Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 19-20, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The federal government has endorsed a bill proposed by the Supreme Court to allow criminal courts to suspend trials if defendants conclude a contract with the Ministry of Defense to fight in Ukraine. They would be released from criminal liability upon completion of their military service. The Supreme Court judges explained that the bill is "needed to eliminate an emerging legal gap and is intended to increase the level of procedural guarantees for persons who have committed a crime."

Additionally, the federal government endorsed a bill on debt relief for participants of the war. It proposes measures to write off loans and house and housing and communal services if a participant receives an award, completes their military service or is killed in action.

Members of United Russia [Putin’s ruling party] have introduced a bill into the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] to give military personnel, raising disabled children, priority access to housing. Presently, this measure is available to service members with three or more children.

17 individuals have been killed and 140 have sustained injuries, as a result of the incursion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the Kursk region, according to TASS [Russian state-owned news agency]. 122,000 local residents had to leave their homes. Furthermore, the Russian Red Cross has received over 1,500 requests for missing persons, of which approximately 100 have been found. In parallel, the Liza Alert search-and-rescue organization received 779 requests and was able to locate 111 individuals.

The operational headquarters of the Kursk region has canceled SMS alerts about missile threats due to "technical reasons." According to Aleksey Smirnov, acting Governor of the Kursk region, it is "no longer feasible" to send out timely warnings about missile and UAV threats. Additionally, the cancellation of these alerts is intended to reduce the load on cellular networks to ensure better "operational communication." Residents of the Kursk region can now receive up-to-date information about alerts through the governor's and regional government's Telegram channels, as well as via push notifications from the Ministry of Emergency Situations app.

The Central Election Commission is planning to postpone municipal elections in the Kursk region from 2024 to 2025 due to "territorial uncertainty," according to two sources in government bodies who spoke to the Vyorstka media outlet. This decision has reportedly been agreed upon with Sergey Kirienko, the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration. As a result, the terms of office for 228 municipal deputies and district heads will be extended by at least one year.

The Kursk regional election commission, amid the ongoing AFU offensive, has scheduled early gubernatorial elections. This decision was made "to ensure the safety, protection of life, and health of citizens." The early voting is set to take place from Aug. 28 to Sept. 5, with the main voting scheduled for Sept. 6, 7, and 8. The specific locations, dates, and times for voting will be determined "depending on the tactical situation."

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

In the Kurgan region, starting Aug. 15, the signing bonus for enlisting with the Ministry of Defense will reach 650,000 rubles [$7,240]. In addition to the regional payment, new recruits will also receive 400,000 rubles [$4,450] from the Ministry of Defense and an extra 50,000 rubles [$560] as "additional monetary incentive." As a result, the total signing bonus will amount to 1.1 million rubles [$12,300].

According to calculations by Vazhnyye Istorii, the average regional sign-up bonus for enlisting with the Ministry of Defense has quadrupled since the beginning of the year. Currently, the regional payment averages 596,000 rubles [$6,640], which is 3.6 times higher than at the end of 2023. Including the federal component, the average total bonus has reached 1 million rubles [$11,100]. After Putin increased the federal payment in late July and recommended that regions pay new contract soldiers at least 400,000 rubles [$4,450], 47 Russian regions have increased their signing bonuses.

According to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all]  Telegram channel, Moscow residents have reportedly begun receiving electronic "draft notices for data check-up" en masse through the mos.ru service. One of five conscripts who previously received such an electronic "draft notice" was later handed a paper draft notice for data verification right at his apartment door.

The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel has reported that two convicts serving a life sentence have been denied deployment to the frontline. One of them is Aleksandr Ageyev, the murderer of singer Mikhail Krug, and the other is Vladimir Alekseyev, a member of the Tsapok gang, who murdered at least 18 people. Both criminals had previously submitted petitions for release in exchange for participation in the war. However, according to the source, the courts denied their requests, citing a confidential joint order by the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Internal Affairs, prohibiting the deployment of those sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Konstantin Alyoshin from the Astrakhan region and Nikolay Stafik from Russia’s constituent Republic of Chuvashia.

