Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 8-9, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Despite the unfolding events in the Kursk region, no new wave of mobilization is expected, stated Viktor Zavarzin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly] Defense Committee. Viktor Sobolev, another member of the committee, made a similar statement, affirming that “everything is going according to plan.”
The Ministry of Emergency Situations will compensate persons affected by an “emergency situation of a federal nature”—the term used by officials for the fighting taking place in the Kursk region—with a lump-sum payment of 15,000 rubles [$170]. It will be increased to 75,000 or 150,000 rubles [$870 or $1,740] if their “basic needs” are no longer met due to partial or complete property loss, respectively. Earlier, Vladimir Putin had promised displaced residents of the region a lump-sum payment of 10,000 rubles [$120]. In comparison, authorities offer much higher bonuses of at least 400,000 rubles [$4,620] to individuals who conclude a contract with the Ministry of Defense. Governors across the country have announced an urgent collection of humanitarian aid and funds in favor of Kursk region residents. In particular, Magadan regional authorities have announced that they will collect donations through the Magadan Social Partnership Fund, which has not published any spending data for over a year. Regions are also required to take in refugees from the Kursk region.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
In the Krasnodar region, authorities have increased the sign-up bonus paid to new contract soldiers for the fourth time this year. The bonus is now set at 1.2 million rubles [$13,900], up from the 1 million rubles [$11,600] that had been offered since April. When factoring in the federal component of 400,000 rubles [$4,620] and additional municipal payments ranging between 200,000 and 300,000 rubles [$2,310-3,470], the total bonus can reach 1.9 million rubles [$22,000].
Following a decision taken by Sverdlovsk regional authorities, the Yekaterinburg city administration has introduced another sign-up bonus for concluding contracts with the MoD. Individuals registered in Yekaterinburg who sign up for contract-based military service between the dates of Aug. 15 and Dec. 31 will receive an additional 100,000 rubles [$1,160]. Including regional and federal payments, contract soldiers may receive up to 1 million rubles [$11,600] in total.
Russia’s constituent Republic of Tatarstan has launched five-day military training courses for those who sign contracts with the MoD. These men are promised to be trained into “real professionals.” The courses reportedly cover weapons handling, drone piloting, survival in combat and medical assistance. Upon completion, even those with no prior experience with weapons will be deployed to the frontline. The program attracts participants from various regions, as Tatarstan actively encourages men to travel there for enlistment by offering one of the highest sign-up bonuses in the country, totaling 1.7 million rubles [$19,600]. Moreover, the republic has launched commercials with the slogan “Come to Tatarstan, learn how to fight” to recruit more soldiers.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Vasily Kobzev from the Oryol region.
At least 159 Russian conscript soldiers have been killed since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to an investigation by BBC News Russian, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and a team of volunteers using open sources. Despite Putin's earlier promise not to deploy conscripts in the war, they began dying on the very first day of the invasion and continue to be killed in artillery strikes in Russia's border regions and occupied Crimea. During the Ukrainian Armed Forces' advance into the Kursk region, several conscripts were captured. Alongside border guard units, they found themselves on the frontline of Russia's defense without heavy weaponry or military equipment. Meanwhile, officers in military units are reportedly trying to coerce young soldiers into signing contracts with the MoD.
The Vyorstka media outlet published a recording of a conversation between a conscript from the Kursk region and his mother during a breakthrough by the AFU. The soldier, named Aleksey, described how he and a group of soldiers abandoned their positions and fled unarmed towards the town of Sudzha or the village of Goncharovka after fighting broke out at their location. While some officers and conscripts remained at their posts, Aleksey and other soldiers wandered "somewhere in the forest." On Aug. 6, Aleksey called his mother from someone else's phone, but after that, all contact with him was lost and his current whereabouts are unknown.
The Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet has reported that conscripts from the Irkutsk region are being prepared for deployment to the Russia-Ukraine border. Those drafted in spring 2024 are set to replace fall conscripts in the Kursk and Belgorod regions. According to the aunt of one young man, her nephew and his fellow servicemen were informed that they would be sent to the border after a three-month basic training course. Commanders assert that the conscripts will only be digging trenches there. A friend of a conscript told TV Rain [independent Russian television channel] that conscripts from Moscow are also being sent to the Kursk region.
