Mobilization in Russia for Dec. 3-5, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs seeks to restrict attorneys’ access to police stations. Currently, internal documents determine the rules for accessing ministry facilities, and because federal legislation does not govern attorneys’ admission, they often encounter arbitrary restrictions. Under the new rules, officials might refuse defense lawyers access to assist individuals detained on administrative charges and to meet with witnesses, since the new draft directive does not list attorneys among those who may freely enter ministry facilities by presenting their credentials.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

The influx of volunteer fighters into the Russian army may have significantly declined, despite a doubling of sign-up bonuses. Federal budget execution data reveals that in the third quarter of 2024, authorities spent 16.1 billion rubles [$153 million] on these bonuses, 12% less than in the second quarter, when nearly 93,000 individuals were recruited. Authorities raised the sign-up bonus to 400,000 rubles [$3,810] during the quarter, making it impossible to precisely determine the number of contracts signed between August and October. Estimates place this figure between 40,000 and 83,000 recruits. According to Meduza [international Russian-language online media outlet], the most conservative analysis suggests about 50,000 recruits joined the army during this period, while economist Janis Kluge estimates 62,000. This translates to an average recruitment rate of 600-700 new contract soldiers per day, compared to approximately 1,200 daily in the second quarter. Meduza writes that these recruitment levels would barely offset the Russian Armed Forces' irrecoverable daily losses, which they estimate at 600-750 personnel. Under such conditions, it is impossible for the Russian army to build up substantial reserves of thousands of troops.

Roman Busargin, Governor of the Saratov region, announced that the region would maintain its sign-up bonus of 500,000 rubles [$4,770] for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense in 2025. He described next year’s budget as "one of the most challenging in several years" and highlighted that 60% of all expenditures will go toward the social sector, which includes the increased sign-up bonuses. Meanwhile, in the city of Berezniki, located in the Perm region, leaflets are being distributed directly on the streets urging people to volunteer for the war against Ukraine.

A resident of the Kursk region, accused of beating his 96-year-old grandfather to death, has avoided trial by signing a contract with the MoD. In September, in the town of Shchigry, 41-year-old Yevgeny Achkasov, allegedly intoxicated, assaulted his grandfather, resulting in the latter's death. Achkasov was detained, but this week it emerged that the court had suspended proceedings and lifted his detention at the request of the head of the Kursk contract military service recruitment facility.

Following Moscow, large-scale roundups of conscripts are now taking place in Saint Petersburg. On the morning of Dec. 4, young men were detained near several metro stations and taken to draft offices, as reported by the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the Woods/Get Lost You All] Telegram channel and Fontanka [a pro-Russian media outlet of the Leningrad region]. Police did not specify the legal grounds for these checks, justifying their actions by stating that "the draft is ongoing." Those without a draft deferral or exemption were escorted to a bus, from which they were transferred into a Rosgvardia [Russian National Guard] vehicle and transported to a draft office. At the draft office, conscripts were served draft notices.

Artur Novik, a 22-year-old student at the Higher School of Economics, who was recently lured out of his apartment, detained and forcibly taken to a draft office, has since been sent to serve in the Taman Motorized Rifle Division in the village of Kalininets, Moscow region. According to Novik, the command informed the conscripts that some of them would be transferred to the Russia-Ukraine border in the Kursk and Bryansk regions after a few months of training.

A resident of Stavropol, who obtained Russian citizenship in August 2024, has been stripped of it for evading military registration. This marks at least the 20th known instance of citizenship being revoked for failing to comply with mandatory military registration requirements.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

Danil Satlaev, an 18-year-old conscript soldier from Russia's constituent Republic of Altai has been reported killed in the war. Born on Sept. 20, 2006, Satlaev was conscripted into the army in the fall of 2024. According to the Turochaksky district administration message, Satlaev "joined the special military operation" on Oct. 17, and was killed in November.

Over 3,000 residents of the Kemerovo region have been killed in the war with Ukraine. This is according to a statement by Larisa Konysheva, head of the regional branch of the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund. According to Rosstat [the Federal State Statistics Service], there are 1,163,100 men in the Kemerovo region. Thus, over 0.25% of the region's male population has been killed in the war.

