Mobilization in Russia for Dec. 9-11, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Janis Kluge, a German economist who analyzes data from the Russian Ministry of Finance, calculated that military expenditures in the federal budget reached 11.9 trillion rubles [$153 billion] between January and September 2025, marking a 30 percent increase from the same period in 2024. Spending surged 95 percent from 2023, 173 percent from 2022, and 295 percent—nearly a fourfold rise—from prewar levels of 2021. While the planned 2025 budget allocated 13.2 trillion rubles [$171 billion] for military purposes, the government had exhausted 90 percent of these funds by September. The 2026 budget earmarks 12.9 trillion rubles [$167 billion], or nearly 30 percent of total spending, for "national defense." Kluge estimates that since the start of 2022, the war has cost Russian taxpayers 42.3 trillion rubles [$547 billion].
Army Recruitment
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, asserted that more than 400,000 people signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense in 2025 and another 34,000 joined "volunteer units," noting that annual recruitment targets were "practically achieved." Medvedev had reported in mid-October that 336,000 people had signed contracts and another 28,000 had deployed as "volunteer fighters." However, Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories], an independent Russian investigative outlet, citing federal budget data, determined that 262,700 individuals—or just under 30,000 per month—received a sign-up bonus during the first three quarters of 2025. Kluge estimated that approximately 290,000 people, or about 32,000 per month, signed contracts during that same period. In 2024, Medvedev claimed that 450,000 people enlisted and 40,000 joined volunteer formations, while federal budget data indicated that between 374,200 and 407,200 recruits actually signed contracts that year.
Two of the four defendants in the contract killing of Aleksandr Zhestokov, leader of the Zapsibovskie criminal group, have been sent to the war, resulting in their cases being suspended. According to reports, both the organizer and the direct perpetrator of the murder agreed to sign contracts with the MoD.
Nuralin Yusupov, a 27-year-old resident of Ulan-Ude who was detained in December on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old girl in the summer of 2024, was offered a chance to avoid punishment by signing a contract with the MoD. He agreed, according to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to the Astra Telegram channel.
Authorities in the Samara region have announced a recruitment drive for the regional mobilization reserve. Officials say reservists will not have to leave the region: training will take place locally and last no more than two months. In addition, reservists are promised job and salary protection, as well as a one-time sign-up bonus of 100,000 rubles [$1,290]. Reservists will be tasked with securing critical infrastructure, such as power plants, oil refineries and other key facilities.
In Moscow, a young man with asthma had his finger broken at a police station after refusing to go to the military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street. Twenty-two-year-old Andrey suffers from mild asthma and is in a legal dispute with the draft office, seeking an exemption from military service. On Dec. 3, he was stopped by two men who claimed to be from the local district administration and forced to accompany them to the police, as he was allegedly wanted as a draft dodger. When he protested, explaining that he was currently in court over his service-fitness category, they confiscated his phone and called the police, who then took him to the station. When Andrey tried to contact a lawyer and his relatives, a scuffle broke out, during which his ring finger was broken. He was then placed in a vehicle and taken to the military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street. After an hour and a half, once his documents were checked, he was released and allowed to go home.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Anonymous hackers broke into the infrastructure of Mikord, the developer of the Unified Military Register, and handed a large set of internal data over to the human-rights organization Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all]. The hackers spent several months inside the system, gaining access to the company’s source code, technical documentation and internal correspondence. They claim to have destroyed the company’s infrastructure. According to them, development of the Register has now been disrupted for at least several months. Mikord’s director, Ramil Gabdrakhmanov, confirmed the fact of the breach. The exact impact on the Register's functionality remains unclear. Russia’s MoD stated that reports about a breach of the Unified Military Register were untrue, although the breach of Mikord’s systems (as opposed to the Register itself) was not addressed.
Vazhnyye Istorii found dozens of photographs that Mikord employees apparently took inside a MoD building. The images show computer screens displaying the closed (non-public) section of the Unified Military Register. It is likely that Mikord staff used these photos to test new versions of the Register within the MoD’s infrastructure. Service phones bearing the MoD logo also frequently appear in the shots. Based on the dates shown on the computers, the photos were taken throughout 2025.
Radiy Khabirov, Governor of Russia's constituent Republic of Bashkortostan, reported that the republic has 3,100 veterans of the war in Ukraine. Over the past three months, approximately 700 more Bashkortostan residents have returned from the war. In mid-September, the republic's deputy prime minister stated that 2,400 participants in the invasion had returned to Bashkortostan and been discharged from service.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Plenum of the Supreme Court has approved a resolution to submit to the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] a bill to create a garrison military court in the Belgorod region. The proposal is justified by the large number of military units and institutions stationed in the region, all of which currently fall under the jurisdiction of the Kursk Garrison Military Court. That court is operating "in the context of the ongoing special military and counter-terrorism operations," while handling 126 cases per month, which significantly exceeds the average workload for a judge. The new court will have five judges and 19 staff members, who will be transferred to the Belgorod region from other garrison military courts.
