Mobilization in Russia for December 3–4, CIT volunteer summary
Two mobilized residents of the Amur region, Vladimir Vasilenko and Anton Kudelin, were killed on November 17 near Kherson. On October 24, a mobilized soldier Yevgeny Guryev from Alapayevsk, Sverdlovsk region, was killed in the “special military operation” zone. There was an official announcement about the first killed mobilized soldier from Kazan Aynur Sharafiev. Meanwhile, mobilized soldiers on Sakhalin practice destroying training targets with 120mm mortars.
Some Belarusians summoned to draft centers for “data check-up” reported to have found mobilization orders glued into their military IDs. It had become known earlier that hundreds of thousands of these inserts had been procured by military authorities.
In Moscow, another young man, a full-time second-year student of the Moscow Polytechnic University Vasily Slyozkin, has been intercepted by draft officers. Vasily’s parents presented a proof of Vasily’s being eligible for a student deferral, but have been chased out of the draft office, according to information a friend of the family revealed to the SOTA Telegram channel. Vasily managed to inform his parents that an army bank card had already been issued in his name, and he feared he would be forced to change into military uniform and sent to the Vladimir region.
A son of Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service who was poisoned with polonium, reported about an attempt made to mobilize him. Anatoly Litvinenko told The Observer that draft officers paid a visit to the Moscow flat still registered as his residence although he has not been living there for over twenty years, and looked to take him to the war in Ukraine.
The Mozhem Obyasnit’ [We can explain] Telegram channel published a compilation of excuses offered by several Russian government officials, diplomats and radicalized ultra-patriots as reasons why their own adult children would not be involved in the “special military operation.” Other than the comments made by the Russian ambassador in the UK Andrey Kelin and the Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the compilation includes remarks made by the deputy of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] Sergey Mironov known for his support of the mobilization. When asked by the journalist whether his own son could be drafted, he argued that his son is “an independent adult” who would not go to war because only contract soldiers are to be involved in the “special military operation.” Blogger and journalist Dmitry Puchkov, who eagerly supported the aggression too, claimed that the death of 40-year-old men at the frontline is detrimental to the country, which is why “it is 18-year-old boys who should be called up, no matter how cynical it may sound.” Puchkov's son is 42 years old.
The Russian Angely [Angels] charity foundation is collecting monetary donations to buy supplies for soldiers. Depending on the amount donated, one can receive the status of Zaschitnik Otechestva [Defender of the Fatherland] of the first, second, or third degree and have their name entered into a nationwide registry. Entrepreneurs in Barnaul collected over one million rubles to procure quadcopters, personal solar panels for charging radios, tablets, active noise-canceling headphones for shooting, and digital telephones for the mobilized. The Dalnegorsk Duma [local assembly] chairman Nikita Kharlamov shared in his Telegram channel the news that in the Primorsky region, the wives and mothers of draftees were presented with a flower and a tub of ice cream on Mother’s Day. The School No. 23 in the town of Volzhsk, Volgograd region, has its students write letters to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. In order that the school children express their patriotism correctly, the school provides detailed guidelines for writing the letters including the desired outline and stylistic requirements. In particular, yellow, blue, and brown colors are to be avoided. In Yoshkar-Ola, the families of draftees can now request the help of a nanny to care for children while their fathers are away. The service is free but is only available for up to four hours a day.
An official boasted of collecting funds for firewood for the family of a Yaroslavl mobilized man. In fact, the money for firewood was collected by the residents of the village of Konstantinovo at a charity concert.
On Friday, the Bank of Russia reported that since the start of mobilization, banks have approved more than 100,000 credit holidays for the total amount of 45 billion rubles for military personnel and their families, and out of 750 complaints received, 40 were “justified”. The @sibirmedia project publishes a selection of screenshots found by the following hashtags: “mortgage”, “credit holidays” and “mobilization” for the last two months.