Mobilization in Russia for Feb. 11-13, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, a group of lawmakers introduced a bill to the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] that proposes granting amnesty to various categories of citizens. Among those eligible would be individuals who "took part in combat to defend the homeland […] or served in states where combat took place," as well as those who participated in the invasion of Ukraine. However, the bill excludes suspects, defendants and convicts charged under articles related to failure to obey orders, going AWOL, desertion and self-harm.
Additionally, lawmakers introduced a bill to increase fines for citizens who fail to fulfill their military registration obligations. Currently, failing to report certain changes to the draft office carries a maximum fine of 5,000 rubles [$53]. The proposed change would introduce a higher fine—between 10,000 rubles [$110] and 20,000 rubles [$210]—for cases when a man moves to a new location for more than three months without changing his residential registration and fails to inform the draft office in the legally required manner.
Moreover, members of the State Duma introduced a bill that would allow conscription decisions to be enforced within one year. This means military authorities could call up individuals who received a draft notice but did not fulfill it during the next regular conscription campaign. The initiative proposes adding a new clause to Article 28 of the Military Conscription and Military Service Act and includes a retroactive provision applying to draft board decisions issued during the fall 2024 conscription campaign.
The State Duma has passed a bill in its first reading that would bar foreigners from obtaining Russian citizenship if they refuse to take the oath of allegiance. The bill also proposes lowering the minimum age for taking the oath from 18 to 14 years.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
The Unified Military Register—the register of Russians subject to military service [a digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and serve draft notices]—has likely finally come online. The human rights organization Shkola Prizyvnika [Conscript School] reports that a Moscow court reviewed a conscript’s complaint regarding a 30,000 ruble [$320] fine for failing to respond to an electronic draft notice. As proof that the draft notice had been issued, the draft office submitted a screenshot from the Unified Military Register. The court ruled that the fine was lawful. Human rights activists note that the screenshot’s table layout and fields fully comply with the requirements set out in the register’s regulations. At the same time, the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports that a conscript was prevented from leaving Russia at Sheremetyevo airport. Border control officers handed him a notice informing him that temporary restrictive measures had been imposed on him, including a travel ban.
The Idite Lesom! Telegram channel also highlights that recruiters for contract soldiers to be sent to war are being sought on Avito, Russia’s largest classified advertisements website. According to the ad, no prior experience is required, and retirees, students and people with health issues are eligible to apply. The position offers payments ranging from 60,000 rubles [$640] to 150,000 rubles [$1,590] per recruited candidate, with a potential total monthly income of up to 1.2 million rubles [$12,700].
As the Vyorstka media outlet discovered, in 2024, MinTsifry [Russia's Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media] placed free "social" advertisements for contract military service on Yandex’s network. By the end of the year, the ads' reach had increased more than fivefold, surpassing 1 billion impressions. Following Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, ad impressions surged two to three times. January 2025 set a new record for MinTsifry—within a single month, the ministry generated 263 million ad impressions, matching the total for the first 7.5 months of 2024.
According to the Astra Telegram channel, in Krasnoyarsk, 36-year-old Vitaly Bublikov, a previously convicted man accused of sexual violence against a person under 14 years old, accepted an investigator’s offer to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense to avoid trial. According to investigators, between 2020 and 2022, Bublikov, who has a prior criminal record, repeatedly forced a girl, aged 9–11 at the time, into sexual acts. Notably, under the law, individuals convicted or accused of sexual violence against minors are prohibited from signing military contracts.
A court in Russia’s Zabaykalsky region allowed 32-year-old Sanan Guseynov, who was accused of murdering his wife, to go to war instead of standing trial. In early February, the Investigative Committee announced that its investigation was complete, and Guseynov was set to appear in court. However, the Mogochinsky District Court suspended proceedings after he signed a contract with the MoD. Following this decision, residents of Mogocha, where the crime took place, launched a petition demanding that he not be sent to war.
In Russia's constituent Republic of Chechnya, Ruslan Umayev, a 46-year-old resident of Bachi Yurt village accused of murdering his 22-year-old sister-in-law Kristina Kokova, has been released from pre-trial detention. Umayev is now in a military unit, from which he will be deployed to war as part of an assault unit. On Jan. 20, the victim’s mother learned that Umayev had requested to go to war before the end of the trial. She immediately appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office, asking not to approve his contract. Her lawyer expressed concern that Umayev could be deployed without a formal murder conviction on record.
In Tyumen, law enforcement officers raided cafés and shopping pavilions across the city. As a result, six men who had obtained Russian citizenship but had not undergone military registration were transported to a draft office.
