Mobilization in Russia for April 16-17, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

Military personnel who served in areas along the Russia-Ukraine border inside Russia would be granted combat veteran status if a bill approved by the Federation Council [upper house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] would be signed into law. The measure applies to troops, including conscripts, engaged in what the legislation describes as "protecting Russia’s frontier and countering armed provocations." The status would be granted retroactively for service performed since Feb. 24, 2022, and would also entitle personnel wounded during such missions to disabled war veteran status. The Cabinet would set the final list of territories.

The Federation Council also approved a bill that would extend the validity of draft board decisions to one year. Earlier, legislators in the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly] had stripped out a retroactivity clause, meaning the new rules would not apply to decisions made during the fall 2024 conscription campaign. The bill would also exempt from conscription individuals who served in the armed formations of the "DPR" and "LPR," as well as anyone who fought with them since May 11, 2014.

A group of senators introduced a bill in the State Duma that would extend university admission benefits currently provided to children of war participants to stepdaughters and stepsons whom service members raise and support.

Conscription Campaign

Reports of young men being detained during Russia’s ongoing spring conscription campaign continue to surface. According to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel, roundups are being conducted in the Moscow metro, where conscripts are tracked via surveillance cameras, taken directly from train cars and detained—often without proper verification of their documents or in disregard of existing medical exemptions. Once detained, the young men are taken to police stations. In some cases, they are released, but in others, they are transferred to the military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street.

One such case involves 21-year-old Yaroslav Slepov, who was detained directly in a metro car. He is registered with a psychiatrist and is supposed to be undergoing treatment in a day hospital due to conditions stemming from a head injury. Yaroslav has been diagnosed with epilepsy, experiences panic attacks and suffers from uncontrollable episodes of aggression. Following his detention, police cited an "order from above" and took him to a police station. While in police custody, he suffered two medical episodes. Although paramedics were called, his parents were not allowed to take him home. Ultimately, Yaroslav was taken to the military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street, where he was reportedly beaten. He has now spent two days at the collection point, where he was subjected to a medical evaluation and assigned service fitness category "B" (fit for military service with minor restrictions). According to his family, police continue to bring in new detainees to the Ugreshskaya facility, where a crowd of conscripts’ parents has begun gathering outside the entrance.

Another young man, 20-year-old student Yegor Pishchulin, was also detained in the Moscow metro. A student at the Moscow State University of Technologies and Management, Yegor has asthma. He was taken directly to a draft office. According to an acquaintance, back when he was in college, his preliminary military registration certificate listed him as service fitness category "V" (partially fit for military service). However, after enrolling in university and visiting the draft office, he was reassessed and reclassified as category "B." Believing this to be an incorrect medical determination, Yegor filed a lawsuit against the draft board. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Another case of detention was reported by the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel. On April 16, 25-year-old Ilya was detained at the exit of a metro station, taken to a police station and then transferred to the Moscow military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street. Prior to this, he had only received an electronic draft notice for a military service register data check-up scheduled for March 25, and no other conscription-related procedures had been carried out. Since his detention, he has remained at the collection point without undergoing any diagnostic tests or medical examinations. There has been no contact with him.

The Movement of Conscientious Objectors [a human rights organization supporting those who refuse to perform military service] also reported several additional cases of detentions in Moscow (1, 2). In some instances, detainees were successfully "rescued." A volunteer with the Movement told The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] how the conscription delivery process operates—a process that, according to human rights advocates, directly violates the law—and explained what to do in case of detention. Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has also published a guide for conscripts.

Timofey Vaskin, a lawyer with the human rights organization Shkola Prizyvnika [Conscript School], also reported a significant rise in detentions. According to him, during the entire previous draft cycle, human rights groups received just under 100 verified complaints. In the past two days alone, they have already received 10. Vaskin noted that most young men are being detained in the Moscow metro system, where facial recognition technology is highly effective and police officers are stationed at every platform.

