Mobilization in Russia for April 17-20, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly], said that the bill permitting stateless individuals to enlist in the Armed Forces targets people from Ukraine’s occupied territories who have lost their Ukrainian citizenship, and residents of European countries who move to Russia and allegedly "face citizenship revocation."
Conscription Campaign
A young man recounted his experience at the Moscow military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel. Last year, military authorities had refused to extend his draft deferral "for exceeding the study period," so he appealed the decision in court. Before his case could be heard, however, law enforcement officers detained him at a metro station and took him to the military collection point. They continued to bring in new conscripts through the night, with the headcount reaching 46 within twenty‑four hours. Officials kept everyone inside the main building until morning and then marched them to a barracks. A medical board operated in a neighboring building, but many men refused the exam, prompting officials to isolate them. Eventually, officials handed the young man a draft notice dated after his court hearing and let him go, while dozens of others remained. In some cases, officials sent the conscripts to begin their military service on the same day, even though their draft notices scheduled their deployment for two weeks later.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Tyumen region Governor Aleksandr Moor raised the regional sign-up bonus for contracts with the Ministry of Defense to 1.9 million rubles [$23,100], up from the 1.6 million rubles [$19,450] set in October 2024. When combined with the federal component of 400,000 rubles [$4,870], individuals who enlist in the region now receive 2.3 million rubles [$28,000].
Law enforcement officers in the Novosibirsk region raided a shopping complex, checked 72 individuals, and took 17 to a draft office for military registration. Officers staged another roundup in Omsk, screened 50 people, and served draft notices to 16 individuals who had acquired Russian citizenship but had not yet registered for military service.
Belgorod city Mayor Valentin Demidov has announced that he will be joining the BARS-Belgorod volunteer unit as a volunteer fighter, effective April 21. According to the official, he intends to undergo training in field conditions alongside other fighters, believing that such experience will prove beneficial in his workplace. Previously, other officials from Belgorod have been recruited for service in the BARS-Belgorod, with many returning to their prior positions shortly after.
Anastasia Potorochina, a former psychiatrist at the prison tuberculosis hospital No. 19 in Rostov-on-Don, has submitted an application to enter into a contract with the MoD. She can take on the role of a military doctor, as she has a military specialty. In January 2024, Potorochina was sentenced to five years in a penal colony. Between 2018 and 2020, employees of the psychiatric department of the regional prison hospital were involved in the torture of prisoners deemed undesirable by the administration, subjecting them to prolonged restraints on their beds. More than 40 individuals have been recognized as victims in this case, with at least two confirmed deaths. The prosecution alleges that Potorochina falsified information in medical records to conceal evidence of the torture.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 103,275 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 11,950 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 1,392 soldiers, 166 of whom were mobilized. Journalists have noted that during the two and a half months of negotiations between Russia and the United States, more obituaries of Russian soldiers were published than in the previous three months of hostilities. In February, an average of 234 obituaries were published daily, which is one and a half times more than the average for the entire 2024.
The Astra Telegram channel has obtained a detailed version of a list of Russian conscripts who were killed during the war with Ukraine, compiled by the Ukrainian Khochu Nayti [I Want to Find] project. The list contains 218 names, 22 of which Astra has verified. Notably, it includes at least one conscript—Roman Akimov—who signed a contract for military service. According to the Khochu Nayti project, the list also includes conscripts who died by suicide as well as those who were "beaten to death by fellow soldiers." However, the accuracy of the reported causes of death remains unclear.
Russia and Ukraine have announced a prisoner of war exchange. A total of 246 Russian service members returned to Russia, while Ukraine received 246 personnel from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard Forces, and the Border Guard Service. Additionally, a separate exchange involving wounded soldiers took place: 31 Ukrainian servicemen returned to Ukraine, and 15 wounded personnel were returned to Russia.
