Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 10-12, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has expanded the criteria for obtaining combat veteran status to include service members participating in the war in territories adjacent to the so-called "special military operation zone." Military personnel serving in the annexed Crimea, the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions, and specific districts within the Krasnodar and Voronezh regions can now receive this status. Additionally, service members disabled by injuries sustained in these areas are now entitled to the status of a disabled war veteran.
The Russian government will allocate 9.38 billion rubles [$118 million] for payments to the children of Russian soldiers captured or reported missing in action in the wars in Ukraine and Syria. Although the government had already allocated 3.68 billion rubles [$46.1 million] for this purpose in January, a decree published on Aug. 11 increased that sum by more than 150%.
Army Recruitment
The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reported the second known instance of a digital draft notice being served after a Tver region resident received two notifications simultaneously via SMS and the Gosuslugi public services portal. The notice, which also appeared in the new Draft Register, instructs the resident to report for a medical examination on Oct. 3. In a separate finding, Idite Lesom! discovered that the earlier notice, reported a few days ago, was designated as "archived" in the system. The man in the earlier case checked the Draft Register website and found no active notice or restrictions. He did, however, see a previously issued notice and a travel ban that were both deleted from the system on the same day. Idite Lesom! representatives speculate that authorities are testing the new system.
A man accused of raping a 93-year-old elderly woman agreed to a police offer to sign a contract with the MoD in order to avoid punishment. The crime was committed in July in the village of Motovilovo, Nizhny Novgorod region. The detainee, Ivan Yakovlev, had previously been repeatedly convicted, including for sexual violence.
Residents of the city of Chelyabinsk are receiving mass summons through Gosuslugi to appear before bailiffs for the purpose of recruitment for the war. One of them said that on Aug. 12, more than 20 people came with him to the Federal Bailiff Service office. None of those who came ended up seeing the bailiffs, but they were awaited in an office for enlistment in contract service.
Police officer Vyacheslav Razmashkin, who along with a fellow officer assaulted detainees, went to the war to avoid punishment. His criminal case was dropped. His colleague, police officer Oleg Terskov, was sentenced to three years in a penal colony on charges of abuse of authority. According to the prosecution, in the early hours of July 16, 2024, Terskov and Razmashkin assaulted two detainees. The victims were diagnosed with a broken nose, hematomas and other bodily injuries.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Yevgeny Tyutyunchenko, a Voronezh region official charged with large-scale fraud who was sent to the frontline from a pre-trial detention center, has deserted from a training unit. His current whereabouts remain unknown. After his deployment, the case against him was suspended but not closed.
The Astra Telegram channel has reported the discovery of a 24th basement in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), where more than 200 Russian servicemen are allegedly being held illegally. It is located in the village of Melekine, near the city of Mariupol. The exact location has not yet been confirmed, but relatives believe the basement may be in a former hotel. According to one of the detained servicemen, those held there include soldiers who refused to carry out combat missions, as well as some officially listed as missing in action. None of the detainees have been in contact for over a month.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia [Russia’s constituent republic], a serviceman fatally stabbed a 35-year-old musician in the neck during a street altercation. The soldier had reportedly reprimanded a group of young people, prompting a scuffle in which one man from the group grabbed the serviceman, who then stabbed him in the neck. Media reports identify the victim as Vlad Nadolinsky, a musician and driving school instructor.
The Ulan-Ude Garrison Military Court has sentenced a serviceman, Ayush Ayusheyev, to eight years in a maximum security penal colony on a murder charge. According to the court, Ayusheyev committed the murder after hearing a remark directed at him, as well as "negative statements" about military personnel. Ayusheyev had previously been convicted in 2019 for DUI. He later drove drunk again, for which he was sentenced in 2020 to six months in a penal settlement.
A military court in Chelyabinsk has ordered Sergey Moskalenko, a 37-year-old combatant, to be held in a pre-trial detention center. He is suspected of murdering his wife and going AWOL. A distant relative of the deceased woman said that the couple had a child together. The victim's family was unaware that Moskalenko had returned to Chelyabinsk.
The Magnitogorsk Garrison Military Court has convicted a serviceman for going AWOL. On March 30, 2025, the private failed to report for duty and lived at home until June 22, when he was detained by police. During the court hearing, it emerged that the same private had been sentenced in July of this year to 10 years in a penal colony for inflicting grievous bodily harm and for a separate instance of going AWOL. As a result, the man was sentenced to a total of 13 years in a maximum security penal colony.
A court in Saint Petersburg has arrested two residents of Pskov in a case involving the theft of payments intended for participants in the invasion of Ukraine. According to investigators, starting in the fall of 2024, the accused persuaded 45 unhoused individuals in Saint Petersburg and Pskov to sign contracts with the MoD on preferential terms, which stipulated that they would serve "outside the zone of combat engagement." Investigators allege that the accused then took possession of the recruits' bank cards and stole the payments deposited into their accounts. The total amount stolen is 60 million rubles [$751,600]. At least nine of the homeless individuals who were sent to the war have since died.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a resident of the Amur region accused of preparing for sabotage, and the court has placed him in pre-trial detention. According to investigators, the accused man planned to set fire to a relay cabinet on a railway section of the Trans-Siberian Railway for a reward of 25,000 rubles [$310]. The detainee revealed that he had previously submitted his information on a website, which was not disclosed, then an unknown individual contacted him via WhatsApp, offering money for setting fire to railway equipment. The name and age of the accused remain unknown.
