Mobilization in Russia for August 1-2, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
A bill has been introduced in the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] proposing penalties for Russians who have fled abroad. The amendments are to be made to Article 458 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. Under this article, the Prosecutor General's Office can transfer criminal case documents to the authorities of another country if a foreigner who committed a crime leaves Russian territory. State Duma members want this to be applicable to Russian citizens as well. According to the bill's co-author, Vasily Piskarev, chairman of the Security Committee (United Russia party [Putin’s ruling party]), the amendments will ensure the inevitability of punishment for criminals hiding outside of Russia. In the explanatory note to the bill, State Duma members pointed out that the current version of the law does not allow for the punishment of Russians who engage in "anti-Russian activities" from abroad. Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with Pervyj Otdel [Russian human rights project] commented to Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] that most Russian political charges are unique and lack counterparts in other countries. However, in cases of criminal prosecution not explicitly related to political charges, this provision could significantly facilitate the pursuit of Russians abroad. Smirnov suggested that Russian authorities might overwhelm foreign countries with such requests or use this provision to issue international warrants for politically persecuted citizens through the assistance of friendly nations.
The Federation Council [upper house of the Federal Assembly] has approved a series of bills with significant implications. One bill grants employers the right to provide draft offices with information about employees subject to military service. Another bill gives military commanders the authority to send their subordinates to detention facilities without a court decision and prohibits military personnel from using smartphones. Additionally, a bill requires naturalized citizens to register for military service before taking an oath to the Russian Federation and grants authorities the right to revoke citizenship in cases of refusal to register. The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel notes that, if the latter bill is signed into law, the Ministry of Internal Affairs would be required to transmit the details of all male candidates to draft offices, if officials decide to approve their applications. Thus, even before naturalization, draft offices would receive the necessary data to track who must be added to the military rolls. These individuals would have two weeks to report for initial military registration. The law itself would not apply to individuals who acquired citizenship before it was enacted. However, according to a ruling by the Constitutional Court, the prohibition against retroactive application of the law does not apply to the revocation of acquired citizenship. Therefore, the changes would also apply to those who previously obtained Russian citizenship.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
The 7x7—Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet has compared the size of the regional sign-up bonus paid to newly recruited contract soldiers across those Russian regions that increased their payments to military personnel in 2024. The Stavropol region and the Moscow region are ranked first, offering a record 1.5 million rubles [$17,500]. The Leningrad region and Karachay-Cherkessia [Russia’s constituent republic], paying 1.3 million rubles [$15,200], come second after the recent increase of the sign-up bonus in Karachay-Cherkessia by a factor of 13. The lowest-paying regions are those bordering Ukraine, as well as Siberia.
A further increase in the sign-up bonus amount has been observed in multiple Russian regions. In the Yaroslavl region, the sign-up bonus has been raised from 310,000 rubles [$3,620] to 510,000 rubles [$5,950]. Moreover, local budgets are offering further incentives. In particular, in the city of Yaroslavl, men joining the contract military service are eligible to an additional one-time payment of 200,000 rubles [$2,330]. Thus, recruits who sign contracts in the capital city of the region receive a total of 1,010,000 rubles [$11,800]. In the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], the sign-up bonus for men recruited for the war against Ukraine has been raised from 250,000 rubles [$2,920] to 400,000 rubles [$4,670]. The same increase has been reported in the Vladimir region. Therefore, the total lump sum payable to a newly enrolled contract soldier, with the federal payment included, may amount to 800,000 rubles [$9,330].
In July, at least 207 contract soldiers from the Vladimir region were deployed to the war with Ukraine. In June, 210 residents of the region went to the frontline, and 130 in May. This adds up to a minimum of 1,275 individuals who have been sent to war since the beginning of the year.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Ilnur Nasertdinov and Andrey Trofimov from Russia’s constituent Republic of Bashkortostan, as well as Rashid Taisaev from Karachay-Cherkessia.
Another 18-year-old Russian soldier has been killed in the war. Vitaly Zubkov from the Vologda region was born on May 25, 2006. He signed a contract with the 245th Regiment on June 17 and last contacted his family on July 3, five weeks after his eighteenth birthday. The Ukrainian project Ne Zhdi Menya Iz Ukrainy [Do Not Wait for My Return from Ukraine] claims that Zubkov could have evaded military service due to medical issues, but his girlfriend allegedly managed to arrange for him to be accepted into the regiment on a contract.
The 161.RU Rostov-on-Don city online media outlet reports on the stories of several soldiers who, despite having untreated wounds, are being sent back to the frontline. Their relatives are trying to bring the men home with the help of a military lawyer.
- The military medical commission assigned him a service fitness category of "B" (limited fitness for service). According to his mother, a few days after receiving treatment in the hospital, he was sent on an assault mission without waiting for the doctors' conclusions from Rostov.
- Pavel, a contract soldier, suffered a concussion and shrapnel wounds. He was also diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a disease that destroys bone tissue. Despite this disease being listed under service fitness category "D" (unfit for service), he risks being sent to the frontline.
- Similarly, contract soldier Aleksey, who has a leg injury, reports that instead of being sent to the military medical commission, he is being transferred to an assault unit.