The independent human rights project OVD-Info has also published a report on why draft offices have intensified pressure on potential conscripts, and how military service is increasingly being used as a tool of repression. In our previous sitrep, we covered the first documented roundups and detentions.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

The Sverdlovsk regional government has recommended that the rector of the Ural Federal University send students who fail their exams to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense. This proposal was revealed in a letter from Deputy Education Minister Yevgeny Biryuk, published by an independent student union. The initiative to recruit at universities came from regional military commissar Colonel Yury Aksyonov and is intended for implementation in "higher education institutions" throughout the Sverdlovsk region. Under the plan, universities would not expel failing students but instead grant them academic leave with the option of reinstatement after military service.

In Tyumen, law enforcement officers conducted a citywide raid searching for draft dodgers and immigration law violators. The roundup resulted in the identification of eight individuals who had not registered for military service, three of whom were conscription age men. They were taken to draft offices for registration. Between January and April 2025, a total of 216 naturalized citizens have been registered for military service.

The chief military commissar of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region, Mikhail Torovin, explained the authorities' decision to reduce the payment for signing military contracts from 3.1 million to 1.9 million rubles [from $37,500 to $23,000] by stating that "the budget has its limits."

Albert Kononov, head of the contract military service recruitment facility in Russia’s constituent Republic of Udmurtia, reported that most people wanting to join the army come from rural areas. The majority of contract soldiers, he noted, are men around 40 years old.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

On April 16, Sergey Fyodorov, a serviceman of the 11th Tank Brigade, while intoxicated, opened fire on fellow soldiers near the village of Prilesye in the Belgorod region. He then threw grenades into a dugout and fled with an assault rifle. One of his fellow soldiers, 50-year-old Andrey Osokin, was killed, and 54-year-old Mikhail Gorlov was wounded. Fyodorov was later detained.

The Ufa Garrison Military Court has sentenced serviceman Vladimir Zamalyuk from Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic] to 23 years in prison on charges of murder, violence against a superior officer, going AWOL and desertion. The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet found that a person with the same full name as Zamalyuk had previously been convicted multiple times, including for double murder. His most recent sentence was issued in 2018, when he was sentenced to 21 years and one month in a maximum security penal colony. It is likely that he was released early in exchange for joining the war.

An inspector with the Federal Penitentiary Service in Russia’s Krasnodar region has been charged with abuse of authority, bribery and fraud. According to investigators, the inspector, together with accomplices, forced a local resident to sign a contract with the MoD and go to the war. As a result, approximately 1.7 million rubles [$20,500] was stolen from the serviceman’s bank account.

In January, a court in Moscow placed 14-year-old schoolboy Danila Rogozhin to pre-trial detention on charges of terrorism. The charges stem from an arson attack on a relay cabinet and an incident in which a bottle filled with a flammable liquid was thrown into a window of the Vnukovo district administration building in Moscow. According to Eva Merkacheva, a member of Russia's Presidential Human Rights Council, the boy had been deceived by fraudsters. The perpetrators initially introduced themselves as Ministry of Education employees, and later as Federal Security Service (FSB) agents. Danila was coerced into handing over his parents' money to a taxi driver and throwing the bottle of flammable liquid at the administration building. While Danila was carrying out another task—setting fire to a relay cabinet—the fraudsters contacted his parents and demanded 500,000 rubles [$6,040] for his safe return. The family called the police, and Danila was found in a forest and subsequently arrested. According to the Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet, Danila's mother, 54-year-old Marina Rogozhina, regularly participates in round tables at the State Duma as president of the National Association of Metaphysical Practices. She told journalists that she is trying to influence the course of the investigation and has already succeeded in getting the investigator replaced. However, on April 15, the court rejected the appeal against Danila's arrest.

In Moscow, 31-year-old Tsetsendelger Tegshee, a vocal soloist with the Tyva State Philharmonic, has been detained on espionage charges. On Jan. 29, court sent him to pre-trial detention, although no details of the case have been disclosed. Originally from Mongolia, Tegshee likely holds Mongolian citizenship and has been performing with the Tyva State Philharmonic since 2018. His wife has denied the detention, claiming that he had simply gone to visit his parents and would soon get in touch.