November saw a record number of requests to search for missing Russian soldiers, according to the Ukrainian project I Want to Find. Over the month, they received 6,876 requests, an 8% increase on the previous month. This is also the highest number of monthly requests since the project's launch in January 2024.

37-year-old contract soldier Ali is sent back to the front with injuries to both legs. He signed a contract in 2022, was injured in combat, and was sent to a hospital. There, he was scheduled for surgery, but there were no beds available. He was offered to return to the war, allegedly to get a hospital referral faster. On the frontline, however, Ali was reassigned to the stormtroopers, and in April 2024 he had his other leg injured. Despite having all the necessary documents, he was denied treatment. Although Ali can barely walk now, he has not been scheduled for surgery. In late November, his commander informed him that he would be sent to the frontline.

Soldiers from the 7th Military Base in Abkhazia suffering from injuries, PTSD, hepatitis, and other illnesses are reportedly being sent to the frontline without proper medical treatment. According to these soldiers, they were wounded in combat and subsequently transferred to the Krasnodar region for treatment. Recently, officers summoned them individually and informed them of their redeployment to the war zone. The servicemembers claim they have been classified as temporarily unfit for military service and unfit for military service, with one soldier diagnosed with hepatitis C. Despite these medical conditions, they are allegedly being sent to recover in areas where combat operations are ongoing. They are demanding adequate time for recovery, evaluation by a military medical board in the Krasnodar region, and a halt to their deployment to the frontline. Later, video footage emerged showing some of the soldiers in handcuffs. Reports suggest they have already been sent to a combat zone.

Relatives of soldiers from the 109th Rifle Regiment have also reported that wounded soldiers are being sent on combat missions despite suffering from serious illnesses. Soldiers who file complaints face pressure and threats from their commanders, including warnings of deployment to forward positions. Additionally, their phones have been confiscated, and calls to family members are allowed only under strict supervision. A Storm-Z soldier shared video footage showing injured soldiers being treated in tents set up inside an abandoned hangar.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov has received cases against servicemen Yevgeny Chukanov, Roman Timonin and Yevgeny Malyshko, who are accused of murder, torture, abuse of authority involving violence, and desecration of deceased bodies. The soldiers are charged with murdering fellow soldiers on the orders of Marat Ospanov, commander of the 6th Motorized Rifle Division. This is the first case in Russia involving commanders allegedly executing their own soldiers. In July 2023, journalists from Suspilne published a detailed investigation into the crime. Nineteen mobilized soldiers were recognized as victims in the case; they were reportedly detained in basements in the occupied city of Popasna. Seven of these soldiers were killed by their comrades in July 2023. Major Boriskin, 34, who was also implicated in the murders, died on July 22, 2023, and is therefore not listed among the defendants.

The Supreme Court of Karelia has begun hearing a case concerning the murder of seven people in the village of Derevyannoye during the summer of 2023, marking the most severe mass killing in the modern history of the republic. One of the three defendants, Igor Sofonov, who had a prior conviction, returned from the war in Ukraine after being wounded and pardoned. He had been recruited to the frontline from a penal colony. In the early hours of Aug. 1, Sofonov and his accomplices broke into a private home after a night of heavy drinking. They fatally beat the homeowner, stabbed his relative to death, and set the house on fire to destroy evidence. They then moved to another house, where they raped and murdered a woman, killed three men, and set the house ablaze, too.

The investigation revealed that, days before the mass killings, the defendants had raped and murdered another woman from Derevyannoye, burying her body on a farm. The accused now face life imprisonment. Despite this, all three have expressed a desire to return to the war.

A court in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk sentenced serviceman Sergey M. to two years and ten months in a penal colony for refusing to obey an order. In August 2024, the soldier declined to be deployed to a combat zone. During the trial, he fully admitted his guilt.

