Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 12-13, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 2,000 people left the Kursk region in the past 24 hours. The ministry reports that over 8,000 people, including 2,200 children, are currently in temporary accommodation centers. On Aug. 12, Aleksey Smirnov, the acting Governor of the Kursk region, claimed that more than 120,000 people had been evacuated by authorities.

Authorities in the Bolshesoldatsky district in the Kursk region, which does not border Ukraine, has begun collecting information on local residents who may require evacuation. As of Aug. 12, no evacuation requests had been submitted, as many residents are reportedly refusing to leave, according to Vladimir Zaitsev, the head of the municipality.

Residents of the village of Bondarevka have appealed to Aleksandr Bogachyov, the head of the Sudzha district, demanding that an evacuation be organized. At least 42 people remain in the village, most of whom are elderly with health issues, a local resident told the Sirena [Siren] Telegram channel. According to this resident, no prior evacuation from the village had been arranged.

The LizaAlert search and rescue team reported that since Aug. 7, they have received 338 requests and 154 calls to their hotline regarding missing persons in the Kursk region due to fighting with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As of now, only 38 cases have been marked as "found alive."

Evacuated residents from the Kursk region will be relocated to the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, according to the acting Governor Smirnov. He stated that Yevhen Balytskyi, the Russian-appointed "governor" of the Zaporizhzhia region, offered to house the Kursk region residents in health resorts and boarding houses along the coast of the Sea of Azov. Local residents left several outraged comments under Smirnov's social media post, expressing concern that fighting is also ongoing in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Governor of the Belgorod region, announced that almost the entire population of the Krasnoyaruzhsky district, totaling over 11,000 people, has been evacuated. According to the 2021 census, the district's population was just over 14,000. Gladkov declared the evacuation of the district's residents on Monday morning. Later that same day, authorities closed entry to the area.

Evacuees from the Kursk and Belgorod regions may apply for loan deferrals. The Bank of Russia reports that borrowers with debts of up to 15 million rubles [$166,100] on mortgages, 1.6 million rubles [$17,700] on auto loans, 450,000 rubles [$4,980] on other loans and an additional 150,000 rubles [$1,660] on credit cards are eligible for deferrals of up to six months.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

In the future, courts may suspend criminal trials, if defendants agree to fight in Ukraine, according to a draft bill approved at a plenary session of the Supreme Court of Russia. Its members plan to introduce the bill to the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] next. At present, criminal proceedings may be suspended only before a case moves to trial or after sentencing. The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel notes that if these legislative changes are implemented, victims of a crime would be deprived of their rights to compensation until the perpetrator returns from the front.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated that the city plans to send another 23,000 "volunteers" to war this year. According to him, 43,000 city residents are already participating. Authorities drafted 22,000 individuals during mobilization, while another 21,000 enlisted in 2023. A source in the mayor’s office shared statistics from the one-stop contract military service recruitment facility with the Vyorstka media outlet, which reported that over 26,000 individuals concluded contracts in Moscow during the preceding 12 months, noting that residents of the city and its region only account for less than 20%. Around 70% are from other Russian regions, and 10% are foreigners. Very few enlist for ideological reasons. The vast majority have already taken part in the invasion and want to return to the frontline to earn money or to escape a civilian life to which they failed to adapt. Despite the authorities’ claims, interest in military contracts waned over the course of the year but jumped threefold when the sign-up bonus was increased to 1.9 million rubles [$21,000].

Bloomberg, citing three anonymous sources close to the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense, reported that due to a severe shortage of personnel amid combat operations on Russian territory, the country's leadership may announce a new wave of mobilization by the end of 2024. Currently, the Russian Armed Forces are not receiving sufficient reinforcements through contract soldiers—regional officials are leaving more than a third of the quotas unfilled on average, despite increased sign-up bonuses. According to one source, this mobilization could be presented as a "rotation" to give frontline soldiers a break.

Avito, the largest Russian classified advertisements website, is now promoting recruitment ads for the war. While recruiters previously sought people more discreetly, posting numerous veiled ads like "Looking for security guards for the special military operation zone," they are now, according to the timeline of ads published since August, explicitly searching for specific military specialists. Recruiters are looking for drone operators, artillerymen and drivers of special equipment. They are offering positions to anyone, even those without experience or a military ID, with salaries ranging from 50,000 rubles [$550] to 490,000 rubles [$5,430]. These ads are highlighted with colored borders on the site to attract attention.

In Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Tagil, court bailiffs are summoning male debtors to meetings to inform them about contract-based military service. The document they are asked to sign outlines the terms of contract service and details the benefits and payments available to military personnel.

In the Chelyabinsk region, contract soldiers are encouraging conscripts to sign contracts with the MoD. The MoD has reported on a "teleconference," during which participants in the invasion of Ukraine told conscripts about their service.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Maksim Murushkin from the Rostov region, Stanislav Mozharov from the Samara region and Rufat Mustakimov from the Tyumen region.

The bodies of those killed in the attack on the Russian column near the town of Rylsk in the Kursk region have begun to arrive at the Rostov-on-Don morgue. The Astra Telegram channel has learned that the column included soldiers from at least two military units—the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade from Sevastopol and the 72164 military unit from the Leningrad region. The exact number of dead, wounded and missing soldiers is unknown, as families are exchanging conflicting information, with the number of dead ranging from 96 to 300. Families have been unable to obtain information from the MoD, military units or hospitals. Astra has confirmed the identities of Nikolay Linkov and Ruslan Gelyazev from the Astrakhan region, two cousins killed in the attack. It is likely that there were also conscripts in the column, but this has yet to be confirmed. Astra has published videos taken by the soldiers themselves a few hours before the column came under attack and spoke with the mother of one of the killed soldiers.

After the AFU's invasion into the Kursk region, a 40-year-old military man Artyom B. from the Leningrad region went missing. He last made contact on Aug. 6. His relatives believe he is currently captured, as he was recognized in a video published by the Nachtigall Ukrainian battalion. Meanwhile, at the Saint Petersburg draft office, relatives were told that Artyom is listed as active and is receiving his salary. Draft office employees advised not to trust information from Telegram channels, but there has still been no contact with the soldier.

The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel has identified one of the soldiers killed during the AFU's breakthrough into the Kursk region. Twenty-year-old contract soldier Aleksandr Vasin was killed on Aug. 7. According to a representative of his unit who contacted Vasin's mother, the body has not yet been officially identified due to a backlog, as there are many killed and the remains are not yet being transported to Rostov, where all procedures are carried out and documents are prepared. Vasin was conscripted into the army during a regular biannual conscription campaign, and after the invasion began, he and many other young men were "persuaded" to sign a contract under the guarantee that they would remain to serve in their unit. However, in April 2024, Vasin and others were deployed to the border in the Kursk region.

The Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet spoke with the parents of conscripts currently stationed in the Kursk region. According to one father, the conscript soldiers initially defended their positions and only abandoned them on the night of August 13. Now, all who survived are sitting in a basement in an evacuated settlement. The battalion where the man's son serves lost 13 soldiers, including those who are missing in action. According to another source, the conscripts defended their positions alone, without the assistance from contract soldiers. A neighboring strongpoint, also manned by conscripts, was bombarded with grenades, leaving only three survivors from the platoon. Many conscripts are missing in action. Their parents have reached out to their military units, draft offices, and the Military Prosecutor's Office but have been told that "soldiers of statutory military service swore an oath and are obliged to protect their country."

Vyorstka reported, citing relatives of conscripts, that those evacuated from the Russia-Ukraine border of the Kursk region are being forced to sign contracts to be sent back to forward positions. Approximately 150 conscripts in one military unit are being persuaded to return to the border with promises of benefits and daily "combat" payments of 4,000 rubles [$44] to 4,500 rubles [$50]. Those who refuse are threatened with court proceedings and are assured that they will be sent to the war regardless.

Relatives of conscripts from the 80th Motorized Rifle Brigade claim that they are about to be sent to the Kursk region. Initially, the soldiers were assigned to serve in the Murmansk region. However, recently, recent orders from commanders have directed them to the Kursk region instead. At the same time, according to documents, they will be deployed in a safe city. The relatives have filed a complaint with the Military Prosecutor's Office and created a petition addressed to Putin, requesting that the conscripts not be sent to the border.