The FSB has detained a resident of Russian-occupied Luhansk accused of preparing an act of terror against Oleg Popov, a member of the "People's Council" of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic. According to investigators, the man was acting under orders from Ukrainian intelligence services. He was reportedly detained while preparing an attack on Popov. He has been charged with treason, undergoing training for the purpose of committing terrorist acts, preparing an act of terror and the illegal acquisition and possession of explosives.

The FSB has issued an official warning toa Novosibirsk woman, accusing her of engaging in prohibited activity after she transferred funds to Ukraine. She had been providing financial assistance to an acquaintance residing in Ukraine, who later redirected the money to the Russian Volunteer Corps. However, authorities did not press criminal charges against the Novosibirsk resident, citing the absence of criminal intent.

The Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of Vladislav Poruchikov, a 22-year-old student from Taganrog, who was sentenced to nine years in a maximum security penal colony. He was convicted of attempted treason and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization for trying to join the Freedom of Russia Legion. Investigators claim that in May 2023, Poruchikov traveled to Georgia to apply for membership in the Legion. After returning to Russia, he reportedly attempted to reach a gathering point in the Belgorod region on June 2 but was detained for intoxication. Following a second detention near the border, he was charged with terrorism.

A court in Tula has sentenced election observer Ivan Surov, affiliated with the Golos movement for voters’ rights, to 12.5 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason. According to the FSB, on Feb. 24, 2022, Surov made a transfer to an unnamed foundation that was allegedly involved in raising funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Southern District Military Court has sentenced 34-year-old Ihor Tsap, a native of the Kherson region, to 14 years in prison in a case related to an attempted terrorist attack and the possession of an explosive device. According to the prosecution, as of February 2024, while in the Kherson region, Tsap had allegedly planned to use a grenade to blow up Russian military equipment.

The Southern District Military Court has sentenced Ukrainian serviceman Vladyslav Hurin to 12 years of imprisonment on charges of committing a terrorist attack and attempting to steal or extort weapons, ammunition and explosives. Hurin was mobilized into the AFU in May 2024 and was captured in August of the same year. He served in the 5th Kyiv Brigade, which in 2023 incorporated the Aidar Battalion, recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia.

Several media outlets have analyzed data from the Judicial Department of the Russian Supreme Court for 2024. According to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], over the past year, Russian courts issued 13 verdicts in sabotage cases involving minors aged 14-17. According to the Takiye Dela [So It Goes] media outlet, every fifth defendant in such cases was a minor—an unprecedented trend before the war. The number of sentences for young adults aged 18-24, reaching 24 cases in 2024. Typically, young people are prosecuted for arson attacks on relay cabinets or military vehicles.

Vazhnyye Istorii and the Vyorstka media outlet established that in 2024, Russia hit a record number of convictions under articles related to treason, espionage and the disclosure of state secrets. A total of 156 people were convicted for treason—four times more than in 2023 and almost ten times more than in 2022. Among those sentenced were seven women and four teenagers, including 17-year-old Kevin Lik, who became the first minor convicted under this article. Twenty-four people were convicted of espionage in 2024, compared to only one in 2022 and nine in 2023. An additional 21 people were convicted under the new article on "confidential cooperation with a foreign state," introduced after the full-scale invasion began. A further 209 people were sentenced for disclosure of state secrets—an increase of 33% compared to 2023. The majority of those convicted of treason were young people, with 40 individuals aged under 30. These statistics were analyzed in detail by the OVD-Info project.

Vazhnyye Istorii has uncovered information from the Judicial Department on violent crimes committed by military personnel. In 2024, Russian courts convicted 134 servicemen of murder. Among them, 64 were sentenced under the second part of the criminal code article covering the murder of two or more individuals—including minors or pregnant women. By comparison, 116 military personnel were convicted of murder in 2023, while only 13 were convicted in 2022. The number of servicemen convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm that resulted in death also nearly doubled year-over-year, rising from 36 in 2023 to 65 in 2024.

