Mobilization in Russia for April 1-2, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Crocus City Hall Terrorist Attack
Law enforcement raids against migrants continued. In the city of Perm, authorities reported another such raid at the city market, which resulted in 192 individuals being taken to the police station, 137 of whom were foreign citizens.
In Moscow, the number of administrative cases against migrants has nearly doubled in the first week following the terrorist attack in Crocus City, as noted by the Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel. The courts have registered twice as many cases (1492) under the article on aliens violating entry or residence rules compared to the period from March 11 to 15 (757). In the first three weeks of March, the courts received an average of 208 such cases per day. After the terrorist attack, this number increased to 298 cases per day (a 43% increase). Earlier reports on the rise in the number of such cases were provided by BBC News Russian and Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet].
Authorities and Legislation
The State Duma has passed in its third and final reading a bill prohibiting the termination of employment of widows of war participants within one year of their death. According to the document, this restriction would cease to apply in cases where the woman remarries or repeatedly commits serious violations of labor discipline.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
At a meeting of the General Staff, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has reiterated that the Armed Forces will not use conscripts in the war against Ukraine. Nonetheless, they continue to deploy them to the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk border regions, where they are regularly wounded or killed.
Russia’s federal subjects continue to disclose their plans for the regular spring conscription campaign. In the Nizhny Novgorod region, authorities plan to call up more than 3,100 residents between April 1 and July 15, including 700 young men from the regional capital. 3,500 and over 4,000 conscripts are expected to be called up in the Samara and Sverdlovsk regions, respectively. Meanwhile, authorities in the Tyumen region have opened 15 positions for alternative civilian service, which can be performed in accredited enterprises or departments of the Ministry of Defense.
In the country’s capital, universities are asking students to approve the updated terms of use of the Moscow Card [social program initiated by the city government], which now stipulate that their personal data could be shared with the city’s draft offices. If a student fails to provide consent, the Moscow Social Registry [state organization operating the Unified Registry of Social Beneficiaries] would delete their data and block their cards. While the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science already had access to students’ personal data, the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel posits that the change could be linked to the creation of the digital register of Russians subject to military service.
The governor of the Rostov region has once again increased the payments to volunteer fighters who sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense to participate in the war. The amount of the one-time sign-up bonus will now be 700,000 rubles [$7,580], available to those who sign contracts from April 1, 2024. This applies to anyone who signs a contract in the Rostov region, regardless of their place of residence or registration. For those who decide to serve in the region's namesake battalion, the payment amount will reach 1,000,000 rubles [$10,800]. And for the mobilized soldiers and conscripts who want to sign a contract, the payment amount will be tripled to 300,000 rubles [$3,250]. In February, the regional authorities had already increased the payments from 300,000 [$3,250] to 500,000 rubles [$5,420].
The return of pardoned convicts from the "special military operation" "often causes public concern," admitted the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], Anton Vasiliev. He notes that victims of crimes and their relatives fear for their lives and the health and safety of their loved ones and property. Residents of the region are also concerned about the "lack of supervision over the pardoned convicts returning from the forward positions."
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Vitaly Kravchenko from the Belgorod region, as well as Mikhail Klyukin, Aleksandr Mukhyanov and Kirill Malafeev from the Sverdlovsk region.
In the Krasnodar region, a 51-year-old ex-serviceman with a brain injury has been struggling to receive a benefit he is entitled to by the Ministry of Defense for 18 months. In the summer of 2022, he signed a contract and deployed to the war zone, only to receive a severe head wound in a mortar attack two months later. Diagnosed with an open head injury at the hospital, he initially remained in service, but a few weeks later decided to leave the military due to health issues, such as severe headaches and persistent dizziness. As an injured war veteran, he is entitled to a compensation payout of three million rubles [$32,500] which he has been claiming for 18 months, but still to no avail.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In the city of Zhigulevsk in Samara region, a trial will be held soon against an ex-member of the Wagner Group accused of kidnapping. In July 2023, a 39-year-old man kidnapped a 9-year-old girl, assaulted her and held her captive in his summer cottage. According to investigators, the ex-mercenary lured the neighbor's daughter into his cottage by offering her ice cream. Once inside, he bet the girl. The offender was unable to provide a motive for his actions. Prior to joining the Wagner Group, he had been serving a prison sentence for causing grievous bodily harm leading to death and had also been known to have alcohol issues. Psychiatrists found him fit to stand trial.
A mobilized soldier who refused to return to active duty after receiving medical treatment was put on a federal wanted list and eventually detainedin Saint Petersburg. Having stopped the 41-year-old serviceman near a metro station for an identity check, law enforcement officials realized that he was wanted by the authorities. The senior reserve sergeant, who was mobilized in late September 2022, presumably failed to return to his unit after a medical leave. In December 2023, a criminal case was initiated against him for going AWOL.
Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev stated that since the beginning of the war with Ukraine, 483 people have been found connected to acts of arson at offices in Russia. BBC News Russian notes 134 terrorist cases on trial in Russia during 2023, three times the number for the previous year. Most of the cases are related to protests against the war in Ukraine and include, for example, preparations to set fire to draft offices or railroad relay cabinets.
Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] tallied 669 new people on the list of "terrorists and extremists" maintained by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring), a six-year record. People on the list include those suspected of conspiring to commit acts of terror as well as of "discrediting the Armed Forces." In the first three months of 2023, 480 people were added, compared to 378 in 2022. Notably, over the past decade, the number of underage "terrorists and extremists" has increased 3.5 times. In 2024, 17 adolescents under 18 were added to the list.
Assistance
Tatyana Makarova, a retiree from Chita, founded a group called "Svoikh ne brosayem [We don’t abandon our own] 75." Makarova’s workshop makes vests, thermal insoles, and foot liners. Workers there also assemble packages for the servicemen.
Children and Educational System
Governor of the Vladimir region Aleksandr Avdeyev informed that child athletes evacuated from the Belgorod region have been accommodated in the Vladimir region. According to him, 67 children and five accompanying adults have already arrived in the region.
Children from a kindergarten in Krasnoyarsk made drawings for a teacher’s husband who is serving at the front. The Krasnoyarsk mayor's office posted a photo of the bunker with children's drawings on the Telegram channel.
Starting from Sept. 1, 2024, a new subject called "Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland" will be introduced in schools in the Rostov region. According to Deputy Governor Vadim Artyomov, this new subject will replace the teaching of Fundamentals of Life Safety lessons and will focus more on basic military training and military-patriotic education.
Miscellaneous
Gennady Bondarev, head of the Graivoron district located on the border with Ukraine, addressed the surge in complaints of looting in abandoned homes due to shelling.
In Volgograd, a monument to the participants of the war with Ukraine will be erected at the foot of the iconic Motherland Calls monument in the Victory Memorial Park. On April 2, the governor, war participants, their relatives, activists, and officials arrived there to lay the foundation stone.
Employees of Russian military enterprises continue receivingfuneral wreaths from the unknown senders. The wreaths have a black ribbon with the inscription "From Raid" and a card with a "final warning" attached to them. The messages are addressed to employees of the Aeroscan production company, which manufactures UAVs.
Longreads
After Putin signed a law on the creation of a Cossack "mobilization reserve" on March 23, Cossacks living in Russia's southern regions and the North Caucasus will be required to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry. The Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities] media outlet examines the current deployment of Cossack forces on the front lines, and whether their numbers could change in the near future.