In Saint Petersburg, two local residents have been sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security penal colony for sabotage on a railway. According to investigators, on May 4, Vasily Ivanov and Sergey Saratovtsev set fire to a relay cabinet between the Novaya Derevnya and Lakhta stations. It is claimed that Saratovtsev was supposed to receive 8,000 rubles [$76] for the arson by an unknown individual he had communicated with online. The Russian Railways [Russian fully state-owned railway company] estimated the damage caused by the arson at 600,000 rubles [$5,720].

The Southern District Military Court has sentenced Ukrainian citizen Eduard Cherevan to 14 years of imprisonment for participating in the Azov Brigade. According to prosecutors, in 2016, Cherevan attended a nationalist march in Kyiv, after which he "continued his participation" in the activities of the Azov Brigade.

A court in Moscow has arrested six young individuals on charges of participating in a terrorist organization and justifying terrorism. According to investigators, 17-year-old Vladislava Zagorodneva, along with Nikita Koreshkov, Ilya Myachin, Stepan Savelyev, Danila Loginov and Ilya Treshchalin, were allegedly collaborating with the Russian Volunteer Corps. All of them, except Treshchalin, are under the age of 24.

A court in the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject] has found two foreign nationals guilty of attempting to illegally transport military equipment across the Russian border. Rinat Ashinov was sentenced to two and a half years in a penal colony, while Rymbek Tusupayev received a two-year sentence. Law enforcement reported that the foreigners were apprehended at a vehicle checkpoint on the border with Kazakhstan, where engine parts were found in their trunk.

Yevhen Matveyev, Mayor of the Ukrainian town of Dniprorudne in the Zaporizhzhia region, has died in Russian captivity. He was abducted in March 2022, shortly after the invasion began. Matveyev’s body was returned to Ukraine in the latest exchange, in which Russia handed over 502 bodies of Ukrainian deceased. According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at least six mayors and community leaders from Ukraine remain in Russian captivity.

Assistance

A special budget account for collecting funds from businesses to support war participants will be established in the Saratov region.

In the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], volunteers assisting participants in the war in Ukraine will be awarded the medal "For Assistance in the Special Military Operation."

Children and Educational System

Researchers at Yale University have identified 314 children who were forcefully relocated from the occupied territories of Ukraine by Russian authorities. Reports indicate that at least 208 of them have been placed for adoption or guardianship with citizens of Russia, while 67 have already been "naturalized" as Russian citizens. The actual number is believed to be significantly higher.

In a children’s health resort in Izhevsk, two Wagner Group mercenaries held a "Talking About Important Things" lesson [a compulsory lesson held every Monday in schools across the country]. Masks concealed their faces. Meanwhile, in a school in the village of Yashkino, Kemerovo region, 11 "hero desks" dedicated to soldiers who died during the war in Ukraine were simultaneously inaugurated.

Students of Nizhny Novgorod University were required to take a survey regarding their stance on the war. The survey also questioned whether they were willing to volunteer to participate in the war.

Miscellaneous

Amid a labor shortage in Russia, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed allowing 16-year-olds to work in certain heavy industries. This would require amending the labor code and revising the list of hazardous jobs. According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, the industrial labor shortage will reach 2 million workers by 2030. Additionally, in the Volgograd region, teenagers as young as 14 are being recruited by the factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent Republic], which is involved in producing Shahed-136 (Geran-2) loitering munitions.

During the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, coffin prices in Russia have increased by 74%—from 4,437 rubles [$42] in January 2022 to 7,711 rubles [$73] in October 2024. Prices rose the most in Sakhalin and the Omsk region: by 181% and 162% respectively.

Longreads

Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] writes about the cadets of the Higher Combined Arms Command School in Donetsk. In April 2022, 74 lieutenants graduated from it. At least 17 of them have died by now, more than half in the first year of the war.

Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] has studied the biographies of 80 of the 83 finalists of the Time of Heroes personnel program launched by Vladimir Putin to create a "new elite" of participants in the war with Ukraine. Recently, one of them, Vladimir Perfiliev, became the head of the administration of the Torkovichi settlement in the Luga district of the Leningrad region.