Mobilization in Russia for April 20-22, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Vladimir Putin signed several bills into law:
- A bill that extends the validity of draft board decisions to one year. It also exempts 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 bill that extends the list of criminal offenses punishable by confiscation of property to include spreading "fake news," calling for sanctions, or assisting in their implementation. Courts may now order the confiscation of assets if they find that a defendant committed one of these crimes for personal gain.
- A bill that broadens the grounds for adding individuals and organizations to the "foreign agent" register, extending the label to anyone who helps enforce decisions by international organizations. Additionally, it bars anyone on the list from any teaching or educational work.
- A bill that introduces penalties for failing to report sabotage-related activities.
- A bill that grants combat veteran status to military personnel who served in areas within Russia along the border with Ukraine.
Conscription Campaign
The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports that draft offices in Moscow are sending mass SMS messages to young men, threatening fines of up to 30,000 rubles [$370] and prosecution under the article for failing to appear after receiving a draft notice—despite the fact that many recipients never actually received any such notice in person. In some cases, individuals received notifications about a draft notice through the mos.ru portal. However, these notifications do not constitute official draft notices and have no legal force.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
The wife of a 43-year-old man from the city of Kirov claims that her husband was sent to war after someone forged his signature on a military contract. The man suffers from alcoholism and mental illness, including hallucinations. On Feb. 7, 2024, while intoxicated, he went to a contract service selection point and told his wife he wanted to enlist. After a brief medical evaluation board, he was sent home and was given no documents. The woman filed a lawsuit, and the court suspended both the contract and the results of the medical evaluation. When she requested a copy of the contract, she noticed that the signature looked notably different from her husband's. An independent handwriting analysis confirmed it was forged. On April 10, 2025, police detained the man and sent him to a military unit, where his phone was confiscated. He has not been in contact since. According to his lawyer, he is currently in the city of Samara awaiting assignment. The court hearing to review the appeal in his case is scheduled for April 28.
The Federal Bailiff Service in the Omsk region reported that a local resident signed a military contract in order to pay off his child support debt. The man had accumulated a debt of 400,000 rubles [$4,930], for which a court sentenced him to mandatory community service. After completing his required hours, he decided to enlist by signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Aman Malyshev, a 22-year-old conscript from Russia's constituent Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), has been killed near the border with Ukraine in the Bryansk region, as reported by his mother, Anna Malysheva. Another relative of the conscript said that he was serving in Ussuriysk, Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], in the 305th Artillery Brigade. In October 2024, after completing his training, he was sent to the border in the Bryansk region. Aman was expected to be transferred back to Ussuriysk in late April or early May, complete his statutory military service in June and return home. The circumstances surrounding the conscript's death remain undisclosed.
Aleksey Kuptsov, a 43-year-old mobilized soldier from Russia's constituent Republic of Buryatia, has been redeployed to the frontline after sustaining injuries, and suffered a stroke. In December 2022, Kuptsov suffered mine and shrapnel wounds that caused him to lose vision in one eye. After undergoing several surgeries and rehabilitation, he was returned to service in the military police to the town of Volnovakha in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine. In January 2024, he suffered a stroke while on duty. Kuptsov received treatment in hospitals until the summer of 2024, and on April 16, 2025, he passed away at home due to the consequences of his injuries and the stroke.
The Buryat Inform Polis news site, citing "verified sources," has reported that Dmitry Istomin, a former police officer who had been sentenced to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony for the murder of two young women in 2002, has died in Ukraine. In early April, news emerged about another convict in the young women's murder case dying in the war — former police officer Yevgeny Inkin, who had been sentenced to 17 years in a maximum security penal colony. Information that Inkin and his accomplice Dmitry Istomin had signed contracts with the MoD and left for the war a year after their sentencing became public in May 2024.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
A shooting incident occurred at a nightclub in Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk region, on April 20. One of the gunmen was war participant Vladimir Nechaev, who reportedly used military-grade weapons. According to media reports, Nechaev was supposed to be in a combat zone in Ukraine but had "temporarily left" his unit. The serviceman remains at large. Authorities have opened a case of hooliganism with use of weapons following the incident, which left two men with gunshot wounds to their legs. Nechaev had previously been mentioned in another criminal case involving a shooting at a Kamensk-Uralsky nightclub. In August 2023, he was involved in a conflict at the Joy club in which his friend, boxer Aleksandr Maksimov, was fatally shot and Nechaev himself sustained a stomach wound. The shooter in that incident, before receiving a verdict, signed a military contract and left for the war.