Members of the Union of Veterans of North Ossetia–Alania [Russia's constituent republic] have appealed to the head of the republic, Sergey Menyaylo, requesting an investigation into why a mobilized man, Dzate Mamitov, was sent to the frontline in an assault brigade despite having an untreated leg injury, being blind in one eye, and missing two toes. Mamitov had served in the 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade. On July 4, 2024, he sustained a severe injury and was hospitalized in Moscow. Afterwards, he was attached to a military unit stationed in Vladikavkaz. A medical evaluation board at his place of residence deemed him temporarily unfit for service due to his leg not healing properly and showing signs of infection. Nevertheless, on April 10, representatives of his former brigade reportedly arrived in Vladikavkaz and forcibly took Mamitov back to the frontline. His sister went in search of him in the combat zone, but has not been able to obtain any information from the command. His whereabouts remain unknown, and there has been no contact with him.
The command has returned 30-year-old serviceman Aleksey Voroshilov to duty, despite his having been elected head of a settlement in the Irkutsk region. Voroshilov won the election in September 2024, but was recalled to his unit in December, as there were reportedly no grounds to release him from military service. He returned to the frontline on Feb. 26. Currently, Aleksey Voroshilov is still officially listed as the head of the settlement’s administration, both in official documents and on the settlement’s website. He has been fighting since 2022, though it remains unclear whether he was mobilized or signed a military contract.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
A serviceman from the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, Ruslan Safin, who committed a double murder in the Belgorod region, has been placed in a pre-trial detention center. Prosecutors allege that Safin stabbed his drinking companions after they had fallen asleep. Authorities have not officially identified him as military personnel, stating only that he was in Stary Oskol "for work purposes."
Two war veterans who tortured 23-year-old Vadim Vashchenko from Stavropol to death have been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm resulting in death by negligence. Vashchenko’s mother is demanding that the charges be upgraded to murder. According to her, investigators chose the lesser charge because her son died after being carried to a garage following six hours of torture. The assailants had accused him of stealing a phone and were reportedly under the influence of drugs at the time.
The Abakan Garrison Military Court has ordered the arrest of a corporal in the Russian Armed Forces on suspicion of murder, with detention set until June 22. According to the Siberian Express news outlet, the soldier got into a conflict with an acquaintance in the village of Kaa-Khem near Kyzyl and struck him in the head with an axe, killing him instantly.
In Russia's constituent republic of Sakha (Yakutia), a serviceman named Alexandr Titov has been detained on suspicion of committing lewd acts against his former 15-year-old stepdaughter. A criminal case has been opened.
In Saint Petersburg, a 45-year-old Azerbaijani citizen who had signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense was arrested after stabbing his 31-year-old drinking companion during an alcohol-fueled argument. The victim is currently in intensive care. Police later discovered that the man had been declared wanted earlier in the spring in connection with a case of going AWOL.
Rustam Kara-Sal from the Krasnoyarsk region, accused of a knife attack, signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense but fled before reaching the frontline. According to case materials, in August 2024, Kara-Sal stabbed his two drinking companions with a knife. A case was opened against him under the article for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm using a weapon. Initially, Kara-Sal was held in a pre-trial detention center, but he was released on recognizance. On April 10, Kara-Sal did not appear at a scheduled court hearing, and his lawyer stated that he had signed a contract and allegedly gone to war. However, it seems he never began military service, and the court is now trying to determine his whereabouts and whether he is really a serviceman.
As reported by Fontanka [pro-Russian media outlet of the Leningrad region], citing a source, the bodies of two servicemen—a conscript and a contract soldier—were found in a military unit near Saint Petersburg. According to preliminary data, the servicemen died from a single shot, with both sustaining fatal neck wounds: one had a through wound, while the bullet remained in the soft tissues of the other. Investigators are establishing the cause of the incident. One version suggests the conscript attempted suicide, and the contract soldier tried to intervene, dying second. A second version points to an accidental discharge while reloading the weapon. A third possible cause is hazing.
In the Tula region, 28-year-old boxer Kirill Slepchenko, who returned from the war, was sentenced to one year and one month in a penal colony on charges of an assault inflicting grievous bodily harm. According to journalists, in the summer of 2024, 28-year-old Slepchenko assaulted his acquaintance at a barbecue. Doctors diagnosed the victim with injuries. After the verdict, Slepchenko was released, as the court considered his sentence served, taking into account the time he spent in pre-trial detention during the investigation and trial. Previously, in 2021, he was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for assaulting a person with a second-degree disability, who subsequently died. While in custody, Slepchenko signed a contract and went to war.
