after his signature was forged. Karabakhchyan was drafted in November 2025 and assigned to the 252nd Motorized Rifle Regiment. On Nov. 3, while he was still at home, and again on Nov. 11, while he was in a medical unit, two written requests were submitted in his name expressing a desire to switch to contract service. The signatures on these documents do not match Karabakhchyan’s passport signature, and the handwriting also differs. On Jan. 6, headquarters of the Moscow Military District stated that those responsible in the unit had been identified and would face disciplinary action, and that Karabakhchyan would be allowed to terminate the contract. However, on Jan. 12, 2026, a subordinate unit responded that the contract had been signed voluntarily and lawfully.
Twenty-eight-year-old conscript Emil Zhenishbekov from Krasnoyarsk, who had previously reported that his signature on a contract was forged, is being sent to the frontline. Zhenishbekov, drafted in April 2025, says his commander offered him a position as a driver. He agreed, after which he was made to write a request for transfer. A month later, he learned from his commanders that he had been registered as a contract soldier. His mother was shown a copy of a document he had not signed, and an independent examination confirmed that the signature was not his. However, the court refused to take this into account, citing testimony from his commanders. Zhenishbekov also reported threats from officers, and his lawyer has appealed the ruling. His term of conscript service was due to end on April 8, but instead of being demobilized, he was taken from his unit under the pretext of a trip to Abakan and transported to a training range in Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk region. He is expected to undergo a week of training there before being sent to the front. According to Zhenishbekov, he is prepared to face a prison sentence for refusing to fight, but this is being ignored by his commanders.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Tula Garrison Military Court sentenced 46-year-old contract soldier Sergey Kosarikhin to six years in prison on charges of causing grievous bodily harm. According to the verdict, in August 2025, during a gathering, he got into an argument with guests and stabbed a pregnant woman in the stomach, causing her to lose the child. Kosarikhin had previously been convicted multiple times. He is believed to have signed a contract with the MoD while serving in a penal colony. During the war, he was taken prisoner and later exchanged in February 2024.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced a 42-year-old contract soldier, Muraz Salimov, a father of five, to eight years in prison on three counts of going AWOL. In 2024, he received a three-year probation sentence for his first unauthorized absence. He was later charged with two additional, similar offenses. In one instance, he was absent from his unit for more than a month before voluntarily reporting back to a commandant’s office.
In Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic], six convicts escaped from a train en route to the frontline. The incident occurred on April 8 during a brief stop of a Tomsk-Adler train in the village of Ibresi. The convicts, who had previously signed contracts with the MoD, shattered a window in a secured train car and fled; one of them reportedly injured his leg in the process. Authorities said the escapees might be armed with bladed weapons, and law enforcement officers were searching nearby localities. Reports of the escape were initially published the same day by the administrations of several settlements, but were later deleted. Similar information was subsequently circulated by pro-Kremlin Telegram channels. The Federal Penitentiary Service said that "no escapes from penal institutions or during transport have been permitted." There have been no reports of the fugitives’ capture.
In Moscow, a 28-year-old foreign national was detained and charged with committing an act of terror. According to investigators, acting on instructions from handlers who promised him 100,000 rubles [$1,270], he set fire to a locomotive cab at a depot at the Mark station in the northern part of the city. Depot workers extinguished the blaze, and no injuries were reported. The man was placed in a pre-trial detention center.
In the Tomsk region, two local minors were detained on suspicion of committing an act of sabotage. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the young men set fire to railway relay cabinets on the instructions of Ukrainian intelligence services.
In Saint Petersburg, a 16-year-old teenager was detained in connection with a terrorist attack case. He is suspected of carrying out several arson attacks on railway cabinets along the section between Toksovo and Novoye Devyatkino stations.
Also in Saint Petersburg, a criminal case was opened against a local resident suspected of illegally exporting military goods and technology. According to the FSB, he attempted to transfer components for repairing diesel generators used in Project "Varshavyanka" submarines to a foreign national. The destination country has not been disclosed. The man was placed in a pre-trial detention center, and authorities have not disclosed his place of employment.
The FSB reported the detention of a resident of Chita born in 1960 in a treason case. He had previously worked as a freelance correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The detainee is likely 65-year-old journalist Aleksandr Andreyev, a correspondent for Kasparov.Ru, a contributor to MBKh Media and a former head of the regional branch of the "Western Choice" party. According to investigators, the man intended to assist the Ukrainian side and joined a Telegram group allegedly controlled by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). He then shared information about a critical infrastructure facility for the purpose of enabling malicious cyber operations. Ukrainian intelligence services allegedly used this data to carry out cyberattacks, which temporarily disrupted the regional authorities’ ability to perform their duties. The court ordered that the man be placed in a pre-trial detention center.
