Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 19-21, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment

Authorities in Chita issued a digital draft notice to a 55-year-old reserve officer, summoning him to the local draft office for a data check-up. Last September, the man received a similar paper notice. When he visited the draft office, he learned it was for military training. Previously, several reports had emerged from residents of the Tver region who also received digital draft notices.

Police officers in Irkutsk are conducting door-to-door "surveys" to gauge residents' willingness to join the war, informing at least one resident that participation in the survey is mandatory under an unspecified presidential decree.

A court suspended criminal proceedings against Nikolai Dautov, a 40-year-old man accused of killing a Leninsk-Kuznetskiy resident and her six-month-old child. The suspension followed a petition from the head of a recruitment center where the defendant had enlisted to join the war effort. Investigators concluded that on April 1, 2025, an intoxicated Dautov, driving without a license, struck a woman walking with a stroller on the side of the road. Authorities charged the man with an aggravated violation of traffic rules causing two deaths, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Defense, with the participation of the Narodnyj Front [People’s Frontline] organization, to prepare a training course for servicemen and members of volunteer formations on shooting down drones with smoothbore weapons. Proposals are to be submitted by Oct. 1, 2025, with Russia’s Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov appointed as the responsible official.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Servicemen of the 83rd Air Assault Brigade are suspected of mass cases of self-inflicted wounds in order to receive payments for injuries. The Main Military Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee has completed investigations into criminal cases against the brigade commander, Colonel Artyom Gorodilov, and the head of the special operations group, Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Frolov. Both are charged under the article on large-scale fraud, and Frolov is also charged with bribery, illegal arms trafficking, and possession of explosives.

A total of 35 soldiers and officers from the brigade are involved in the case. According to investigators, the servicemen illegally received over 200 million rubles [$2.49 million] from the budget, as well as benefits, leave, and state awards—Orders of Courage and Medals for Courage. For instance, Frolov sustained four injuries during the war, but expert examination determined that the lieutenant colonel was wounded "not in combat conditions." The officer himself admitted that, in order to receive a payout of 3 million rubles [$37,400], his fellow soldiers shot him at his own request, aiming so as not to hit vital organs. Investigators believe that the four Orders of Courage and two Medals for Courage awarded to him were granted illegally.

Furthermore, law enforcement officers called reports about the lieutenant colonel, which had appeared in national media, fake. In March 2024, videos about Frolov were published by the MoD and several state and pro-government outlets. The report claimed that Frolov, being the father of three daughters, had adopted a girl rescued from shelling and had commanded "the most effective sniper group." It also stated that, "following the call of officer’s honor," Frolov refused rehabilitation and returned to the frontline after his seventh injury.

‍The Garrison Military Court in Omsk has sentenced war participant Yevgeny Perkushevich to five years in a penal settlement for going AWOL. In 2023, Perkushevich, who was performing contract military service in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, left for Omsk without permission. In May 2025, the man turned himself in to the military investigation department and reported his whereabouts. Military investigators opened a case for desertion, but the court reclassified the offense, reducing its gravity from serious to medium-severity.

A conscript from Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan has overturned a guilty verdict for evading military service at appeal. In July 2024 a lower court fined him 50,000 rubles [$620], finding that after being assigned fitness category B-3 (fit for military service with minor restrictions) he failed to respond to a draft notice. He said he could not perform military service due to health conditions. During the appeal a military forensic medical examination confirmed serious spinal illnesses corresponding to service fitness category "V" (partially fit for military service). The court concluded there was no crime and acquitted him, acknowledging his right to rehabilitation.

The court in Ufa arrested a 19-year-old man accused of setting fire to the equipment at the city’s railway station. According to investigators, the Ufa resident received a message in a messenger app offering 80,000 rubles [$1,000] to set fire to a railway special equipment. He went to take photos of the machine, and the next day carried out the arson. The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic] reported that on Aug. 17, the cabin of a track-alignment machine near the Ufa station was set on fire. A case of sabotage was opened against the young man. The court’s press service published a video of the hearing, showing the young man with his head and hands bandaged, according to media reports, he suffered burns to his head and hands during the arson.

A court in Saint Petersburg sentenced 28-year-old Kazakh national Artur Martynov to 16 years in a penal colony on charges of espionage, sabotage, undergoing training for sabotage, undergoing training for terrorist acts, aiding terrorism, and attempting a terrorist attack. Investigators believe Martynov underwent training and received a cover story, after which he traveled to Russia, where he allegedly provided Ukrainian intelligence with the coordinates of an oil refinery in Saint Petersburg, set fire to two cell towers, a distribution panel, and a power cable, and also attempted to ignite a transformer. He was detained in 2023 and placed in a pre-trial detention center. According to the Kremlin-aligned news outlet Mash, when Martynov learned of the charges against him, he attempted to take his own life.

