Mobilization in Russia for Aug. 9-11, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

On the evening of Aug. 9, authorities declared the beginning of a "counterterrorism operation" in the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions. This operation involves not only regular formations of the Russian Armed Forces but also units from the Ministries of Defense, Internal Affairs and Emergency Situations. Moreover, authorities could potentially involve conscripts. According to sources cited by the Vyorstka media outlet, officials do not want to declare martial law to avoid "further upsetting" the population. The Idite Lesom [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] and Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channels explain what residents of these regions can expect following the announcement. Until the operation ends, law enforcement officers will have the authority to, among other things:

Set up checkpoints and search or restrict the movement of vehicles and pedestrians;
Check IDs and in their absence, detain individuals and take them to a police station;
Impose curfews and conduct patrols;
Requisition vehicles and other property from both individuals and legal persons;
Enter private property without a warrant;
Force citizens to relocate to other regions and remove them (along with their vehicles) from specific sites or areas;
Monitor telephone conversations, postal mail and internet traffic;
Jam communications and shut down internet access;
Mandate the suspension of business activities, including those of private security companies and investigators;
Impose quarantine measures;
Lawfully inflict damage while suppressing a terrorist act.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, more than 76,000 residents of the Kursk region have fled the border areas due to the advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Over 4,400 of them have already been relocated to temporary accommodation centers. Refugee camps have been set up in eight regions across the country, with a total of 60 temporary accommodation centers established for those escaping the border areas. In the city of Kursk, the Ministry of Emergency Situations is setting up a tent camp with the capacity to accommodate up to 100 people. The agency also reported that nearly 800 people have been placed in temporary accommodation centers in the city of Oryol.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

Activist Nikolay Korolyov reports that the leadership of the Moscow police has directed officers to encourage men who approach them to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense. Korolyov shared a photo of an "explanation form" that lists the benefits and privileges for contract soldiers, including an annual income of 5.2 million rubles [$59,600], a sign-up bonus of 1.9 million rubles [$21,800], assistance with housing and utilities and the expungement of criminal records. According to Korolyov, police officers receive a 50,000 ruble [$570] bonus for each successful recruitment. The Idite Lesom! project shared a photo of a completed form. Additionally, police are reportedly asking former convicts on record whether they are interested in signing a contract.

Temirlan Eskerkhanov, who was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony as a co-conspirator of the assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, has reportedly been pardoned and sent to the frontline as part of assault troops, according to sources from TASS and RIA Novosti [Russian state-owned news agencies]. The Moskva [Moscow] state-owned news agency reported that Eskerkhanov signed a contract with the MoD and began his service in March of this year. His contract is said to be for one year, after which he is expected to be released.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

A conscript who had enlisted for contract-based military service was killed during the Ukrainian Armed Forces' offensive in the Kursk region. As stated in his obituary, 22-year-old private Nikita Dobrynin from Russia’s constituent Republic of Komi died on Aug. 7 in the Kursk region. Dobrynin's mother confirmed this information to the Astra Telegram channel, stating that her son had been conscripted in December 2022. He initially intended to complete only the statutory military service but was offered a two-year contract with the promise of being stationed in a unit in the town of Pechora, close to his home. However, two months after signing the contract, he was transferred to a unit in the city of Kolomna, Moscow region, and then sent to the Kursk region in May 2024. According to Dobrynin's mother, nine individuals were killed in action alongside her son, with seven others wounded.

Furthermore, two more conscripts who were captured by the AFU in the Kursk region have been identified. On Aug. 11, Ukrainian Telegram channels published a video of the interrogation of Aleksandr Solodov, a 21-year-old conscript from Komi. In the video, Solodov states that he is a conscript serving in the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment and that a total of nine individuals surrendered with him: five conscripts, one mobilized soldier, one sergeant, one border guard and one captain. Astra confirmed his identity and spoke with his mother, who asserted that her son is currently in captivity and has already contacted her via video link. Another captive is 22-year-old Yevgeny Kovylkin from the Belgorod region, who was stationed in the village of Sverdlikovo. Kovylkin’s mother affirmed to Astra that her son was performing statutory military service in the Kursk region, but she was unaware of his capture.

Moreover, the families of conscripts who were serving in the Kursk region have confirmed to Astra that they are still searching for their loved ones, posting announcements on social media. Besides conscripts stationed at the border, families are also searching for servicemen from military unit 72164. According to these families, the servicemen were attacked in the column near the town of Rylsk. Their bodies have not yet been returned, and officials are not providing information.

The conscripted soldiers stationed in the Kursk region during Ukraine's offensive remain at their positions, according to a source from an organization providing legal assistance to Russian soldiers who spoke with the Agentstvo media outlet. The conscripts have been designated as a combat unit, with their platoon receiving combat orders. Commanders are refusing to relocate them to the rear. However, there is currently no information confirming the conscripts' direct involvement in combat operations.

