Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 15-16, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The Prosecutor General's Office has blocked a group on the VKontakte social network, which was used to publish messages about missing residents of Sudzha and the Kursk region more generally. A day earlier, regional authorities advised residents not to publish missing persons’ data, claiming that Ukrainian special services could use it for blackmail and to disseminate false information. Soon after, the Liza Alert search-and-rescue organization announced that it would stop publishing alerts related to missing residents of border districts, citing "safety concerns, in order to shield their relatives from scammers." By the evening of Aug. 15, Liza Alert had received 523 missing person requests, some of which involved the disappearance of entire families.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced that entry to six localities in the Belgorod region will be prohibited starting on Aug. 19. Four of them are located in the Grayvoronsky district: the village Novostroyevka-Vtoraya and the settlements Sovkhozny, Dobropolye and Kazatchok. The remaining two are the villages of Novopetrovka and Kolotilovka, located in the Valuysky and Krasnoyaruzhsky districts, respectively.
The Central Bank of Russia has recommended that creditors "assist" residents of the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions who had a mortgage and whose homes were damaged or destroyed "as a result of recent events." In cases of partial damage, which can be repaired, banks could exempt borrowers from repayments for one year without accruing interest. Loans could also be partially or fully written off "in especially difficult situations."
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
In the Voronezh region, the payment for recruiting people to join the war has been increased. At the end of July, the Vyorstka media outlet reported the launch of a referral program in the region for frontline recruitment. At that time, the authorities were offering 15,000 rubles [$170] for each volunteer. As noted by the 7x7—Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet, the payment has now risen to 50,000 rubles [$560].
A referral program for recruiting contract soldiers to participate in the war is also being actively promoted in the city of Yaroslavl. Posters promising 100,000 rubles [$1,120] for each recruited individual have been placed in the city's public transportation.
Advertisements for military service have appeared on school fences in the town of Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region. The banners promise potential soldiers up to 550,000 rubles [$6,170] for signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense. This is likely the old amount before the increase implemented in early August.
Residents of the city of Yekaterinburg have started receiving calls from draft offices, offering them the opportunity to sign contracts for military service. A draft office has confirmed that these calls are indeed taking place.
Public employment centers across Russia have begun offering contract military service as a job option to job seekers, according to the Baza Telegram channel. The report states this development came after the Ministry of Labor established connections with military commissariats. The positions offered vary and include radio operator, infantry soldier, tank operator and others. Failing to attend a scheduled interview or refusing two consecutive job offers could result in the loss of unemployment benefits. Previously, the Prizyv k Sovesti [Call to Conscience] coalition reported that in the Novosibirsk region, a man who approached an employment center was given a referral to the draft office and offered a job as an "infantryman." According to Baza, employment centers are now also offering residents of the Central Federal District the opportunity to work as "general laborers" in the Kursk region, digging trenches and clearing debris after attacks.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
Information continues to emerge about conscript soldiers who have gone missing in the Kursk region. Svetlana Kychkova, a resident of Tyumen, is searching for her 20-year-old conscript son Vladislav. He was conscripted in November and sent to serve in Yelnya, but was transferred to the Kursk region in March. He last made contact on Aug. 4. A few days later, his mother recognized him in a video of captured soldiers released by Ukrainian sources. Irina Yatsyuk from Vologda told the Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel that she is looking for her 21-year-old son Danil. The young man was also conscripted in November and after some time was sent to the border village of Plekhovo in the Kursk region. He was last in contact on Aug. 9. Yatsyuk thought Danil had been captured, but military commanders insist he is still at his post.
Military unit No. 12721 (the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment, stationed in Klintsy in the Bryansk region) has confirmed that dozens of its conscript soldiers, who were stationed on the border of the Kursk region during the Ukrainian Armed Forces' breakthrough, were captured by the Ukrainian side. Vyorstka spoke with Senior Lieutenant Aleksey Chernov, who is involved in searching for missing servicemen. However, he did not specify the exact number of those captured or how many of them might be conscripts.
The Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet compiled reports about conscripts being sent to the Kursk region. In some cases, conscripts were sent immediately or within a few weeks after completing their basic training, while in others, they were sent right away after taking the military oath. According to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel, such reports have come from at least nine regions.
According to the Perm 36.6 Telegram channel, conscripts from Perm are being forced to go to the Kursk region. Their relatives report that the soldiers are being coerced into signing contracts and sent to fight. The young men are being blackmailed, beaten and threatened with consequences if they refuse to comply.
Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] compiled stories told by conscripts’ relatives. According to them, there is no plan to evacuate conscripts. Moreover, authorities have started transferring conscripts from other regions to the combat zone.
Following reports of conscripts being taken prisoner and transferred to the Kursk region, Meduza [international Russian-language online media outlet] published advice on how to protect oneself and one’s relatives from statutory military service, as well as what to do if a relative is already serving in the army.
A soldier stationed at the 7th Military Base in the occupied Abkhazia claims that he was handcuffed to a bed for refusing to go fight in Ukraine. Instead of heading to a health resort for treatment, Aleksandr Belov was about to be sent to the frontline. After he refused, he was handcuffed to a bed and has not been heard from since.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
A court in the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject] has sentenced Danila Orlov, a local resident who was previously recruited from a penal colony for the war in Ukraine, to six years of imprisonment for the attempted murder of a Federal Penitentiary Service officer with whom he had become friends while serving his sentence. In issuing the sentence, the court considered Orlov's participation in the war, his "unsatisfactory state of health" and the presence of a "For Courage" medal as mitigating factors. According to Vyorstka, Orlov had previously been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm. However, the text of the new sentence states that Orlov had no previous convictions, which typically indicates that he was granted a presidential pardon for participating in the war.
The criminal case against Zayndi Takaev, a soldier from Chechnya [Russia's constituent republic], for murder will be reconsidered.Previously, a juryacquitted him due to insufficient evidence. Now, the case will be reviewed in the Luhansk Garrison Military Court without a jury. According to investigators, in June 2022, Takaev shot Private Magomed Shakhbanov in the head during a gathering in the occupied village of Pervomaiske in the Luhansk region. Takaev testified that Shakhbanov was killed by a shot "from the nearby bushes." The examination found the traces on the pistol grip to be "contradictory," and the bullet that killed Shakhbanov was never found.
Nikolay Oglobyak, a member of a satanist cult, who was sentenced in 2010 to 20 years in a penal colony for the ritual murder of four teenagers but was released for participating in the war against Ukraine, has now been sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony in a case related to an attempt on drug trafficking. Under these charges, he was facing up to 25 years of imprisonment. Oglobyak purchased a batch of drugs online, repackaged them and attempted to sell them by concealing packages in the center of Yaroslavl, but was detained.
In Moscow, three young people were detained on suspicion of setting fire to an electric locomotive at Perovo station in Moscow on Aug. 15. The suspects, all residents of Lobnya in the Moscow region, are 21-year-old waitress Anna S., 24-year-old Artyom K. and 20-year-old Yegor A. They allegedly confessed and stated that an unknown person from Telegram promised to pay them $1,500 to $2,000 for setting fire to an electric locomotive. A criminal case has been initiated against them for an act of terrorism, and they face a potential sentence of up to 20 years of imprisonment.
A court in Moscow has sent Yevgeny Smirnov to a pre-trial detention center for setting fire to a Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard] vehicle. As reported by TASS [Russian state-owned news agency], Rosgvardia personnel were in the vehicle at the time of the arson. Smirnov has been charged with an attempted assassination of law enforcement officers.
Iryna Horobtsova, a Ukrainian volunteer and IT specialist, has been sentenced to 10.5 years in a penal colony for espionage in the occupied part of the Kherson region. She was accused of providing Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence with information about the movements of Russian troops and military vehicles in the city of Kherson. Horobtsova was abducted from her home in Kherson by Russian law enforcement officers in May 2022 and illegally detained in pre-trial detention for two years. It was only in March 2024 that her case was finally brought to trial.
