Mobilization in Russia for December 7–8, CIT volunteer summary
Russian Senator Andrey Klishas stated that Russia has no need for a presidential decree to formally end mobilization because there is no greater power than Putin’s word. Klishas claimed that the Russian people perceive Putin’s announcement on the end of mobilization to be stronger than an official decree. At the same time, he emphasized that the authorities are unable to predict whether there will be a need for a new mobilization in the future. The founder of Pervyi Otdel [Department One] human rights project, Ivan Pavlov, published his comment on Klishas’s statement.
While Putin argued yesterday about reports on “some kind of detention camps for deserters in Russia” being “nonsense and fake news”, Astra Telegram channel released a post with crucial evidence, including photo and video recordings, proving the existence of basements where “refuseniks” are detained. Another channel reports that public authorities of the Russian city of Pskov asked the Military Prosecutor’s Office to verify information on almost 300 troops being detained in basements in the so-called “Luhansk People's Republic.”
The Federation Council [upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] will prepare a bill on the priority rights of children of mobilized men for university enrollment.
According to the Ministry of Defense [of Russia], mobilized servicemen in the Stavropol region are exercising to give units cover with machine gun fire. In Belarus, company tactical exercises are being held by soldiers from the Western Military District.
It was decided not to punish the mobilized residents of Irbit, who were accused of desertion. On December 5, the wives of twenty nine draftees from Irbit complained to a State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] member that their husbands had been abandoned without food, water, or command. The draftees left their positions because of hunger and faced the threat of prison for desertion. “We talked frankly, honestly. The commanders did us a favor. The guys will not be held accountable. For now. They sent the guys a message. The offenders were separated into different units, and preventive conversations were held with them”, Maxim Ivanov, State Duma member, said.
The wives of mobilized residents from Irkutsk complained to Igor Kobzev, Governor of the region, that their husbands were “massively ill” at the training grounds in Novosibirsk. Many of them had bronchitis or pneumonia. At the same time, they were not supplied with proper medical care and had to buy medicines themselves. In addition to the high incidence of morbidity, the draftees are dissatisfied with uniforms and the level of training.
Olga Tsukanova, representative of the Council of Mothers and Wives, claimed that she had been detained in the Samara region. She has previously reported being followed.
Today, in the town of Roshal, Moscow region, a funeral for Yevgeny Smirnov, who was mobilized to the 423rd Yampolsky regiment and was killed near Svatove, will take place. In Novoutkinsk, Sverdlovsk region, Maxim Belousov will be buried. The young man returned from compulsory military service in the summer, was mobilized on September 28, and was killed on November 19. Meanwhile, announcements appear in social networks (1, 2, 3) about the search for mobilized men who are missing.
A marine from the 155th Brigade, which includes mobilized soldiers, describes the situation with fighters after the capture of Pavlivka. Every day the soldiers are sent to assault settlements between Pavlivka and Vuhledar in the "DPR" [the distance between Pavlivka and Vuhledar is 1.7 km, and there are no other settlements – CIT], where they have already been ambushed several times, and each time the groups return with losses. There are supposedly 200 people left at the positions. According to a serviceman, "half of them are combat capable." The survivors are sent to combat missions without rest. The marine believes that those who remained at the positions "most likely will never return home." The soldiers are "very tired physically and mentally." After eight men escaped from the brigade, their commanders allegedly threatened the others with punishment for desertion.
An illegally mobilized man returned home. A man from Novokuybyshevsk was mobilized despite his job exemption from the draft. In order to get him back, his relatives had to appeal to the command and the military prosecutor's office of the Western Military District, to the Council of Mothers and Wives, and independent media. A 39-year-old mobilized man from Vladimir returned home from the combat zone after two months. That is how long it took for the discharge order to reach the regiment commander, as was reported by his wife.
The mother of mobilized soldier Alexander Koltun, who died at the training center in Novosibirsk in October, found signs of beatings on her son's body at the funeral. The death certificate issued to the family in Bratsk lists the cause of death as ethanol poisoning. The mother is going to appeal against the results of the examination.
The 72.RU online media outlet publishes a “cry from the heart” of a mother who lost her only son due to mobilization and lost hope. Olga's son was sent to the so-called special military operation zone without combat experience and with an inappropriate military specialty. The mother filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision to mobilize her son. The upcoming trial was Olga's hope that the judge would grant a draft deferral. But she lost the trial. We have previously mentioned this story in our sitreps.
According to the Baza Telegram channel, three servicemen left the unit in the Astrakhan region. For the second day now, the police have been looking for them in the Rostov and Volgograd regions, as well as in Kalmykia [Russia’s constituent Republic]. According to preliminary data, they left the military unit on the morning of December 7 and disappeared in an unknown direction.
In Krasny Sulin, Rostov region, a man tried to get into a military enlistment office with a shotgun. On the afternoon of December 7, police officers and “Cossacks” who were on duty at the entrance to the enlistment office noticed a suspicious person who tried to enter the institution. During the inspection, a sawn-off hunting rifle fell out from under the man's jacket. After that, he was detained and taken to a police department. Police officers are trying to find out what purpose the man pursued trying to enter the enlistment office.
Three students who were taken into the army as part of the regular biannual conscription from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation have already been taken to the training camp and intend to be sworn in 10 days later, on December 17. The university claims that at least one of the students, Matvey Yudin, allegedly does not have the right to deferment, as he already used it while studying at college. At the same time, Matvey's brother reported that he had not used that opportunity. And Vasily Slyozkin, a student at the Moscow Polytechnic University, who was captured and taken to the enlistment office for conscription, has now been released and is at home, his mother said.
Against the background of the scandal with the students of the Financial University, the Ministry of Education said that students can only take advantage of the deferment from the army once. That is, if a deferment was given during college, it will no longer be possible to use it at a university.
The head of the municipal district of Western Degunino in Moscow is trying to send his election opponent to war.
Russians of draft age began to be denied work due to the mobilization. After the announcement of mobilization in Russia, 30% of companies, when hiring men of military age, began to pay attention to the military service category.
The employees of the 37th penal colony handed over tactical vests for mobilized soldiers from the Chusovoy district as part of the aid. Last time, the facility sewed 50 pieces of tactical vests for the mobilized residents of the Chusovoy district in the Yelan and Tyumen training units.