According to relatives, several hundred military refuseniks from Saint Petersburg have been forcibly placed on a plane and transported to Kursk. They have already been issued assault rifles and are expected to be sent into combat. The day before, at least 500 people were taken from the military settlement of Kamenka near Saint Petersburg, where the 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade was stationed and where several hundred men who refused to fight were being held. Approximately 300 people were sent to an undisclosed location, while another 150 were found by morning 7 km from Kursk at a training ground. Criminal cases for going AWOL have been already initiated against some of the refuseniks. They are under investigation, while others are awaiting a military medical board. Among those under arrest are men with health problems. According to Astra, the departure of servicemen from Kamenka was accompanied by a suicide attempt. On Aug. 8, a serviceman involved in the AWOL case attempted suicide; his surname is known to the editors. The serviceman is expected to be sent to a psychiatric hospital. The source also confirmed that the refuseniks are being sent to Kursk. The situation for those remaining in Kamenka remains unclear.

A volunteer fighter named Aleksey has blocked his family's access to his salary account, despite having ten children, five of whom are disabled. He allegedly joined the war to support his family. According to his wife, Aleksey has long wanted to terminate his contract with the MoD prematurely and is frustrated that his wife and children are not lobbying the authorities or protesting to help him. Additionally, Aleksey has threatened his wife with divorce, stating that he will keep his salary for himself.

According to Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta], Temirlan Eskerkhanov, a co-conspirator of the assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, was granted a pardon by Putin after signing a contract with the MoD and was sent to the city of Mariupol. There, he serves in comfortable and safe conditions, guarding metallurgical plants rather than participating in combat. Sources indicate that Eskerkhanov's relatives visit him in Mariupol, and he takes leave to go to Chechnya. Similarly, Zaur Dadaev, considered the main perpetrator of Nemtsov’s assassination, may also be released from prison.

​Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

A court in the Rostov region has sentenced Vitaly Savchenko, who fought in the war with Ukraine, to one year of probation for causing grievous bodily harm during a brawl. During the altercation, Savchenko stabbed the victim in the liver. Savchenko could not recall the details of the fight, citing memory lapses due to four concussions he sustained in combat. The court acknowledged his military service and the honors he received as mitigating factors in the case.

Yuri Ovchinnikov, a soldier from Khakassia [Russia’s constituent republic], has been sentenced to five years in a penal colony for going AWOL. According to prosecutors, on Oct. 18, 2023, he left his military unit and traveled to Abakan. On Jan. 17, 2024, Ovchinnikov voluntarily reported to a draft office.

In the Leningrad region, two minors were detained on suspicion of setting fire to a locomotive. The incident occurred on the night of Aug. 11 near the Babayevo station, on the border between the Vologda and Leningrad regions. No one was injured as a result of the fire, and train services were not disrupted, although the locomotive's cabin was completely burned.

A female employee of a military unit has been detained on charges of high treason in Rostov-on-Don. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), in January 2023, she "joined a unit of the Southern Military District on the instructions of the Ukrainian side" and collected information about "arsenals, bases and warehouses."

According to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], a Russian citizen named Georgy Pirogov, who was detained in Uzbekistan on suspicion of high treason and later transported to Moscow, has pleaded guilty during a hearing concerning his arrest. Details of his detention, the process of his transport to Russia and the specific charges against him remain unknown.

A court in annexed Crimea has sentenced a local resident, D. A. Shvydko, to 18 years in prison on charges of high treason. The specific reasons for his prosecution are unknown, as the case was heard behind closed doors.

On June 27, the same court sentenced a resident of the Saky district in Crimea to 12 years in prison on charges of high treason. The man, identified by Mediazona as K. V. Karpov, was detained in the Pskov region.

Engineer Artyom Lozovoy has allegedly pleaded guilty, according to TASS [Russian state-owned news agency], citing "law enforcement agencies." The 38-year-old is accused of treason, planning a terrorist attack and illegal trafficking of explosives.

A court in Irkutsk has sentenced local resident Aleksandr Skvortsov to three years and 11 months in a penal colony for removing the Russian flag from a wall.

Miscellaneous

The United Russia party [Putin's ruling party] has nominated 380 participants in the war with Ukraine for the upcoming election. Most of them are running for municipal councils. At least three military men will take part in the regional election from the party, all of them recipients of the "Hero of Russia" title. One of them is Chalym Chuldum-ool, a native of Tuva and former commander of the 55th Motorized Rifle Brigade. Ukraine accuses him of occupying the village of Yahidne in the Chernihiv region and holding 300 civilians in a school basement for a month, during which 10 of them died.