According to the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel, a Moscow resident successfully underwent a medical evaluation in absentia and obtained exemption from conscription. At the initial registration for military service, he was assigned service fitness category "V" (partially fit for military service) due to his third-degree disability. Upon reaching conscription age, he sent a letter to the draft office requesting a medical examination in absentia, based solely on his medical records. The draft office approved his request, and the draft board assigned him service fitness category "D" (unfit for military service).
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The Vyorstka media outlet reports that since January, mobilized soldiers have been facing mass pressure to sign contracts with the MoD. Dozens of servicemen from different units stationed in Ukraine have shared this information with the publication. Those who refuse to sign are being threatened with deployment to "meat assault" missions, where, according to the soldiers, the chances of survival do not exceed 15%. The pressure extends to troops at forward positions, those serving in rear areas and even those recovering from wounds in "convalescent regiments." Soldiers offer varying explanations for these developments. Some believe it is linked to the anticipated end of combat operations and the possible cancellation of the mobilization decree—if that happens, mobilized soldiers, unlike contract soldiers, would be eligible to return home. Others attribute the pressure to quota requirements, suggesting that each commander has a specific number of contracts they must secure.
A volunteer fighter from Tyumen has filed a complaint with investigative authorities about mass extortion by commanders. According to him, soldiers were required to pay both for the opportunity to take leave and to avoid being sent on the next assault mission. Those who refused faced beatings and threats of being sent into assault missions without weapons. The serviceman himself managed to return home on leave in May 2024. For this, he was demanded to pay 1 million rubles [$10,600]. He transferred 75,000 rubles [$800] as an advance payment, promising to transfer the remaining amount after arriving in Tyumen. However, he had no intention of paying the full sum and instead contacted the Military Prosecutor's Office. In response, his commanders declared him AWOL.
The MoD and Belgorod regional authorities have failed to pay death compensation for 47-year-old contract soldier Sergey Shubin. He joined the war as a volunteer fighter and was killed on Sept. 15, 2024. The day before his death, he called his family and reported being sent on an assault mission. His death was publicly announced by Andrey Miskov, head of the Krasnoyaruzhsky district. However, when Shubin's wife tried to claim compensation from the MoD, she was given a certificate stating that Shubin died from cardiomyopathy and heart failure. The family also did not receive the governor's death gratuity payment of 2.5 million rubles [$26,500]. District administration officials told Shubin's relatives that "their turn for payment hasn't come yet" and that "it's unclear how and where he died."
According to Shkola Prizyvnika, the Military Prosecutor's Office conducted an inspection of military units in the 90th Tank Division in Chebarkul. The officers found that commanders had coerced conscripts into signing contracts through deception and pressure, and, in some cases, had forged their signatures when persuasion failed. The prosecutor’s investigation concluded that this was done "to fulfill the recruitment plan for contract military service." The prosecutor's office demanded the termination of contracts for 13 conscripts; however, the division's command refused, arguing that "there are no formal obstacles to signing a contract" and that the conscripts' families were "simply unhappy with their children's decisions." Our previous summary highlighted the case of a conscript sent to the frontline after his signature was forged on a contract.
Soldiers of the 503rd Motorized Rifle Regiment recorded a video showing their fellow soldiers, who were recovering from injuries, being forcibly loaded into trucks for deployment back to a combat zone. Military police officers ignored their condition, taking even those who were unable to walk on their own.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and IncidentsÂ
According to Astra, on Feb. 12, the management of the Rylskaya agriculture company from the Kursk region sent two female employees to clean up after Russian soldiers stationed on the premises. The women were instructed to burn any remaining waste. An explosion occurred after the waste started burning, causing both women to suffer shrapnel wounds to their legs. Preliminary reports suggest the explosive device was a grenade. No criminal case has been initiated.
The Central District Military Court has upheld the guilty verdict against 42-year-old Junior Lieutenant Dmitry Kiryukhin, who brutally assaulted his neighbors in the town of Atkarsk and attacked police officers responding to the call in November 2023. Prior to this incident, he had spoken at a "lesson of courage" at a school. In June 2024, he was sentenced to four years in a penal colony for hooliganism involving violence. Now, Kiryukhin intends to sign a contract with the MoD.
A court in the town of Volsk, Saratov region, has sentenced 39-year-old previously convicted war participant Ivan Bondar to nine years in a maximum-security penal colony for the murder of his female cohabitant under the article on intentional infliction of harm resulting in death by negligence. In September 2022, Bondar had been sentenced to 14 years for fatally assaulting an acquaintance. While serving his sentence in a penal colony, Bondar signed a military contract and was deployed to the frontline, after which he was granted a presidential pardon and returned to Volsk. Shortly before the verdict in his cohabitant’s murder case was announced, he expressed a desire to return to the frontline again.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained 32-year-old Nikita Prosvirnin, a former student of a Czech university, on charges of "confidential" cooperation with a foreign organization. A court has placed him in custody. Since at least 2020, Prosvirnin had been studying at the Czech University of Life Sciences before returning to Russia. The case is classified as "top secret."
