Mobilization in Russia for December 13–14, CIT volunteer summary
The State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] will ban remote work from abroad. The ban will affect public sector employees, information security specialists and some other areas. Two sources from the parliament familiar with the law’s drafting process told the Verstka media outlet that the ban was aimed at Russians who left the country amid war and mobilization.
Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights, continues to receive complaints about the mobilization, which, according to Vladimir Putin, has ended. Moskalkova claimed that the Commissioner's Office "receives 60-70 appeals on military issues daily."
Igor Morokov, Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Sverdlovsk Region, has received 35 appeals regarding the demobilization of [mobilized] men from multi-child families, as well as families with disabled children. 27 mobilized men have already returned home. In the Rostov region, Maxim Gelas, father of five and member of the Legislative Assembly, was demobilized and returned to his duties. Before that, Gelas had been serving as a volunteer for three months. Recall that draft deferral for fathers with many children is enshrined in law only for fathers of four or more children. In case there are three children in a family, the deferment is granted by the decree of the Ministry of Defense. However, not all fathers of three return home from the front alive. On Oct. 24, Dmitry G., father of three kids from 2 to 6 y.o., was buried in Rostov. His wife had made requests to the governor to return her husband, but to no avail. Yegor Masev, a 33-year-old citizen of Magnitogorsk, was killed on Nov. 14. His youngest daughter is not even a year old, and he had three children in total. Yegor was supposed to be returned home, but he never got the chance: he was injured and died in hospital.
Konstantin Richter, 45-year-old mobilized soldier from the Cherepanovsky district of the Novosibirsk region, was killed on November 10. In total, in the Cherepanovsky district with a population of 45,000 people, more than 300 men were mobilized, according to official data. In Berdsk, Novosibirsk region, a last tribute will be paid to Anton Snitkin, who was mobilized at the end of October and was also killed during the war.
Mobilized citizens of Tyumen began to receive payments only after two months [of service]. However, the amounts were less than announced and were not paid to each of them. Mobilized soldiers from Yakutia demonstrated the conditions in which they are serving in the combat zone.
In Kursk, Margarita Krivtsova, representative of the Spravedlivaya Rossiya [Just Russia] party, among other things, sends vodka for mobilized soldiers at the front. This fact outraged the local representative of the Novye Lyudi [New People] party, Oleg Pogozhikh. In response, Krivtsova posted a number of poems attacking Pogozhikh on her page on the VKontakte social network.
The mothers of full-time students from the "DPR" appealed through the "Council of Mothers and Wives" to the authorities to allow their sons to return from the front to universities and receive their first education. In February 2022, their student sons were obliged to sign a six-month military contract with the possibility of discharge at the end of its term, namely until Oct.11. However, after that date, the contract was prolonged until the end of "Special Military Operation." In addition, the guys do not have a military ID card, have not taken an oath, and not all of them received payments under the contract. It is worth reminding that Putin promised to demobilize students from the “LPR” and “DPR” by Dec. 1.
The wife of a mobilized soldier from the "DPR" has also appealed through the "Council of Mothers and Wives" to the Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, with a request to assist in finding her husband, who went missing nine months ago.
In Dagestan, the relatives of killed soldiers received cakes and flowers. The mayor of Blagoveshchensk gave the 14-year-old brother of a serviceman killed in Ukraine a ticket to a water park. The boy at 14 years was left without family, and his older brother is his only guardian. At the same time, the mayor did not pay attention to the fact that the only guardian of a minor child was sent to the war, which is expressly forbidden by the mobilization regulations. In his post, the mayor did not say why the guardianship authorities, accountable to the mayor, did not respond to the lack of a guardian in the family.
Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous region Dmitry Artyukhov ordered the purchase of gifts for the children of "special operation" participants. They include a Yandex smart speaker, sweets, and a card with "warm wishes." The authorities have bought 1.6 thousand of such gifts. Governor of Kaluga region Vladislav Shapsha said that the children of servicemen would visit the children’s New Year parties in Kaluga for free. Moscow region authorities promised to give the children of soldiers a "miracle," but did not specify of what kind.
Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin signed a document allowing the children of mobilized soldiers and volunteer fighters to use public transport for free. As he explained in his Telegram channel, the benefit will be valid for the period of their schooling. The authorities of Tatarstan [constituent Republic of the Russian Federation] intend to legislate the right of the mobilized and volunteer fighters participating in the "special military operation" to free legal aid.
Within the “partial” mobilization the Russian Ministry of Defense sends conscripts not only to motorized rifle, tank and artillery units. As the ministry informs “the first frontline CREATIVE brigade has been set up by the Ministry of Defense of Russia to support our servicemen at the “special operation” zone. The brigade includes among others mobilized actors: singers, musicians and original acts performers”.
A resident of Moscow sued the Danilovsky military commissariat [enlistment office] for being mobilized. 32-year-old Nikita Khramtcov worked as a financial manager and was deferred from military service by his employer. But the deferral and lack of military experience didn’t stop the military commissariat. The man was mobilized in the beginning of October and was sent to the “special operation” zone. Since that time Nikita and his family have been struggling to revoke the decision of the draft office although the Prosecutor’s Office recognized his mobilization as illegal at the end of October.
A court in the Zabaykalsky region refused to bring to justice businessman Aleksey Kibirev for illegal alcohol trading. His mobilization helped him. The court accepted the misdemeanor offense but decided that as a serviceman Kibirev should only be subject to disciplinary action “However, such an illegal act is not a disciplinary offense”.
A Russian FSO [Federal Security Service] major, who had fled mobilization, was arrested in Kazakhstan. At the beginning of December, Mikhail Zhylin, 36, was detained when trying to get to a flight from Kazakhstan to Armenia. Now he's being held in a detention facility in Astana. In Russia, he's been declared wanted for desertion and illegal border crossing – he had fled to Kazakhstan through forests, avoiding the border crossingcheckpoints. In Kazakhstan, he tried to seek asylum but was rejected. In Russia major Zhylin was responsible for government communication with the regions, had access to state secrets, and was banned from traveling abroad.
Mass departure of Russians fleeing the war and the mobilization has sharply dropped real estate sales in the country — the unsold newly built apartments rate reached 66%, which is an all-time record.