In the Irkutsk region, a criminal case is being initiated against the military commissar of the town of Tayshet for accepting bribes from conscripts. According to investigators, in 2024, the military commissar illegally issued a military ID for 250,000 rubles [$3,080] that included restrictions preventing the individual from regular biannual conscription. Additionally, for a bribe of 600,000 rubles [$7,390], he ordered the preparation of a falsified medical report to include information on the military ID that the individual was unfit for military service.
The head of the administrative and technical inspection department of the administration of the Nizhnekamsk district in Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan, Ildar Safiullin, has been charged with fraud for illegally receiving payments for war recruitment. On April 20, the court placed him under house arrest. According to investigators, the official received payments for recruiting two individuals. Those signing the contract wrote the official’s last name on the form, not knowing what it was for. As a result, Safiullin, who in fact had not conducted any recruitment, received 174,000 rubles [$2,140].
An unidentified individual set fire to the administration building of the Koshkinsky district in the Samara region. Although the arson took place during the night of April 19, the incident was only made public today. Furniture and equipment were destroyed in the Housing and Utilities Committee, and documents were also damaged. A criminal case has been opened for the deliberate destruction or damage of property, but the arsonist has not yet been identified.
The Sverdlovsk regional court has sentenced 27-year-old Yevgeny Varaksin, a resident of the town of Lesnoy, to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason. According to investigators, in April 2022, Varaksin was in Poland and transferred 100 zlotys (approximately 2,000 rubles [$25]) "to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine." He was not arrested until July 2024. According to the prosecutor, he partially admitted his guilt.
In Volgograd, the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a 34-year-old local resident who, according to law enforcement, was planning to seize the city hall and may have shared information with Ukraine about convicts sent to the frontlines. He is now facing charges of "confidential" cooperation with a foreign state. The FSB claims the man had established contact with organizations affiliated with Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR). Additionally, he allegedly "planned to receive financial support and weapons from Ukrainian handlers and to carry out the takeover of the Volgograd administration, but was detained by the local FSB office."
A 39-year-old native of Sevastopol, Ukrainian citizen Nadezhda Grekova, is accused of an act of terror for an attempted assassination of a Russian Black Sea Fleet officer and his wife. On Feb. 6, 2024 an explosion occurred in a residential building on Levanevsky Street in annexed Sevastopol, which was initially classified as a gas explosion. The floors between the first and second levels collapsed, but there were no casualties. Later, Russian pro-government media reported that the explosion was allegedly an attempt to assassinate the officer. According to Russian investigators, the explosive device was planted by the owner of the apartment, Nadezhda. According to the FSB, she allegedly acted on instructions from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with which she had been in contact since 2023. The woman was detained while trying to flee abroad.
A "court" in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region sentenced two residents of Enerhodar to 14 years in a general regime penal colony, accused of high treason for transferring money to Ukrainian accounts. Kachkareva L. A. and Dolgopolova S. N. were arrested in December 2024. The FSB claims that they had transferred money to accounts used by Ukrainian intelligence services and the AFU. One of the women allegedly transferred about 5,000 hryvnia (about $150), and the other - 2,400 hryvnia (about $70).
Assistance
More than 44,000 enforcement cases, totaling 2.9 billion rubles [$35.73 million], involving military personnel and their family members have been suspended or terminated in the Volgograd region, according to the regional office of the Federal Bailiff Service. Additionally, 1,600 cases related to the debts of contract soldiers and 180 cases involving their spouses have also been closed.
Children and Educational System
The Young Army [pro-Kremlin youth organization], promoting military propaganda among Russian youth, will receive nearly 1 billion rubles [$12.32 million] from the budget in 2025, according to the "Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel]. This amount is twice as much as in 2024 and the highest since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. The movement will receive 800 million rubles [$9.86 million] in subsidies as part of the national project "Youth and Children," developed under a directive from President Putin in 2024. The stated goal of the project is the creation of "advanced schools" in all districts. An additional 200 million rubles [$2.46 million] will be allocated by the Ministry of Defense for preparing young people for military service.
In a Moscow school, the "Talking About Important Things" lesson [a compulsory lesson held every Monday in schools across the country], was devoted to “Ukrainian Nazism” instead of the development of Russian medicine. This was reported by a subscriber to the Sota Telegram channel, who noted that several classes had gathered in the assembly hall for the lesson.
The director of the Nizhny Novgorod Construction Technical College, Galina Shabaeva, and students recorded a video address to residents regarding a box of New Year's greeting letters to soldiers previously found in a dumpster. She said that the letters had been loaded onto vehicles for delivery, and the college's group on the VKontakte social network published photos as evidence. Students of the college promised to continue participating in campaigns to support soldiers.
Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] reports on the case of Vitaly Koltsov, who set a police van on fire in central Moscow and was sentenced to six years in prison.