Mobilization in Russia for Dec. 13-15, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the Woods/Get Lost You All] Telegram channel reports that Moscow authorities continue to round up young men of conscription age, conducting operations on city streets and, most recently, raiding a concert venue. According to the channel, officials have also begun sending SMS messages threatening criminal prosecution if the men they forced to register for military service fail to report to a military collection point. Idite Lesom! emphasizes that these messages carry no legal weight.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
Dmitry Leontiev, a 31-year-old contract soldier from Primorye, reported extortion and assault at the military unit in Ussuriysk, where commanders had sent him for training, after he enlisted while facing theft charges in a pre-trial detention center. Upon his arrival, fellow soldiers demanded money, claiming he owed them for a broken window. When he refused to pay, higher-ranking officers pepper-sprayed him, kicked him and locked him in a separate room. He escaped by jumping from the third floor of the barracks, breaking both legs, but managed to reach a hospital. Instead of providing medical treatment, his superiors dragged him back to the unit and continued the beatings. According to his relatives, on Dec. 10, authorities brought him before a court that invalidated his contract and then returned him to the pre-trial detention center, where they continue to deny him access to a lawyer or proper medical care.
Former Wagner Group mercenaries and their relatives from the city of Dimitrovgrad in the Ulyanovsk region have recorded an appeal claiming that officials are refusing to issue combat veteran certificates, which prevents them from receiving injury compensation, state awards and promised government assistance. Previously, Wagner Group members and families of deceased mercenaries from Russia’s constituent Republic of Tatarstan had voiced similar complaints.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Russia's constituent republic of Bashkortostan on Dec. 12, police shot and killed an intoxicated war veteran who threatened them with a pistol. The man, R. Bikbov, had returned to Ufa on leave from the war. His wife filed a complaint with police, stating that he was preventing her from retrieving her belongings. When officers arrived, Bikbov came into the hallway, brandishing a kitchen knife and a pistol. After being ordered to drop his weapons, he pointed the gun at the officers, prompting one of them to fire twice. Bikbov died at the scene.
In the village of Svintsovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region, the wife of a soldier on medical leave due to an injury stabbed him during an argument. On Dec. 11, 47-year-old Natalya M. quarreled with her common-law husband, 43-year-old Sergey D., who had gone to war from a penal colony, where he had been serving a sentence for issuing death threats and failing to fulfill parental duties. During the conflict, Natalya stabbed him in the chest. It is unclear whether she acted in self-defense. According to the Astra Telegram channel, the woman also had a prior criminal record.
On Dec. 13, a traffic accident involving Russian military personnel occurred on the Voronezh-Luhansk highway in the Voronezh region. A Ural truck carrying soldiers collided head-on with a PAZ bus transporting injured servicemen. The crash claimed the lives of both drivers and three soldiers, while another 46 servicemen sustained injuries.
A former Wagner Group fighter has been sentenced to eight years in a maximum-security penal colony for murder. According to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, has been Dmitry B., a resident of the village of Katrichev in the Volgograd region, had previously been convicted of theft but was pardoned due to his service in the Wagner Group. After returning from the war, Dmitry became acquainted with Mikhail K., frequently drinking at his home. On Feb. 4, during one of their drinking sessions, Mikhail made disparaging remarks about the Wagner Group. Hours later, after Mikhail went to sleep, Dmitry struck him on the head with a hammer. Before fleeing, he threatened the victim’s niece. Dmitry confessed the murder only to his mother, who ultimately helped law enforcement apprehend him a few days later.
Another former Wagner Group mercenary, Vasily Pogrebitsky from the Stavropol region, has been sentenced to one and a half years of probation for making death threats and committing robbery. The court considered his participation in the war a mitigating factor and did not treat his state of intoxication an aggravating circumstance.
In Russia's constituent Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, a court in Nalchik has sentenced soldier Rustam Bizhoev to five years in a penal colony for going AWOL. In late May, Bizhoev departed from his military unit in Mozdok [Russia's constituent Republic of North Ossetia–Alania] and returned to his place of residence. On Sept. 11, he voluntarily reported to the military investigation department and expressed remorse.
In Perm, 22-year-old Aleksey Kuzmin from the Sverdlovsk region, who was serving in the Perm Military Institute of the National Guard Forces, has gone AWOL. The institute has confirmed his absence, and a search is currently underway, with BOLO notices posted around the city.
On the evening of Dec. 13, a man threw Molotov cocktails at the regional draft office in the city of Yekaterinburg and then fled the scene. As a result, the windows were broken and the front entrance to the draft office was set on fire. Local media outlet E1 reported that the arsonist had been detained. The man stated that he had fallen victim to scammers who first deceived him into relinquishing 3 million rubles [$28,800], then impersonated Federal Security Service (FSB) officers and instructed him to set fire to the draft office to lure the scammers out.
In the town of Bolshoy Kamen in the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], an unknown individual set fire to a bank branch and an administration building. First, he broke the office window and ignited an ATM while filming the incident, then attempted to set fire to the town’s administration building. According to Ostorozhno, Novosti, a departmental vehicle belonging to the Ministry of Emergency Situations was also set on fire in a parking lot. The suspected arsonist, a 23-year-old resident of Arsenyev with a prior conviction, was detained. According to the regional anti-terrorism commission, he acted under instructions from Ukrainian scammers, who initially convinced him to take out a loan and then suggested committing arson to resolve his debts.
The FSB has reported the detention of a Donetsk resident suspected of detonating a car in the city center on Dec. 9. According to the intelligence service, the man acted on orders from Ukrainian intelligence. The Russian Investigative Committee stated that he was allegedly promised $10,000 for carrying out the explosion.
Assistance
The regional branch of the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund in the Vladimir region has reported the installation of smart home systems in the apartments of six war veterans who were disabled due to injuries sustained during the war with Ukraine.
Children and Educational System
In the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania [Russia's constituent republic], Sergey Kanukov, a veteran of the war in Ukraine, has been appointed head of a special school for children with behavioral problems. The institution's stated purpose is the "psychological, social and educational rehabilitation of its students."
Miscellaneous
Elena Gridina, head of the Korenevo village council in the Kursk region, has appealed to Acting Governor Alexander Khinshtein, reporting that looters have ransacked every household in the border village of Korenevo. Additionally, 74 houses have been destroyed, over 800 have been damaged and key infrastructure—schools, a bank, pharmacies, the village council building, a dam, a community center and factories—has been ruined. Gridina urged the governor to issue housing certificates for refugees that can be used in other areas, without requiring an evaluation commission, which cannot access the area due to ongoing fighting.
Aleksandr Shlyapnikov, a participant in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has been appointed Deputy Governor of the Kaluga region, according to the region’s governor Vladislav Shapsha. Shlyapnikov, a colonel and finalist of the Time of Heroes personnel program, previously commanded a regiment and a brigade in Ukraine.