In the Sverdlovsk region, Maksim Bondarev, a 20-year-old resident of the Verkhnyaya Tura town, has been fined 40,000 rubles [$520] for evading conscription. Bondarev was found fit for service and issued two draft notices. He was required to report to a hospital for conscription procedures but failed to appear. It is reported that he pleaded guilty and expressed remorse, and the case was considered in a special procedure without a thorough examination of the evidence.
Officers from the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have detained a 22-year-old resident of the Irkutsk region in connection with an act of terror. The detainee's name has not been released, and he has been placed in a pre-trial detention center. According to investigators, the man set fire to an electrical substation in Irkutsk, causing power outages in 17 residential buildings and two "socially significant facilities." He claims he was acting on instructions from fraudsters who posed as FSB officers.
A minor from Mytishchi in the Moscow region has been detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center in connection with an act of terror. According to investigators, on Dec. 5, 2025, the teenager, acting on instructions received via a messenger app from "an unknown individual actively supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine," set fire to transformer substations at the Mark railway station on the Savelovsky line and on the section between Los and Perlovskaya railway stations on the Yaroslavsky line.
The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against a 17-year-old teenager from Tyumen for failure to report a crime in preparation. Law enforcement officers claim that in December 2024, the teenager learned that an acquaintance and an "accomplice" were planning to commit arson on the section between Utyashevo and Tyumen railway stations. The arsonists were detained en route to the site, and a terrorism case was opened against them, which has already been sent to court. Investigators added that they are also investigating the case "with regard to the handlers." The specific charges were not disclosed. The prosecutor's office also reported that the defendants in the case of preparing an act of terror are teenagers aged 15 and 16.
Two sisters, 19‑year‑old Polina Beskurnikova and 20‑year‑old Nina Beskurnikova, have been arrested in connection with the Dec. 1 bombing of a car belonging to Maksim Ladugin, an employee of a Russian defense research institute specializing in laser systems for weapons, in the town of Moskovsky near Moscow. The sisters have been charged with killing a person in connection with the performance of their official duties, committed in a group using a dangerous method. According to the VChK‑OGPU Telegram channel, the sisters are orphans whose parents died about a decade ago. According to investigators, they were promised payment in cryptocurrency for carrying out the attack. No casualties were reported in the explosion.
The "Zaporizhzhia Regional Court" set up by Russian authorities has sentenced a local resident to 15 years in a penal colony on charges of treason and espionage. According to investigators, in May 2023 the man recorded the movement of Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard] vehicles on his phone and sent the footage and coordinates to Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence. Because he held only Ukrainian citizenship at the time, officials classified these actions as espionage. Authorities allege that after he received a Russian passport in September 2023, he again sent information to the Main Directorate of Intelligence about the deployment of Rosgvardia personnel and military vehicles. Investigators also claim that between September 2023 and February 2024 he made ten transfers totaling 6,421 rubles [$83] through a Ukrainian banking app in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These actions were treated as high treason.
Assistance
Governor of the Novosibirsk region Andrey Travnikov announced that 610 war veterans have already been employed in the region. In addition, local authorities have created a reserve of jobs across 250 companies, intended to accommodate 2,200 people.
In the Amur region, orphaned children who are now participating in the war will receive priority access to a state housing subsidy. If a soldier is killed, members of his family will be eligible to receive the payment in his place. The amount of the subsidy is tied to the maximum cost per square meter of housing in the district where the property is purchased, and the funds cover 33 square meters of living space.
Children and Militarization
The Znanie [Knowledge] society and the Association of Special Military Operation Veterans have signed an agreement to create a roster of lecturers tasked with instilling patriotism in the younger generation.
The Ministry of Education has issued guidelines for holding last-bell ceremonies and graduation events, recommending that schools invite to these celebrations parents who have "received state awards and participants in the special military operation."
In Russian schools, a legal dictation was held to mark Constitution Day. The questions turned out to be linked to military service. Participants were asked, among other things, who commands the Russian army in peacetime, whether an individual has the right to alternative civilian service, and similar topics.
Longreads
The Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet published a report on the murder of Konstantin Ektov, a military police officer who was searching for deserters, in the Zabaykalsky region [Russia’s federal subject]. A serviceman, Vladimir Popov, confessed to the murder. According to his testimony, Ektov had been extorting money from him in exchange for not sending him back to the frontline.
The Bumaga [Paper] independent media outlet tells the story of 36-year-old Yevgeny Andreyev, who for three weeks impersonated a woman he had murdered, and examines how the war enables people who have committed crimes to avoid accountability.