Around a hundred soldiers, previously accused of going AWOL, attempted to escape from a military commandant's office in Krasnodar. It is reported that the group of soldiers had been held in a designated area on the base and tried to leave. According to the Baza Telegram channel, they broke through a fence and left the secure zone. Preliminary reports indicate that the soldiers were unarmed and that no one was killed or wounded. Local residents reported a heavy presence of law enforcement officers in the city and street closures, with police inspecting vehicles. Seven soldiers managed to escape, Baza reported. It is also stated that four of them were soon apprehended, and descriptions of three others were circulated. According to Mediazona, two of the escapees—39-year-old Aleksey Girev from the Kamchatka region and 37-year-old Igor Leonov from Adygea—had previously appeared in police databases: Girev was wanted for car theft, and Leonov was facing charges for going AWOL. Later reports indicated that all the escapees had been captured. However, there has been no official confirmation of the escape or the arrests. Astra spoke to the relative of one of the detained soldiers and the lawyer of two others. According to them, the incident occurred because some soldiers had been released from the base in exchange for money but failed to return, which angered the others leading to a riot. They also shared that the soldiers are living in tents, even in freezing temperatures. According to the lawyer, some soldiers have been there for over six months and are not receiving medical assistance. Following the incident, an internal investigation is taking place at the tent camp. Astra and the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reached out to acquaintances of Aleksey Girev, who revealed that Girev had enlisted in the war from a penal colony in 2024, was soon injured, and hospitalized. He chose not to return to the front lines, saying that former convicts are "recklessly thrown into the meat grinder, where survival is impossible," and escaped from the hospital. He managed to hide for a while, but was eventually found and sent to the Krasnodar commandant's office.
The Kursk Regional Duma has prematurely terminated the powers of legislative assembly member Maksim Vasilyev, who had previously been to the war. Vasilyev was detained on suspicion of large-scale fraud and is being investigated for embezzlement in the construction of a defense line in the Kursk region, a case in which Aleksey Smirnov, former Governor of the Kursk region, and his deputy Aleksey Dedov were detained earlier. It was previously claimed that Vasiliev testified against Smirnov and Dedov, who were sent to a pre-trial detention center.
In Moscow, a 13-year-old schoolboy set fire to the door of a police station. It is reported that the child acted on the instructions of fraudsters.
In the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], a 35-year-old man attempted to set fire to the district bailiff office in Zabaykalsk. There were no casualties, and "investigative actions are being carried out" against the detainee.
Almost a year ago, in May 2024, the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow arrested 77-year-old Avubaker Magzhanov, former trade and economic representative of Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan in Finland, under the article on state treason, as Mediazona has found out. According to RT [Russia Today, a Russian state-controlled international news television network], the former trade representative was recruited by the Finnish security police, and after his retirement he settled in Cyprus, but continued to pass information about Russians in the country to Finnish intelligence services.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) reported the detention of a Belarusian citizen on suspicion of preparing an act of terror. He allegedly planned to carry out an explosion in Novorossiysk "to disrupt negotiations between Russia, the US, and Ukraine." According to law enforcement, he was recruited in December 2024 via a messaging app. The man provided the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with data on the location of Black Sea Fleet vessels and Russian soldiers in the Krasnodar region. Additionally, acting on instructions from his handlers, the young man allegedly retrieved a bomb from a stash, which he intended to use to blow up an unspecified administrative building in Novorossiysk.
Children and Educational System
Russian soldiers who took part in the so-called "Potok" operation in the Kursk region have appeared in schools to give a "lesson of courage," the Vyorstka media outlet has found. On March 28, soldier Arseny Provotorov visited School No. 36 in Stary Oskol with his wife, and on April 7, a soldier named Aleksandr held a "lesson of courage" at Kurgan's High School No. 19. The men spoke to the students about their combat experiences.
Miscellaneous
In one of Nizhny Novgorod's districts, a box filled with New Year's greetings to soldiers written by students at a local technical college was found dumped next to garbage bins. The college administration could not explain how this happened.
Longreads
The Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has released a documentary about the father of a conscript who ended up on the frontline and how he tried to get his son back from the combat zone.
The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet has published an article on how citizens of Kyrgyzstan are being recruited into the Russian army.