In Moscow, Mikhail Rylov has been sentenced to six and a half years in a penal colony for preparing to commit high treason. The specifics of the charges against him remain unknown as treason trials are conducted behind closed doors. According to Rylov's lawyer, the prosecution initially sought a 10-year sentence for the alleged crime. According to Mediazona, Rylov was previously sentenced to 12 days of administrative arrest for minor hooliganism in October of last year and has been in pre-trial detention since October 20, 2023.
Assistance
In Sochi, families of participants in the war with Ukraine will receive 50,000 rubles [$560] to help prepare their children for school. Meanwhile, in the Zabaykalsky region, families of participants in the "special military operation" will receive 20,000 rubles [$220] for firewood.
According to Sergey Kabyshev, head of the Committee on Science and Higher Education, 15,000 participants in the "special military operation" and their children have been admitted to universities under a special quota. A year ago, 9,400 applicants were admitted under the same quota.
The city of Chita will host a festival of "modern frontline art" on Sept. 7. Residents will take part in weaving camouflage nets and making trench candles. Additionally, children will have a chance to go through military recruit training.
In the Chelyabinsk region, military wives are being sent proper behavior guides. The advice includes supporting their husbands' hobbies, helping with household chores, frequently expressing love and maintaining family traditions. Additionally, the guidelines suggest that wives remove anything that might encourage their husbands to engage in prolonged alcohol consumption.
Children
The minimum age for enlistment in DOSAAF [Russian Army, Air Force and Navy Volunteer Society] may be lowered from 18 to 14 years old, according to a federal law currently under public discussion. DOSAAF is involved in "patriotic education" of youth, supports authorities in youth policy matters and assists with military mobilization.
In Buryatia [Russia’s constituent republic], at the Ogonyok [Light] camp near Ulan-Ude, children were taught how to plant mines, throw grenades, assemble and disassemble assault rifles and carry wounded soldiers off the battlefield. Additionally, a low-flying FPV drone carrying a fake rocket-propelled grenade was used to frighten the children.
Miscellaneous
A re-enactment of the Russian Army’s assault on Mariupol took place in the town of Kasimov in the Ryazan region. During the event, volunteers, along with elderly women from Kasimov weaved camouflage nets and warm socks for the army. Participants also had the opportunity to practice evacuating wounded soldiers.
Residents of six Russian border regions (Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Krasnodar regions), as well as the annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, will be able to vote early in the September elections. Early voting will begin on Aug. 28, following a decision by the Central Election Commission aimed at "ensuring citizens' rights."
The anxiety level among Russians has noticeably increased following the AFU offensive in the Kursk region, rising from 39% to 45%, according to the data of the Public Opinion Foundation. However, this level is still lower than during the mobilization and the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as pointed out by Vyorstka. The same poll also indicates that the number of Russians dissatisfied with the government has reached its highest point since Prigozhin’s armed rebellion.
Fake phishing websites for the "Russian Volunteer Corps" and the "Freedom of Russia Legion" were ranked higher than the legitimate ones in Yandex search results. These fake sites may have been used by Russian special services as a means to collect personal data from those wishing to join these AFU units. The fraudulent sites contained a form that needed to be filled out to enlist in these units.
Longreads
The Proshchai Oruzhiye [A Farewell to Arms] organization released an interview with deserters, discussing what is happening inside the army, their decision to desert and why they view it as their only option. The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking Telegram channel] also shared the story of a man who fled the war and endured significant hardships.
The Astra Telegram channel published an investigation into the abandoned Petrovska coal mine in Donetsk, where the officers of the 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade organized a real "concentration camp" for their own soldiers.The purpose of the torture was to replenish manpower for "meat assaults," as well as to extort salaries and injury compensation from subordinates. Additionally, American war blogger Russell Bentley was tortured to death at this location.