Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 6-9, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment

As of Aug. 5, authorities in the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject] raised the bonus for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense to take part in the war against Ukraine to 3 million rubles [$36,700]. Including the federal component, the total payment amounts to 3.4 million rubles [$41,600]. The bonus is available to those who sign contracts with units involved in the war, as well as to students who sign a contract for service in the Unmanned Systems Forces. In 2025, the region's authorities raised the bonus three times; in April 2025, they set it at 2.1 million rubles [$25,700].

According to a tally by The Moscow Times, authorities in 56 of Russia's 83 regions have introduced rewards for recruiting new contract soldiers. A year ago, only 31 regions had such rewards. In 38 regions, rewards for recruiters have been officially set by decrees issued by regional authorities, while in another 18 regions, recruitment is carried out privately through a network of recruiting agencies that help meet contract enlistment quotas. This year, eight regions have raised rewards for recruiters, some of them repeatedly. The Smolensk region raised its rewards the most—from 115,000 rubles [$1,410] to 1 million rubles [$12,200]. Traditionally less affluent regions have also raised rewards, including the Samara, Ryazan, Saratov, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad and Kemerovo regions, as well as the Altai Republic. The terms of these rewards can differ sharply from region to region. Some offer a reward to anyone who recruits a contract soldier, while others limit eligibility to employees of state institutions. Still others pay different amounts depending on the recruiter's category. Often the size of the reward depends on the prospective contract soldier's place of residence, making it more profitable to recruit people from other regions or from abroad.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 238,014 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 19,716 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 1,948 soldiers.

Aleksey Borisov, a serviceman in the 153rd Tank Regiment, was abducted by a regimental search group and returned to his military unit, despite having service fitness category "G" (temporarily unfit for military service). Earlier, Borisov underwent a military medical board examination at a draft office in his place of residence, where he was assigned this fitness category. He submitted the necessary documents to his unit via the draft office. No criminal case was opened against Borisov for going AWOL, and he was not declared wanted. However, he was detained on the street and managed to report that he was being returned to his unit in Nizhny Novgorod for further deployment to the frontline.

A conscript from the Kursk region, Aleksandr Safonov, was pressured into signing a military contract. The young man, born in 2006, was called up on July 8 and assigned to the 237th Tank Regiment, stationed in the town of Boguchar, Voronezh region. According to his mother, on July 22, after seven hours of psychological pressure from his commanders, he signed a contract with the MoD to serve in the Unmanned Systems Forces. The following day, July 23, he attempted to submit a report stating that he wished to withdraw from the contract, but was prevented from doing so. His mother filed a complaint with the Military Prosecutor's Office and joined other relatives of conscripts who had signed contracts under pressure in a collective appeal. In one case, a conscript was forced to sign a contract as a condition for being granted leave to attend the funeral of his mother, who had died unexpectedly. The Movement of Conscientious Objectors, ASTRA and Echo had previously reported on the practice of pressuring conscripts serving in Boguchar into signing contracts. In November 2025, a criminal case was opened over the coercion of conscripts. Despite this, attempts to force them into signing contracts have continued.

Ukrainian teenager Oleksandr Mustiatse, who had been considered missing and whom Ukraine believed had been abducted by Russian forces, joined the Russian army after reaching adulthood and is now fighting against Ukraine. Mustiatse went missing in 2022, shortly before his 15th birthday, when Russian forces captured his native village of Krynky in the Kherson region. He now posts photos of himself in Russian military uniform bearing the "Z" symbol and the Russian tricolor, as well as photos from military positions. Representatives of the Back to Ukraine project tried to ask him about his reasons for taking part in the war on Russia's side. In response, he wrote that "Russia has always been in my heart." According to Mykola Kuleba, head of Save Ukraine [a Ukrainian charitable organization that supports vulnerable groups including orphans], this is the first known case of a Ukrainian child who had been considered missing subsequently joining forces fighting against Ukraine after reaching adulthood.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The Nalchik Garrison Military Court sentenced three servicemembers, Gegirov, Dudnik and Kostoyev, to five years each in a penal colony on charges of going AWOL. According to the court, Gegirov left his unit on Feb. 3 and did not return to duty until June 25. Dudnik failed to report for duty on April 16 and was spotted by a police officer in Kabardino-Balkaria, a Russian constituent republic, on June 19. Amir Kostoyev failed to report to his unit’s temporary deployment site on March 17 and turned himself in to a military investigative office in the Ingushetian village of Troitskaya on June 1.

A Moscow court ordered Aleksandr Kondratov, a local resident charged with high treason, held in pre-trial detention following a series of consecutive administrative arrests. The specific charges against him have not been disclosed. Since May 7, he had spent at least 70 days in a detention facility on multiple misdemeanor charges of petty hooliganism.

A case against a 48-year-old Yaroslavl resident charged with high treason has been sent to trial. According to investigators, starting in 2024, the man regularly photographed the graves of Russian soldiers at a memorial cemetery and sent the images to Ukrainian intelligence services. Further details, including the defendant’s name, have not been disclosed.

The Moscow Region Court convicted three young men accused of sabotage. Twenty-one-year-old Yaroslav Kuligin was sentenced to 17 years in prison, while 18-year-old Nikita Alekseenko and 20-year-old Yevgeny Nazarenko, who were minors at the time of their detention, were sentenced to six and a half and seven years in a penal colony, respectively. Kuligin was also charged with involving minors in a criminal group. Prosecutors had sought 20 years in prison for him and 10 years each for Nazarenko and Alekseenko. According to investigators, in October-November 2023, the young men set fire to the drivers’ cabs of two old electric trains in Lobnya and Domodedovo in the Moscow region. One of the trains was out of service, while the other was standing at a depot awaiting repairs. They then poured flammable liquid on another cab in Lobnya but did not set it on fire. They were also charged with setting fire to a relay cabinet and a transformer substation in November of the same year on the Domodedovo-Belye Stolby and Domodedovo-Aviatsionnaya railway sections. Kuligin did not participate in these acts, but investigators concluded that he had organized the arson. According to the prosecution, the young men acted on instructions from the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s MoD. At the same time, case files indicate that the young men, looking to earn some extra money, found arson jobs on a darknet forum, while the person who commissioned the jobs assured them that the fires were needed to obtain insurance payouts. After their detention, they gave confessions but later reported that they had been tortured. From the pre-trial detention center, Kuligin spoke about suicide attempts.

The 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced 27-year-old Kirill Filasov to six years in a penal colony in a case involving preparation for an act of terror. According to the prosecution, in October 2025, while looking for a way to earn money, the man contacted the administrator of one of the Telegram channels, who offered him money to photograph police stations, court buildings and military facilities in Moscow and the Moscow region. Filasov agreed. He was later also offered $5,000 to transport an explosive device from the town of Dzerzhinsky in the Moscow region to Izmaylovsky Park in Moscow. Investigators claim that the purpose of the terrorist attack, in which the man was supposed to participate, was to cause deaths. He received 28,000 rubles [$340] in cryptocurrency as an advance payment. Filasov was detained in October 2025 after he picked up the explosive device from a hiding place in Dzerzhinsky.

Children and Militarization

More than 3,400 applicants were admitted to universities in Saint Petersburg under a quota for war participants and their children. This is almost 40 percent more than were admitted to the city’s universities under the same quota a year earlier. Many of them were admitted without entrance examinations. Nationwide, 41,000 war participants and their children used the quota this year.