The Astra Telegram channel has reported on another torture chamber organized in the Nizhny Novgorod region in a ruined building on the territory of the 47th Guards Tank Division in the village of Mulino. In the building, wounded mobilized soldiers are handcuffed to a radiator and subjected to physical abuse before being forcibly sent to the war. This was reported to the publication by a serviceman of the 272nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, which is part of the division. The illegal prison is reportedly overseen by acting unit commander Captain Bogdan Romanov. The Investigative Committee and the prosecutor’s office have consistently refused to initiate criminal proceedings in response to all appeals.

Conscripts from the Kemerovo and Irkutsk regions are slated to be transferred to the Kursk region. Mothers of conscripts already in the Kursk region have confirmed the information to the Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet. In their words, Siberian conscripts serving inside the Belgorod and Bryansk regions were transferred to the Kursk region after the AFU offensive started. According to the Idite Lesom! project, at least 250 conscripts from Saint Petersburg and 90 from Moscow were transferred to the Kursk region after the Ukrainian army entered there. As conscripts are being transferred to the Kursk region, commanders force them to sign contracts with the military.

A Krasnoyarsk conscript informed his family of a possibility of being transferred to the town of Sudzha. The young man was called up during the November 2023 regular biannual conscription and sent to Ussuriysk. In April, he was transferred to the vicinity of the village of Korenevo in the Kursk region. When the AFU offensive started, the soldier came under artillery attack but came out unharmed. He has recently texted that he could be sent to Sudzha in the near future. According to the documentation, however, the conscript is still assigned to a unit in Ussuriysk.

The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel explains why it is necessary to certify a soldier’s POW status. In addition to eligibility for inclusion in prisoner exchange lists, a documented POW status provides additional benefits: time in captivity counts as time served in the military and, once a POW returns, he cannot be assigned to active duty.

In the "DPR" (Donetsk People's Republic), a pregnant paramedic is facing charges of unauthorized absence after leaving her unit in the 35th week of pregnancy. The woman signed a contract in the summer of 2023 and served as a paramedic in Donetsk until the end of February. She then worked as a nurse until her 30th week of pregnancy, after which she submitted a request for maternity leave and submitted all the necessary documents. However, in violation of regulations, her leave was denied. After she left the unit, she was listed as AWOL, and her pay was stopped.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

In Makhachkala, a police officer from the Patrol and Checkpoint Service (PPS) has been charged with exceeding his authority and causing grievous bodily harm, resulting in death by negligence. The case involves the death of 49-year-old war veteran Akhmed Dzhabrailov on July 9 at the police department in Makhachkala's Sovetsky District. Dzhabrailov was detained after local residents complained about his erratic and aggressive behavior. He resisted arrest during his detention. Later, the head of the Public Monitoring Commission of Dagestan [Russia’s constituent republic] released videos from the police station showing the detainee being beaten. In one of the videos, he was beaten with fists and a stun gun while officers held him down on the floor. Doctors who arrived later pronounced him dead. Recently, the deceased man's mother recorded an appeal to the head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, calling for those responsible to be punished.

In Pskov, two Russian soldiers, Danil Vasilyev and Anton Bayurov, have been sentenced to six years in a penal colony for going AWOL.

Garrison courts of the Southern Military District have heard new cases of servicemen accused of going AWOL:

• Mobilized soldier Denis Pletnikov was sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony for being absent from his unit for over a month.
• Contract soldier Aleksey Naberezhny was also sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony for being absent from service from October 2023 to February 2024.
• 28-year-old Maksim Natalukha, who went AWOL 10 times after the mobilization was announced, as his three-month contract had already expired, was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony.
• Dmitry Martynenko also cited the expiration of his contract as the reason for leaving his unit. He fled from a temporary deployment point in the occupied territories of Ukraine because his one-year contract had expired. The court sentenced Martynenko to five years and three months in a penal colony.
• Mobilized soldier Oleg Romanchuk was sentenced to six years in a penal colony for being absent from his unit from February 2023 to March 2024, when he was detained by military police.

