Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 26-27, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
According to the Vyorstka media outlet, the number of recruits signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense in Moscow has doubled since the beginning of August. This increase is supported by daily statistics from a one-stop military recruitment facility, which journalists obtained from a source within the mayor's office. During the week of July 29 to Aug. 4, an average of 97 people per day signed contracts. However, from Aug. 19 to 25, this number rose to 213 people per day. According to the source, half of those currently signing contracts are motivated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine's recent incursions into the Kursk region. The source also noted that more Muscovites and those who had long considered joining began enlisting after the AFU's offensive. It is worth noting that on July 23, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin introduced a one-time sign-up bonus of 1.9 million rubles [$20,700] for signing a contract to participate in the war. The increase in the number of volunteers began before the AFU's offensive in the Kursk region, leading CIT to believe that the financial incentive may be the primary reason for the rise in volunteers.
In two penal colonies in the Omsk region—penal colonies No. 6 and No. 7—convicts are being massively recruited, according to information provided by Olga Romanova, Executive Director of the Rus’ Sidyashchaya [Russia Behind Bars] civil rights movement to the Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet. Romanova estimates that more than 40% of convicts from these colonies have gone to fight in Ukraine. A local human rights activist also confirmed the information about mass recruitment to Sibir.Realii. Although it is difficult to determine the exact number of those sent to the frontline, it is clear that the recruitment rate has decreased because the majority of convicts were recruited earlier. Whereas between 200 and 300 convicts were taken each month in 2022, now only 20 to 30 are being recruited. According to open sources, convicts from the maximum security Penal Colony No. 6 signed contracts to go to the frontline in December 2022 and April 2024, while convicts from the Penal Colony No. 7 participated in combat in February 2024. Romanova notes that for many convicts, joining the war offered a chance to avoid torture and escape the unbearable conditions of their detention.
The Russian-appointed "authorities" of occupied Crimea have announced that they will distribute land plots on the peninsula to all Russian citizens, regardless of their place of residence, if they sign a contract with the MoD and go to war. Previously, these land allocations were only available to residents of Crimea.
Aleksandr Belyushin, a resident of the Sverdlovsk region, who was sentenced to nine and a half years in a penal colony for the murder of his ex-wife, has gone to fight in Ukraine. On Aug. 20, he posted a photo of himself wearing a military uniform and holding a weapon. In December 2022, after an argument, Belyushin first struck his wife, strangled her and then hid the body in the forest. The deceased left behind five children. Before the murder, Belyushin had been convicted of a series of thefts and intentional grievous bodily harm, spending more than ten years in prison.
Sergeant Stanislav Ionkin, who was sentenced to 20 years in a penal colony for setting fire to a club in the city of Kostroma, has signed a contract with the MoD again and gone to fight in Ukraine. In November 2022, Ionkin fired a flare gun inside the Polygon club in Kostroma, causing a fire that resulted in the deaths of 13 people.
In the Irkutsk region, the court has denied the deployment of Yakov Sandakov, the former regional Minister of Health, to the war. Sandakov was accused of accepting bribes amounting to 7 million rubles [$76,300] and other crimes. The prosecutor opposed Sandakov's appeal and the court agreed.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Valery Shuvaev from the Voronezh region and Roman Kiporenko from the Zabaykalsky region [Russia’s federal subject].
In the Irkutsk region, a burial was held for the first contract soldier born in 2006. Yury Chernikov, aged 18, signed a contract in early March of this year, shortly after coming of age, and was deployed to the frontline as early as March 23. Recently, there has been an increase in frequency of reports of soldiers aged 18 and 19 dying in the war. After changes to the legislation, individuals can now sign up for contract military service immediately upon turning 18.
The Astra Telegram channel has identified the location where Yevgeny Zarubin, the commander of the Storm unit of the 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade, is currently being held. It was previously reported that he was assaulted, put in a pit and then taken to an undisclosed location with a bag over his head as a punishment for a video that was spread online. According to Zarubin’s former comrades, he is now being held in solitary confinement in the village of Kamenka in the Leningrad region, where he is beaten at night and threatened with being taken to the frontline and executed.
Viktor Stegantsev, a mobilized reconnaissance unit commander of the 245th Regiment, complained that reconnaissance operatives on the Kharkiv front are being forced to carry out assault missions after assault units from this section of the front were redeployed to the Kursk region. According to Stegantsev, the regiment commander ordered them to surrender their phones and prepare for assault, threatening to transfer them to a convict-formed assault unit if they refused. He stated that neither he nor his subordinates have received training as assault troops but were trained for other tasks. Stegantsev has filed a complaint with the Military Prosecutor's Office to investigate the actions of the regiment commander.