Vyorstka spoke with conscripts who reported on the AFU's breakthrough in the Kursk region. According to them, more than 100 conscripts from the 488th and 254th Motorized Rifle Regiments were stationed at the border. Despite widespread awareness that the AFU were preparing to advance, no instructions were given by the command. Two sources who spoke to Vyorstka claim that the conscripts are now being gathered in one place, likely to be returned to their military units. However, dozens of soldiers are still out of contact.

Journalists from the Okno [Window] media outlet discovered that conscripts began being moved to the Russia-Ukraine border as early as April. On the day of the breakthrough, they remained at the border without support from mobilized soldiers or professional military personnel. According to parents of the conscripts, the number of captured and killed soldiers in the Kursk region is much higher than the figures reported by Russian authorities.

The Idite Lesom! project reports on the large-scale relocation of conscripts to the Kursk region, where the AFU are currently advancing. Relatives of the servicemen from units in the Moscow region, Leningrad region (where 250 conscripts have already been transferred to Kursk and lists are being prepared for a new group), Belgorod region, as well as from areas bordering Finland and other regions, have contacted the project. Although conscripts can legally be sent to the combat zone, Idite Lesom! recommends filing complaints with the Presidential Administration, the Military Prosecutor’s Office and the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation. Additionally, the relatives have demanded the evacuation of conscripts from the combat zone and have posted a petition that has been signed by nearly 4,500 people.

The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet reports that conscripts are being forced to sign contracts and go to war through physical violence, threats and psychological pressure. Meanwhile, Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] recalls the story of conscript Afanasy Podaev, who died on Nov. 30, 2022, during an attack on the border, and how his loved ones have coped with the loss.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Military personnel opened fire in New Moscow to bring back a contract soldier who had left his post. The shooting occurred on the morning of Aug. 11 in the courtyard of a residential complex. Footage published by local residents shows two young men lying face down on the asphalt. Standing over them is an unidentified individual in civilian clothing, holding a weapon and filming the scene on a phone. According to Gazeta.ru [Pro-Kremlin Russian media outlet and website], the shots were fired by military personnel.

A court in Vladimir has issued a guilty verdict against 44-year-old local resident Aleksey Demeshchenko, who killed a person after returning from the war in Ukraine. Demeshchenko was charged with murder and threats of murder. He fought as a volunteer fighter, was injured and arrived in Vladimir in the fall of 2022 for treatment. According to investigators, on July 31, 2023, he stabbed a 45-year-old local resident to death in a bar.

A court in Stavropol has sentenced Wagner Group mercenary Mikhail Golenitsky to three and a half years in a penal colony for a series of crimes. The court considered his "regret over what happened," participation in the war against Ukraine, positive references and a "For Courage" medal as mitigating factors. Golenitsky had previously been convicted multiple times.

Yevhen Ilchenko, a lawyer from Melitopol who ran a Telegram channel about city news, is being held in captivity in Russia. Russian soldiers captured him and accused him of "terrorism," subjected him to electric shock torture and forced him to dig trenches for Russian soldiers, as reported by the Reporters Without Borders. Ilchenko is currently in detention in Taganrog.

According to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, 20-year-old Moscow student Vladislav has been detained on suspicion of attempting to cross the border to join a Ukrainian military unit. Vladislav went missing after classes in the winter and was allegedly detained in a forest in the Bryansk region, near the Russia-Ukraine border. He is accused of illegal border crossing, and after his arrest, a case was initiated against him for preparing to join a "terrorist organization." Vladislav is being held in a pre-trial detention center in Bryansk and faces up to 20 years of imprisonment.

The OVD-Info independent human rights project has summarized the outcomes for the first seven months of 2024. During this period, over 90 individuals were labeled as foreign agents and added to the Ministry of Justice's registry, more than 80 people became involved in the "Baymak case" and over 60 organizations were declared extremist. According to the project's data, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, more than 1,000 individuals have been implicated in criminal cases due to their anti-war stance. Additionally, OVD-Info launched the Vestochka [Message] website, which highlights political prisoners who receive the fewest letters.

Children

Volgograd regional authorities plan to spend 169.5 million rubles [$1.94 million] on installing emergency alert systems in 58 schools, lyceums and gymnasia. The installation work is expected to be completed by Dec. 20. Last year, the Volgograd region allocated 167 million rubles [$1.91 million] for a similar alert system.

Miscellaneous

Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard] is collecting civilian firearms for the "needs of the special military operation" across regions. In the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], over 360 units of weapons were sent to Russian soldiers over the past two years. Rosgvardia's management in Kalmykia reported transferring more than 20 hunting rifles and ammunition, while 102 rifles were donated during a campaign in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

In 2024, the federal budget plans to allocate about 3.3 billion rubles [$37.83 million] to Siberian regions for the development and promotion of demand for domestic drones. Over 80% of this amount is allocated to the Tomsk region as a pilot area.