A resident of the village of Belokurakino, in the Russian-occupied part of the Luhansk region, has been sentenced to 17 years in a maximum security penal colony on treason charges. Investigators allege that, "out of a misguided sense of patriotism," he provided Ukraine’s Security Service with military-related information. He also reportedly approached a National Guard acquaintance, offering money in exchange for details on the location of a fuel depot in the Luhansk region. The acquaintance refused and reported the offer to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

French citizen Laurent Vinatier, previously sentenced to three years in a penal colony for collecting military information without registering as a "foreign agent," now faces new espionage charges. Details of the case have not been disclosed. Vinatier was detained in the summer of 2024 and accused of meeting with three Russian citizens to collect information on "mobilization, military training," and the political situation, which could allegedly be used against Russia’s security. After reports of the new case appeared in the media, the Moscow City Court removed from its website a record extending Vinatier’s detention. The fact that only the extension notice briefly appeared online—rather than the arrest record itself—suggests officials initially sought to conceal the new case.

The FSB has announced the arrest of Azerbaijani citizen Yadulla Ramiz oglu Rufullayev at the Russian-Azerbaijani border in Russia’s constituent Republic of Dagestan. According to the FSB, Rufullayev was allegedly recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and was attempting to smuggle classified materials out of Russia. The documents in question were reportedly "obtained following an attack on a holder of classified information from the Russian military-industrial complex" and later retrieved from a cache in the Kurgan region. Authorities claim Rufullayev was acting on behalf of his brother, who resides in Ukraine and is employed by the SBU. In an interview with the Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet, Rufullayev’s wife stated that he departed for Russia on July 21 and was detained on Aug. 16. She said he contacted her to explain that his detention was linked to a phone call from his brother in Ukraine and asked her to send certain documents before communication was cut off.

Children and Militarization

By the beginning of the new school year, schools and officials are making large-scale purchases of equipment and services for the Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland course. Procurement began in April 2024, and by now the total value of contracts nationwide has exceeded 2 billion rubles [$24.92 million]. The most common item in the purchases has been mock grenades, which appear more than 700 times. In second place are mock weapons, about 480 items. Wound simulators and mannequins are included in roughly 350 tenders. For the purchase of textbooks on the new subject from the Prosveshcheniye publishing house, schools have spent more than 15 million rubles [$186,900].

In one village in the Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev opened a classroom where students will study working with drones—it will become part of the Children’s Diocesan Educational Center. According to Fedorishchev, within five years similar classrooms will open in all schools of the region.

Assistance

Alexander Beglov, governor of Saint Petersburg, has signed a decree extending city payments for injuries sustained in the invasion of Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022, to members of volunteer units, convicts, and Wagner Group mercenaries. The decree refers to them as individuals who have "signed a contract with an organization assisting in carrying out special tasks assigned to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation." Previously, such payments were available only to servicemen of the National Guard. Under the new rules, "volunteers" are entitled to 1 million rubles [$12,50] for an injury resulting in a Group I disability, 750,000 rubles [$9,350] for a Group II or III disability, and 500,000 rubles [$6,230] for an injury that did not result in disability.

In Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, the "Defenders of the Fatherland Cup" opened with about 130 disabled veterans of the war in Ukraine competing. Former soldiers are taking part in several disciplines, including sitting volleyball, powerlifting, rifle shooting, archery, and showdown, a sport similar to table tennis and air hockey for the blind and visually impaired.

Authorities in Russia’s Volgograd region will allocate 18 million rubles [$224,300] to provide food and uniforms for former soldiers enrolled in the governor’s Stalingrad Call program. According to the officials, the initiative is "aimed at integrating participants of the special military operation into leadership roles in the country’s governance."

Miscellaneous

In the Murmansk region, a new project will invite blind and visually impaired individuals to showcase their skills in waging war. The program will feature a military-sports game called Zarnitsa, where participants will demonstrate their knowledge of land navigation, tactical problem-solving, formation movement, as well as reconnaissance, offensive and defensive maneuvers, and the assembly and disassembly of an assault rifle. To fund the project, the Federation of Sports for the Blind received 1,7 million rubles [$21,200] from the Presidential Grants Foundation, bringing the total project budget to 5,3 million rubles [$66,100].