In the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], two 17-year-olds have been detained on suspicion of setting fire to relay cabinets on the railway section between Nadezhdinskaya and Amursky Zaliv stations in the village of Novy. The teenagers have been placed in custody for two months on charges of conspiring and committing an act of terror in a group.
In Oryol, two teenagers born in 2007 and 2009 have been detained for allegedly throwing an incendiary mixture into a locomotive. The resulting fire damaged the battery compartment, but no one was injured. The young people are suspected of committing an act of terror. Investigators believe that the arson was carried out under the direction of a "handler," who promised them 90,000 rubles [$1,130] for the act but failed to pay them.
As Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] found out, a 47-year-old man detained for the murder of a police officer had previously been convicted for throwing a Molotov cocktail at an Interior Ministry vehicle and for anti-war posts. Journalists identified him as Vyacheslav Donskoy. In 2022, Donskoy was tried for attempting to deliberately damage property for political reasons. Wearing camouflage clothing, he threw a Molotov cocktail at an Interior Ministry service vehicle. In July 2024, a court sentenced Donskoy to one year of correctional labor. Additionally, in July 2022, he was fined 15,000 rubles [$190] under a protocol for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.
According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Ukrainian intelligence services stole money from five elderly women and then persuaded them to detonate improvised explosive devices in order to kill Russian military personnel. The FSB claims that representatives of Ukraine’s intelligence services first stole money from the elderly women and then told them it could be returned if they spied on Russian servicemen. The women were also instructed to retrieve improvised explosive devices from caches and personally deliver them to the soldiers. The agency stated that Ukrainian intelligence services planned to use the elderly women "as so-called human bombs." As a result of their actions, law enforcement officers initiated criminal cases on charges of attempting to commit an act of terror and illegal possession of explosives committed in a group in conspiracy.
Eldar Marchenko, a sports management lecturer at the RMA business school and former columnist for the Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet, has been sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony for a terrorist attack committed in a group and causing significant damage. The prosecutor had requested 19 years in a penal colony for him. According to investigators, on the instructions of Ukrainian intelligence services, Marchenko traveled from Moscow to Kursk and "using a smartphone" sent the coordinates of the local airport to his handlers. As a result, at least two UAVs were launched from Ukraine toward Kursk, but "did not reach their target." Marchenko was detained on Aug. 1, 2024 and did not plead guilty. In court, he stated that his confessions had been extracted under torture with electric shocks.
A dual citizen of Russia and Ukraine has been arrested in the Pskov region on suspicion of aiding terrorist activities. According to law enforcement sources, the 25-year-old woman allegedly transferred funds to an unnamed Ukrainian organization that has been designated as a terrorist entity under Russian law. Further details of the case have not been disclosed.
Kirill Solonov, a 30-year-old resident of Novoshakhtinsk, has been sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony after being convicted of participating in a terrorist organization and engaging in confidential cooperation with a foreign state. According to investigators, in November 2022, Solonov made the decision to join the Russian Volunteer Corps.
In the Moscow region, the FSB has detained a man born in 1989 who holds both Ukrainian and Russian citizenship, on suspicion of plotting to assassinate a senior military official by bombing his vehicle. According to an official press release, the man is described as an "agent of Ukrainian intelligence" operating under the call sign "Voron" [Crow]. Authorities have opened a criminal case against him on charges of high treason, unlawful acquisition of explosives and the manufacture of explosive devices. A court has ordered that he be placed in pre-trial detention. FSB officials allege that the detainee is a Ukrainian national who initially relocated to Russia to avoid mobilization. He was reportedly contacted by Ukrainian intelligence and offered cooperation in exchange for a draft deferral.
A resident of Omsk has been sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony for attempting to join the Russian Volunteer Corps. She was convicted of treason and illegal border crossing. According to investigators, in the summer of 2023 she crossed the Russia-Ukraine border in the Bryansk region intending to enlist in the Russian Volunteer Corps. She was later detained at a vehicle border checkpoint in the Belgorod region.
In Rostov, a court sentenced 54-year-old Ukrainian national Olena Ipatova to five years and two months in a penal colony for participation in a terrorist organization. Ipatova was detained on March 14, 2025. Investigators alleged that she served as a combat medic in the Aidar battalion in early 2018—a unit that a Russian court designated as a terrorist organization in 2023.
The military court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced 30-year-old Ukrainian serviceman Andrey Sopulyak to 19 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of participation in a terrorist organization and undergoing terrorist training. Sopulyak was detained on May 20, 2022, the day Ukrainian troops surrendered following the battle for the city of Mariupol and the siege of the Azovstal Steel Factory.
Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has found that at least 70 people have been killed while being detained by the FSB in Russia or in the occupied territories of Ukraine. In 28 of these cases, the victims were suspected of preparing attacks on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence services or volunteer units from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov claimed that in 2025, law enforcement officers prevented 172 terrorist attacks. He added that most of the alleged perpetrators were individuals "who fell under the influence of Ukrainian intelligence services and neo-Nazi organizations." According to Bortnikov, 65% of those detained in these cases are young people.
Longreads
Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty online media outlet] reports on how children in Russia’s constituent Republic of Tatarstan and the Volga region are being recruited to take part in military field camps, build UAVs and participate in other activities related to the invasion of Ukraine.
Lawyers from the human rights organization Shkola Prizyvnika [Conscript School] have analyzed the scope of the spring-summer 2025 conscription campaign, which they say has been the largest in the past 10 years.