In 2024, 924 people were convicted under the article for evading regular conscription. As Vyorstka reported, with nearly all sentenced to fines. The overwhelming majority (880 people) received fines ranging from 5,000 rubles [$60] to 100,000 rubles [$1,210], with only 21 people fined more than 100,000 rubles [$1,210]. The total amount of fines amounted to approximately 37 million rubles [$446,700]. One conscript was acquitted, criminal charges were dropped against 34 others, one person was sentenced to compulsory medical treatment, and another to compulsory labor. Five people were given suspended sentences. As in 2023, none of those convicted for evading conscription in 2024 received a prison sentence. Of those convicted, 90% were between the ages of 18 and 24, and the remaining 10% were between 25 and 29. However, 2024 did not break the record for the number of draft dodgers convicted. In 2023 and 2022, the numbers were higher—958 and 1,139, respectively. In both those years, only one person was sentenced to actual imprisonment.

From January to March 2025, Russian courts handed down 151 convictions for desertion, compared to just 68 during the first three months of 2024. The majority of these convictions were heard by the Kursk Garrison Military Court. In the first quarter of 2025, 1,656 people were convicted of going AWOL, up from 1,578 in the same period the previous year. A total of 7,097 such convictions were issued in 2024, compared to around 4,000 in 2023. Notably, the processing time for these cases has decreased significantly. In the first quarter of 2024, the average time from case initiation to verdict was 92 days. By early 2025, that figure had dropped to just 44 days.

In 2024, over 17,400 civil lawsuits seeking to have individuals declared deceased or missing were filed in Russian courts, nearly tripling the number from 2023 and marking the highest figure recorded since at least 2010. The number of satisfied claims also rose significantly, with 10,000 of 11,000 cases ruled on being approved. By comparison, in 2023, courts satisfied 4,100 such lawsuits out of 4,900 considered.

From 2022 to 2024, Russian and foreign nationals were fined a total of 274.8 million rubles [$3,317,640] through misdemeanor and criminal charges related to discrediting the Armed Forces and disseminating military "fakes," according to Vyorstka. In 2024 alone, police brought 2,224 cases on charges of discrediting the Armed Forces to courts, involving 1,805 Russian and foreign citizens. This marks a decrease from the previous year, when over 3,000 such cases reached the courts. A total of 90 individuals faced prosecution for spreading "fakes" about the army, with two-thirds receiving actual prison sentences. Nearly all those prosecuted in 2024 were fined, with the total amount reaching 56.6 million rubles [$683,300].

A job fair for "vacancies and employment adaptation for participants of the special military operation" was held in the city of Yekaterinburg. All companies present at the event reported having no job openings for soldiers who lost limbs in combat. Common requests from job seekers included salaries ranging from 100,000 rubles [$1,210] to 250,000 rubles [$3,020], which employers called "unrealistic." Meanwhile, United Russia [Putin’s ruling party] has developed a program aimed at accelerating training and employment for war veterans in IT-related professions.

Children and Educational System

The Ministry of Education of Chuvashia [Russia's constituent republic] will spend 23 million rubles [$277,700] to purchase weapon and ammunition models for 202 schools across the republic.

The state-sponsored Movement of the First has allocated grants worth almost 1.5 billion rubles [$18.11 million] to fund dozens of military-related events and train schoolchildren in drone operation. Additionally, the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives will distribute 1 billion rubles [$12.07 million] to promote traditional values and glorify war veterans through music projects aimed at youth audiences.

Miscellaneous

According to the governor of the Yaroslavl region, in 2024, the region spent more than 4.3 billion rubles [$51.91 million] on needs related to the "special military operation." Of this amount, 2.3 billion rubles [$27.77 million] were spent as payments and social support for contract soldiers and their families, and another 1.6 billion rubles [$19.32 million] were allocated for delivering aid to the frontline.

Longreads

According to Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty], schools in southern Russia and the North Caucasus have begun large-scale preparations for the introduction of military training lessons.

The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet has published a series on the Chuvash "national battalions." The first article focuses on the Atal Battalion, compiling all currently known information about it.