The FSB has reported launching a criminal case for treason against Aleksandra (Sakha) Mangubi, a resident of Russian-annexed Crimea. According to investigators, Mangubi was gathering intelligence on military facilities, air defense systems and ship movement in the Kerch Strait. She then transmitted this information to Ukrainian intelligence representatives via Telegram. She is also accused of helping to coordinate an attack on the Russian port of Kavkaz. Mangubi allegedly received money for collecting the information. She was detained in November 2024, but her relatives did not know of her whereabouts until the fall of 2025, when it was revealed that she was being held in a pre-trial detention center in Simferopol. In February 2026, a Russian-established "court" ordered Mangubi's arrest on treason charges.
A court in Stavropol has fined Aleksandr Kornilov 40,000 rubles [$510] for failing to report a crime. According to investigators, Kornilov was aware that his acquaintance was trying to persuade him to join the Freedom of Russia Legion and later joined the group himself, but Kornilov did not inform law enforcement. He explained his silence by saying that the accused was his only friend and that he feared both losing him and potential retaliation if he reported him. His acquaintance, Pol Lukashevich, has recently been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for participating in the activities of a terrorist organization, aiding terrorism, treason and inciting extremism.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Viktor Kucherov, a resident of the Rostov region, to 12 years in prison on charges of attempting to join a terrorist organization and preparing to commit treason. According to investigators, on May 29, 2024, Kucherov submitted an application to join the Freedom of Russia Legion while at his home in the city of Shakhty and received a positive response the same day. From May 29 to July 11, 2024, Kucherov studied the optimal and safest route to travel to Ukraine through Belarus and Poland. On July 12, he arrived in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and on July 15, he was detained by the Belarusian KGB officers conducting "preventive measures." After that, Kucherov, still intending to join the Freedom of Russia Legion, returned to Russia. On July 29, he arrived in Rostov-on-Don, where he was detained by law enforcement officers.
The 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced Maksim Cherskov, a 38-year-old resident of Morshansk in the Tambov region, to 18 years in prison on charges of treason, public calls for extremism and financing terrorism. According to investigators, in February 2023, he passed information to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate about the location of Russian troops and military equipment. He was also accused of posting comments calling for "violent actions" against Russian service members. The FSB further alleged that he transferred money to "one of the pro-Ukrainian terrorist organizations banned in Russia," without specifying which one.
A court in Russia’s Krasnodar region sentenced a native of Crimea, whose name was not disclosed, to 17 years in a maximum security penal colony on treason charges. According to investigators, the man, who held both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship, intercepted radio conversations involving Russian intelligence services and guards at a "strategic enterprise" in the Krasnodar region, recorded them and passed the information to Ukrainian intelligence. No other details of the case were disclosed.
A Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region sentenced 55-year-old Natalia Povetkina from the Skadovsk district to 12 years in a penal colony on treason charges. According to prosecutors, in early May 2023, Povetkina collected information about the location of Russian military equipment and troops, which was then passed to a "handler" affiliated with Ukrainian intelligence.
Children and Militarization
Russia plans to extend "patriotic" programming to preschools. Starting on Sept. 1, 2026, kindergartens will begin holding classes called "Kind Games" for children over five, focusing on "spiritual and moral values."
Assistance
Authorities in the Altai Republic are introducing administrative penalties for employers who refuse to hire war veterans under an established quota: companies with 100 or more employees are required to reserve 1.2% of their workforce for this purpose. Since the quota was introduced, 32 people have been hired under it. Officials who fail to comply now face fines of up to 10,000 rubles [$130], while legal entities face fines of up to 25,000 rubles [$320]. The Altai Republic will thus become at least the tenth region to impose such penalties. The quotas themselves are in effect in nearly 30 of Russia's federal subjects.
A bill on employment quotas for participants in the invasion has been submitted to the State Council of Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan. Under the proposed legislation, employers with more than 200 employees would be required to set aside 1% of their average workforce. According to the explanatory note, the measure would affect 875 employers.
In Norilsk, the Federal Penitentiary Service enlisted minors sentenced to non-custodial punishments to manufacture camouflage nets for the Russian army.
Longreads
The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet investigated how war veterans are being ushered into positions of power and whether the much-touted "career elevator" for the new elite is actually working.