Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 10-11, 2023 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The federal government approved a resolution that benefits college and university students, who participated in the war in Ukraine. The state will pay for their education, even when there are no quotas available in their field of study. For example, an economics major might have their tuition paid from state funds allocated to the history department. Higher education institutions will set up special collegial boards to review student applications and reallocate the funds.
The federal government also simplified the procedure for insurance claims following the death of a participant of the war in Ukraine. Henceforth, relatives need only provide the death notice issued by a military unit to receive payment, without waiting for the official death certificate from medical authorities. Additionally, the compensation payment should now be made within 30 days of the claim submission. The simplified procedure applies not only to members of the armed forces, but also to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosgvardia [the National Guard of Russia], the Federal Penitentiary Service, and fire services.
Member of the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Parliament] Defense Committee Andrey Gurulyov declared that "to win the war, it is first necessary to deal with the remaining enemies within." He called for continued denunciation and severe punishment of members of the "fifth column," who oppose the "special military operation." Roskomnadzor [Russia's internet censorship agency] reported a 26% increase in the number of denunciations received from citizens in 2022, while the Prosecutor General's Office reported a record 322% increase.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Many eligible residents of Kemerovo began to receive requests to appear at local military commissariats [enlistment offices] for data check-ups. They don’t receive official draft notices, instead local municipal employees ask them by telephone to appear. According to a military commissariat employee, this is a common procedure necessary to clarify personal information.
Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet published a selection of propaganda posters from Blagoveshchensk. While in other cities of Siberia and the Far East, military propaganda posters covered the city centers only at the beginning of the war, in Blagoveshchensk, they have not been removed to this day. Meanwhile, in Novosibirsk a pro-war poster was spotted on the fence of a church.
Mobilized Soldiers and Volunteer Fighters
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Vladislav Goremykin from the Stavropol region, as well as Alexander Solovyov and Dmitry Silka from the Sverdlovsk region.
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, managed to verify the names of 30,003 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 3,167 mobilized ones. 786 names have been added to the list over the last week, including 81 mobilized soldiers.
Relatives of five mobilized fighters have filed a complaint with a military prosecutor about 24 mobilized fighters from the Storm unit of the 15th Motor Rifle regiment put in the illegal basement jail in Zaitseve in "LPR," for their refusal to participate in yet another assault on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (more details). At least three servicemen have been taken from the basement to an unknown destination on Aug. 11.
Servicemen of the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, deployed in the Zaporizhzhia region, have reported instances of physical abuse and threats from their assistant commander for political affairs. On the night of Aug. 5 to 6, the servicemen "came under heavy fire" near Tokmak. After the company commander withdrew them from their positions, they began receiving threats of death and being assigned to a "penal battalion." According to the servicemen, assistant commander for political affairs Nikolay Botsman gathered five wounded fighters who had requested medical examination, and beat up two of them. The Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the news] Telegram channel has published an audio recording documenting the incident.
Several media outlets have obtained a video message featuring a group of Russian soldiers. As revealed by journalists from the Agentstvo.Novosti [Agency News] Telegram channel and the Vyorstka media outlet, this video has been confirmed as staged. Notably, at least two of its participants are identified as Russian mobilized, who were captured by the AFU on Aug. 9 in the vicinity of Kozachi Laheri village in the Kherson region. It's worth noting that journalists have previously received a fabricated video, allegedly filmed by servicemen of the 126th Coastal Defense Brigade.
Artillerymen from the Nizhny Novgorod region complained to the deputy governor of the region, Andrey Gneushev, about incomplete salary payment during their preparation for deployment to the forward positions. The missing money was promised to be paid in the next month after a thorough verification process.
A mobilized soldier who survived a stroke has been trying to resign from service for nine months. The military medical board categorized him as service fitness category "B"Â indicating a conditionally fit status. However, draftees with such a category are not subject to dismissal.
Andrey, a Kurgan resident who participated in the war with Ukraine, could not claim the regional payments. The man found out that he was not entitled to them only after he suffered a serious injury. Andrey was denied the payments by the Kurgan military commissariat because he participated in the war as a volunteer fighter from Russia's constituent Republic of Chechnya.
Dmitry Suyunshaliev, who was previously sentenced to 21 years in prison for robbery and murder of two Veterans of Labour with an accomplice, joined the Wagner Group, went to war with Ukraine and returned home with a pardon. Now the residents of his home village are "afraid to let their children go outside."