The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel reports that servicemen from Storm-V units, recruited from ex-convicts, are no longer being allowed to leave their bases during sick leave. In recent months, former inmates who signed contracts with the MoD have been increasingly complaining about this practice. However, the prosecutor's office of the Mulino garrison, where the 47th Guards Tank Division is based, has deemed the command's actions lawful. This is despite the fact that, by law, contract servicemen are granted sick leave during which they are entitled to move freely, including leaving the military base. In its decision, the prosecutor's office cited Article 80.2 of the Criminal Code, which states that supervision of servicemen who are released on probation for signing contracts is carried out by the command.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Voronezh, 25-year-old Yaroslav Shekhovtsov, a former Wagner Group mercenary, has been sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony for the murder of two fellow mercenaries. Shekhovtsov committed the murders in June 2023 during the armed rebellion organized by Yevgeny Prigozhin [deceased owner of the Wagner Group], when a column of mercenaries passed through the Voronezh region. The bodies of the two men, dressed in camouflage and had gunshot wounds, were found near a village shortly after the rebellion ended. A few days later, Shekhovtsov was arrested on suspicion of the crime. According to the Baza Telegram channel, citing investigative documents, the conflict allegedly arose because the two soldiers refused to participate in the rebellion. However, the 7x7—Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet reported that all three mercenaries wanted to surrender to avoid participating in the rebellion, but Shekhovtsov, fearing that his fellow soldiers would kill him, shot them instead. The victims were identified as Ivan Tsaregorodtsev and Denis Abramov.
In the Nizhny Novgorod region, 24-year-old war participant Yury fatally stabbed his 23-year-oldwife Elizaveta. According to preliminary reports, the couple had a quarrel over jealousy. Yury had arrived in Dzerzhinsk on leave shortly before the murder. According to acquaintances, the couple was in the process of divorcing, with proceedings scheduled for Aug. 9. A friend of Elizaveta said that she stopped answering calls on the night of the murder. It became known that Yury, who fled the crime scene, died in an accident after swerving into oncoming traffic and colliding with a truck. The victim’s body with stab wounds was found in the couple's apartment. A murder case has been initiated.
In the Stavropol region, former Wagner Group mercenary Sergey Chudentsov has been sentenced to three years of probation for causing grievous bodily harm. In November 2023, a conflict occurred in a cemetery in Yessentuki between several intoxicated men, including Chudentsov, who had returned from the war. During the brawl, Chudentsov assaulted one of those present. In sentencing, the court considered Chudentsov's participation in the war and the "immoral behavior" of the victim as mitigating factors.
In the Kursk region, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a 48-year-old resident of a local village for filming the aftermath of an AFU attack on a column of Russian soldiers and passing this video to a "representative of a Ukrainian Telegram channel." Currently, the question of initiating a criminal case against him is being decided. During interrogation, the man allegedly stated that he filmed and sent the footage to the Ukrainians as a task in exchange for a promise of citizenship in a NATO country.
In Arkhangelsk, 63-year-old Rita Shumayeva has been criminally charged for reposting a documentary about the movement of mobilized soldiers' wives. She is accused of repeatedly "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces. According to sources, the charges stem from two posts on the VKontakte social network: one about a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty documentary on the Put Domoy [Way Home] mobilized soldiers’ wives movement, and another article about an otolaryngologist from Ukraine who was killed in an attack on a Kherson hospital on his first day of work. Previously, a court had fined Shumayeva 15,000 rubles [$170] under the same "discrediting" charge, citing her posts and comments on VKontakte.
In the Stavropol region, 38-year-old Kirill Buzmakov, a defendant in the case against local bikers who were brutally tortured and then accused of planning a terrorist attack in Pyatigorsk, has died. According to fellow defendant Vladimir Burmay, Buzmakov had been diagnosed with cancer. Buzmakov, along with two other bikers, was detained in 2022, during which he suffered a broken facial bone and was denied medical care for a year and a half. To conceal evidence of torture, authorities did not take him to a hospital and only promised treatment if he agreed to testify. Only shortly before his death was he transferred from a pre-trial detention center to house arrest, after which he underwent surgery. Another defendant in the case, Sergey Dudchenko, was sentenced on June 27 to seven and a half years in a penal colony. The cases of the bikers were previously reported by Mediazona and the Sota media outlet.
In Birobidzhan, a farewell ceremony was held for pianist Pavel Kushnir, who died in a pre-trial detention center after a hunger strike. According to an attendee, only six people attended the ceremony. It is suspected that a member of the General Directorate for Countering Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, known as "Center E," filmed those entering the farewell hall. Photos from the ceremony show a bruise under Kushnir's left eye, which was mentioned by a Mediazona source who saw him before his death. This was also reported by the outlet Okno, which spoke with attendees of the ceremony. Mediazona has prepared a video about Pavel Kushnir.
Children
Fifty-eight children of participants in the war with Ukraine were admitted to the Perm Polytechnic University. They were admitted under a special quota, which allowed them to get state-funded places without having to compete.
Longreads
Vyorstka published a video report on how the Kremlin is attempting to conceal the true statistics of crimes committed by veterans returning from the war in Ukraine. The victims of these "veterans" are most often their own relatives and acquaintances.