A former soldier, who was sentenced in August 2023 to two years and eight months in a penal settlement for refusing to participate in combat operations, was released from the colony before serving his full term. After serving a quarter of his sentence, he submitted a petition to have the remainder of his sentence replaced with compulsory labor. The administration of the penal settlement supported this initiative.

In Krasnodar, two students from the Kuban Institute of Professional Education,18-year-old Bogdan and 17-year-old Daniil, along with a 16-year-old school student, were detained on suspicion of setting fire to a locomotive on Aug. 13. The detainees allegedly confessed to the arson, claiming they acted on instructions from an unknown person who contacted them via Telegram and promised a $1,500 reward. Criminal case has been initiated against the young men under the article of terrorist attack, and they face up to 15 years in prison.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has reported the arrest of an employee of a scientific organization in Moscow on charges of treason and illegal interference with infrastructure. The individual, accused of allegedly conducting DDoS attacks on critical facilities, gathering military intelligence, and transferring funds to the AFU, was reportedly acting under orders from Ukraine. Footage suggests that the arrest took place back in winter. According to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, the detainee is Artyom Khoroshilov, a PhD in Physics and Mathematics and a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, currently working at the Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Notably, the treason charges were only introduced only in August, several months after his arrest in December 2023.

A court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Igor Korchinsky, a 35-year-old native of Melitopol, to 18 years in a penal colony on charges of preparing a terrorist attack, undergoing training to carry out a terrorist attack, and illegal possession of firearms. According to investigators, Korchinsky, acting under the direction of Ukrainian intelligence services, planned to assassinate Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, by detonating a car bomb. Allegedly, he received training from a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) operative and obtained explosives in Simferopol.

Children

In Ufa, Wagner Group mercenaries met with children carrying automatic weapons and talked about the war as part of an interactive outreach program called "War Relics." The children were allowed to handle and aim the weapons and try on bulletproof vests.

In Perm, a participant in the war with Ukraine, Aleksandr Grigorenko, took charge of a local school. Grigorenko is a former deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject]. In 2014, he participated in the war in Ukraine, and after the full-scale invasion began, he returned to the frontline several times and led an assault unit of the 228th Regiment of the 90th Tank Division. After being wounded and having his hand amputated, Grigorenko returned to Perm and started conducting "lessons of courage" for school students.

Assistance

In Udmurtia [Russia’s constituent republic], a settlement called Rodina will be built for the families of soldiers who died in the war in Ukraine. A local entrepreneur plans to construct an entire neighborhood with streets named after soldiers who were killed in the war in Ukraine, funded by the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund.

In the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], a project is being developed to exempt the families of soldiers killed in the "special military operation" from paying kindergarten fees.

Miscellaneous

Russian soldiers have appealed to the head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, with a request to "give a positive assessment of the case" of the Makhachkala airport riot participant Mikail Razakov and to release him from the pre-trial detention center. Razakov fought against Ukraine, and after being wounded, went to Dagestan, where he took part in an antisemitic riot in October last year. Razakov’s fellow soldiers stated that he "showed his good side" in the war.

In Saint Petersburg, the second election commission is named after a war casualty. Election commission No. 1326 was named after Pyotr Shmelyov, the deputy chairman of the territorial election commission who was killed in the war, while election commission No. 1592 was named after Grigory Chubko, who served as its chairman before being sent to the frontline.

In the Saratov region, 44 "special military operation" museums have been opened in 33 districts and four urban districts, as reported by the regional government on Aug. 18. It is planned to open such museums in all 37 districts of the Saratov region by the end of August. They are being opened at the behest of Governor Roman Busargin.