Sentences, Legal Proceedings, and Incidents
The director of a branch of the West Urals Mining Technical School in the town of Osa, Perm region, was charged with forgery and sentenced by the Perm court to three months of freedom restriction. The director had issued a student certificate, which would have provided grounds for draft deferment, to a young man who did not actually study there.
Two Russian soldiers were charged with violating the rules of combat alert duty of "countering a surprise attack on Russia." Lieutenant Colonel Anatoly Bondarev and Major Dmitry Dmitrakov are accused of not having been able to prevent an attack on their military unit and an ammunition storage facility near the village of Staraya Nelidovka in the Belgorod region on Apr. 27, 2022. As a result of the explosions, 7 soldiers were killed and 43 wounded. Besides, 15 military vehicles were destroyed and another 30 damaged. The officers are facing up to 10 years in prison.
The Frunzensky district court in Vladivostok ruled as illegal the inclusion of former mayor of Bolshoy Kamen Rustyam Abushayev in the federal wanted list. He was arrested in absentia and put on the wanted list on charges of illegal business operations and property fraud in the suburbs of Vladivostok. In a short while, Abushayev declared that he was leaving for the war.
Rustam Kerimbayev, sentenced by the Vladimir Garrison Military Court to two years in a penal settlement for going AWOL at the time of mobilization, left for the war without having served his time. He wrote about it on social networks.
A Russian soldier and participant of the war in Ukraine assaulted a man in a bar while on leave. The man received multiple head injuries. The soldier was given a suspended sentence of three years with one year of probation. Among the mitigating factors, the court took into account the soldier's prolonged participation in the "special military operation."
Arsons
On the night of Aug. 11 an unknown person threw a Molotov cocktail into an official vehicle of the Ministry of Internal Affairs parked near a police station in Kolomna, Moscow region. The bottle broke the side window of the car, but the liquid spilled onto the pavement and ignited. Authorities are currently searching for the arsonist.
On Aug. 10, 35-year-old resident of Moscow Yuri Nikolaev, who had thrown a Molotov cocktail into a military commissariat in Zaraysk, Moscow region, was detained. According to Nikolaev, on Aug. 9, he received a call from an unknown person who offered 70,000 rubles for setting fire to the military commissariat.
On the evening of Aug. 10, a 24-year-old man was detained at the military commissariat of the Petrogradsky district in Saint Petersburg. During a search, a plastic bottle of gasoline was found on him. However, it is unclear whether the man really wanted to set fire to the building.
Assistance
Maxim Ivanov, a member of the State Duma from the Sverdlovsk region, reported on the delivery of another batch of aid for Russian servicemen to the combat zone. It included personal packages, EW stations, a motorcycle for medics and other items.
The Vyorstka media outlet reports that the Federal Bailiff Service has started fully writing off debts for unpaid loans, state fees, and civil claims for former inmates of the Storm-Z units who are currently fighting in Ukraine, regardless of their present sources of income. Lawyers argue that such a practice is illegal. According to legislation, participants in combat activities can only qualify for a temporary suspension of enforcement proceedings. However, as noted by Mediazona, the cases referred to by Vyorstka are unlikely to represent a systemic approach. The issue is that debts for the men mentioned as examples had been written off in a similar manner before. There are currently no objective reasons to suggest a widespread complete debt clearance for former convicts for their participation in the war. The press service of the Federal Bailiff Service, in response to journalists' inquiries, stated that enforcement proceedings can be "completely or partially suspended" upon the debtor's request.
Children
In July, the Protocol media outlet, in collaboration with the RZVRT YouTube channel, released two parts of an investigation about the production of Iranian drones in the special economic zone Alabuga in Russia’s constituent republic of Tatarstan, using the labor of teenagers. Parents of the teenagers who studied at Alabuga Polytechnic college shared details of the events with journalists from Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty].
The Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We can explain] Telegram channel read the new school history textbook. They discovered that, in addition to conveying the main propaganda points regarding the ongoing invasion and the history of Ukraine, there are factual inaccuracies present in the textbook. For instance, there's an error in the date of the adoption of the "law on foreign agents." Furthermore, one of the textbook's authors, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, announced the development of a "textbook on military history for teachers," which will cover "military operations."
Longreads
Holod [an independent Russian media outlet] magazine has published stories of Russians being interrogated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) at the border. There are no official interrogation regulations; individuals can be held in a small booth for several minutes to hours. They are interrogated in an aggressive manner: subjects are pressed and threatened, their electronic devices are confiscated, and their personal communications are scrutinized.