A contract soldier from the Primorsky region, who moves with a cane, was sent from the occupied part of the Donetsk region near Lgov to the Kursk region. According to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, his family has been trying for three months to arrange a military medical board for him and secure treatment. The soldier was wounded in 2023 in the Avdiivka direction but was sent back to forward positions with bandages a week later, where he was wounded again. He was supposed to receive a hip replacement, but the surgery has not been performed.
Moscow student Ivan Petin signed a three-month contract with the MoD in August 2022 to "support his country and earn money." However, when the contract expired, he tried to return home, unaware that he could not resign during mobilization. Petin was detained and taken to a basement jail in the village of Zaitseve, Luhansk region, where he was threatened to sign another contract. A week later, he was released to Moscow supposedly on leave, resumed his studies and unsuccessfully attempted to resign. In August, military police visited his home and informed his family that he was wanted for going AWOL. Petin is currently in a military unit in the Moscow region and may face charges of going AWOL.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The military police have put Ivan Bazhenov, who went missing in action in the combat zone, on a wanted list. In May 2024, Bazhenov was deployed to the frontline from a penal colony, where he was serving a nine-year sentence for the murder of his wife. Notices about his search were posted, including in Chelyabinsk, where he previously lived. It is claimed that he fled from the frontline in June. However, it is possible that Bazhenov was killed and that his body remained in the combat zone.
In Adygea [Russia’s constituent republic], a 34-year-old soldier from the Krasnodar region has been sentenced to 23 years in a maximum security penal colony for systematic sexual violence against his daughter and going AWOL. The soldier had been raping his daughter, who was under 14 years old, for about seven years, from 2016 to 2023. In September 2022, after the announcement of mobilization, he deserted from his unit in the Zaporizhzhia region. The man was detained in March 2023. He pled guilty to going AWOL but denied the charge of sexual violence. His sentence was mitigated due to "positive character references from his duty station."
The Vladivostok Garrison Military Court has sentenced Aleksey R., a contract soldier from the Primorsky region, to five years of imprisonment for going AWOL. In January 2024, the soldier was granted leave but chose not to return. The overall length of the sentence was influenced by previous probation for another crime. The court considered his participation in combat and his desire to return to the frontline as mitigating factors but found no grounds for a probationary sentence.
In the Yaroslavl region, 20-year-old Stanislav Serov from Rybinsk has been sentenced to six years in a penal colony on charges of preparing an act of terror at a military facility. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Serov was allegedly recruited online by the "Freedom of Russia Legion" and agreed to carry out the task for 100,000 rubles [$1,090]. He was caught red-handed, reportedly having prepared an incendiary mixture in close proximity to the target site.
In the Kurgan region, the FSB has detained a man who, according to law enforcement, was allegedly recruited by Ukrainian military intelligence in 2023.They claim that he collected and passed information about the locations and numbers of Russian troops in combat zones to Ukrainian intelligence. He is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center.
A court in Saint Petersburg has sentenced student Aleksandra Karasyova to one and a half years in a penal settlement for setting fire to an information sign on the porch of a polling station. On March 15, 2024, she went to the school housing the polling stations and threw a bottle with an incendiary mixture at the building's wall.
Assistance
In the Irkutsk region, members of the regional Legislative Assembly have delivered new toolsets to volunteers of the "Sewing and Knitting for the Front in Ust-Ilimsk" movement.
In the Saratov region, authorities will allocate 233.4 million rubles [$2.55 million] for medical assistance for military personnel during the "special military operation" period. Meanwhile, in the Primorsky region, 7 billion rubles [$76.34 million] have been allocated for "support measures" aimed at participants of the war in Ukraine and their families.
Longreads
The Novaya Vkladka [New Tab] media outlet published an article highlighting the challenges faced by military wives in their attempts to organize rehabilitation or demobilize their wounded and seriously ill mobilized husbands, whom authorities try to send back to the frontline. The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] compared the assistance provided to Russian soldiers who became disabled due to their participation in the war with the support given to military personnel in similar situations in Ukraine and Israel.
Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] released an interview with Andrey Pivovarov, a political prisoner who was released on Aug. 1, 2024 as part of a prisoner exchange. In the interview, Pivovarov discussed the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners in Russian pre-trial detention centers, as well as his views on the combat operations in the Kursk region.