The Put Domoy [Way Home] Telegram channel has shared the story of volunteer fighter Nikolay Gantimurov, who signed a contract on Sept. 15, 2022. He wanted to work in his specialty on the railway but was assigned to assault troops. After suffering multiple concussions and injuries that were left untreated, Gantimurov's contract expired. He submitted four reports, surrendered his weapon and returned home. However, five months later, in August 2023, a criminal case was initiated against him for going AWOL and he was arrested. The soldier was subjected to several examinations and then transferred to a military unit in Yurga. Along with other servicemen infected with hepatitis C, he is being prepared for deployment to the frontline.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
According to the Astra Telegram channel, Ivan Barsukov, a 40-year-old serviceman of the 114th Motorized Rifle Brigade [RuAF], has been detained in the Stavropol region in connection with a case of sexual violence involving a schoolgirl. According to investigators, Barsukov sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl from the town of Mikhaylovsk last year.
In Rostov-on-Don, Vladimir Miroshnichenko, a former Wagner Group mercenary, has been sentenced to four years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of grievous bodily harm. The incident occurred in an apartment previously owned by the victim's grandmother. Miroshnichenko had killed her back in 2012, receiving an eight-year sentence for that crime. Shortly after his release, he was convicted of robbery, and in September 2022, he enlisted to fight in the war against Ukraine. Upon returning, Miroshnichenko lived with his nephew in the murdered woman's apartment and demanded that the property be sold so they could split the proceeds. During an argument, he stabbed his relative multiple times before fleeing, leaving the victim to be taken to the hospital. In court, Miroshnichenko partially admitted guilt, claiming self-defense. The court considered his participation in the war as a mitigating factor when handing down the sentence.
In the Belgorod region, two men died in a traffic accident involving military personnel. The incident occurred in April, but local media and authorities did not report on it. The Regional Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which typically releases daily traffic accident information, chose not to publish a report for that day. On April 27, Denis Tolmachev and Aleksandr Komarov were driving on the main road in a KAMAZ truck loaded with tar when soldiers, violating traffic rules, pulled out from a turn in a truck carrying “humanitarian” aid. In the resulting head-on collision, Tolmachev and Komarov were trapped in the KAMAZ truck's cab and burned alive. Each of the men left behind three children. This week in the Rostov region, a crash caused by military personnel resulted in the deaths of a 6-year-old child and his mother, while last week, a man died after his car collided with a tank in the Belgorod region.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a resident of the Kemerovo region on charges of cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state. According to law enforcement, the 61-year-old man, originally from Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine, sent emails to an unnamed undesirable organization, expressing his willingness to "seek important information to fight against Russia." He faces up to eight years in prison.
In Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, a man has been detained for distributing anti-war leaflets calling for people to switch to the Ukrainian side. The arrested individual is also alleged to have taken pictures of military facilities in the region. He could face a life sentence on charges of high treason.
The Volgograd court has terminated the case against the Volgograd-1 TV channel and its hosts, Sergey Mazanov and Roman Potolovsky. The case concerned the hosts reading out the personal data of people who brought flowers to the monument to the victims of political repression in memory of Alexei Navalny.
Assistance
Families of those killed in the war with Ukraine from the Loknyansky district of the Pskov region will receive a one-time payment of 5,000 rubles [$58]. This aid will be provided from the district's reserve fund.
In 2025, Khanty-Mansiysk plans to host the All-Russian Winter Games for "special military operation" veterans.
The Ministry of Property and Land Relations of the Nizhny Novgorod region has allocated 14.3 million rubles [$166,800] for land plots for large families and participants in the war with Ukraine. Additionally, in the Leninsky district of Crimea, occupying authorities have formed more than a thousand land plots for Russian soldiers participating in the invasion.
Children
This year, more than 2,000 people were admitted to leading Russian universities under quotas for participants in the war in Ukraine and their children, according to Vazhnyye Istorii. This represents a 75% increase compared to the previous year’s admissions under a separate quota. Notably, one-third of these individuals were admitted without taking exams, and many had grade points below the passing score.
Authorities in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject] have brought 200 children from the occupied city of Makiivka to the region for summer holidays. Earlier, 95 schoolchildren aged 8 to 16 from the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region were taken to the Yaroslavl region for a "rest in a children's camp," and 100 schoolchildren from the Donbas were brought to the Novosibirsk region.
The Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics has ordered training weapons worth nearly 700,000 rubles [$8,160]. The university plans to purchase full-size mock-ups of assault rifles, machine guns and other equipment to be used in the "Basics of Military Training" program for bachelor's degree students.
Federal Penitentiary Service special forces have demonstrated riot control techniques to schoolchildren in Ulyanovsk. The children were allowed to try on body armor and were taught first aid.
Miscellaneous
Businessmen from the town of Azov in the Rostov region have been asked to "chip in" for an air defense system. The proposal to collect 29 million rubles [$338,300] for the purchase of air defense was made at a meeting attended by the mayor.
The pro-Kremlin Spravedlivaya Rossiya [A Just Russia] party has nominated 50 individuals who fought in Ukraine for regional and municipal elections.
Longreads
The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet has reported on methods used to coerce conscript soldiers into signing contracts, highlighting cases where military units use violence, threats and manipulation. Meanwhile, the Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet has published a report on the recruitment of homeless people for the war.
The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] spoke with a Russian soldier who deserted from the frontline, revealing how he was deceived into signing a contract and then thrown into front positions without proper training. He served for six months, suffered severe injuries and eventually escaped.
Meduza [international Russian-language online media outlet], in collaboration with the Bereg independent media outlet, has examined the forced psychiatric treatment imposed on those involved in political cases in Russia. Instead of facing traditional punishment, they are subjected to compulsory treatment in a psychiatric facility.
Vazhnyye Istorii reported on how Russian paratroopers attempted to profit from a raccoon stolen from the city of Kherson, resulting in internal conflicts among themselves.