A former employee of a defense plant in Perm has been accused of cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state. According to the FSB, the former employee established contact with Ukrainian intelligence services via the internet and provided them with information about the plant.
In the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region [Russia's federal subject] a 30-year-old resident of Noyabrsk was convicted and fined 60,000 rubles [$640] on charges of failure to report a crime. The man allegedly learned from a social media conversation with an acquaintance about a planned helicopter arson attack on the night of Sept. 10-11 but did not report it to the police.
The Voronezh Regional Court found local residents Aleksandr Filimonov, Ruslan Vlasov and Ivan Ignatov guilty of treason for allegedly cooperating with representatives of Ukraine. Filimonov was also charged with possession of ammunition and inciting extremist activity. He was sentenced to 18 years in a maximum-security penal colony, while Vlasov and Ignatov received 14 years each. According to case files, since 2022, the defendants had provided the Ukrainian side with information about Russian military personnel, coordinates of railway bridges, as well as photos of a military airfield and the regional FSB headquarters. The investigation claims that in their communications with their "handlers," the defendants allegedly expressed their readiness to set fire to a railway infrastructure facility. It was also reported that ammunition was found during searches at Filimonov’s residence.
A court in Saint Petersburg has sentenced Ukrainian nationals Oleksandr Maistruk and Eduard Usatenko to 23 years in a maximum-security penal colony, marking the first judicial decision of the case. The two men faced charges under nine articles of the Russian criminal code, with investigators accusing them of being part of a "diversionary-terrorist group linked to Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service." In May 2023, under the group's direction, they allegedly detonated a power pylon at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant and planted bombs under seven pylons at the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant in the Tver region, just prior to the May 9 [Victory Day] celebrations. Maistruk and Usatenko were arrested in May 2023.
A former employee of the cadastral service in Birobidzhan has received a 14-year sentence in a penal colony for treason in the form of espionage. According to the FSB, the official transferred cartographic data to Ukraine, detailing the locations of "key infrastructure objects" in the Jewish Autonomous Region.
The Southern District Military Court has sentenced 20-year-old Ivan Semikoz from occupied Bilovodsk in the Luhansk region to 8.5 years in a maximum-security penal colony on charges of financing terrorism. According to the court ruling, in 2024, Semikoz sent 50 hryvnias (120 rubles [$1.27]) to a Ukrainian bank account in Bilovodsk to raise funds for "the Azov Regiment," which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. Semikoz signed a pre-trial cooperation agreement and pleaded guilty.
Assistance
Soldiers from the Kursk region will receive regional payments for each injury, said Alexander Khinshtein, the Acting Governor of the Kursk region. According to him, previously such payments were provided only once, regardless of the number of injuries.
The Echo.News Telegram channel has located one of the Russian soldiers who underwent rehabilitation in North Korea. According to him, the organizers of the transfer were concerned about the impression Russian patients would make—before departure, all of them were given new clothing. The soldiers crossed the border in a train car with obscured and tightly shut windows, and their phones were confiscated there as well. The level of medical care at the Korean facility, he stated, left much to be desired.
Children and Educational System
According to an analysis by Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet], the number of teachers specializing in the fundamentals of the spiritual and moral culture of Russia’s peoples has seen the most significant increase in Russian schools during the 2024-2025 academic year. Veterans of the "special military operation," including individuals convicted of violent crimes, are being recruited to teach this subject.
Military-style exercises, known as Zarnitsa, are being held en masse in kindergartens across Russia. These activities include grenade throwing, crawling through snow and net weaving. The Agenstvo [Agency] independent media outlet found nearly 300 reports on the VKontakte social network about such exercises conducted since the beginning of the year in kindergartens, compared to three times fewer reports during the same period in 2024.
Miscellaneous
Russia's total military expenditures in 2024, calculated by purchasing power parity, exceeded the defense budgets of all EU countries, according to the Financial Times, citing the International Institute for Strategic Studies [IISS]. Russia's defense spending last year increased by 42% in real terms, totaling 13.1 trillion rubles [$139 billion], analysts at the institute estimate. This amount is equivalent to $462 billion in PPP terms, as noted by the FT.
In September 2022, Russian sailor Kirill Khinev fled from a ship in the Netherlands upon receiving his draft notice. For the past three years, he has been trying to obtain refugee status in the country. Recently, the immigration agency issued him a second "pre-negative decision," indicating that he is likely to be denied refugee status and deported back to Russia. The agency justified its decision by claiming that Khinev faces no threat in his homeland, citing statements from former Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov regarding the purported completion of mobilization.