Mobilization in Russia for Feb. 15–16, 2023, CIT volunteer summary
In the Tomsk State Pedagogical University (TSPU), they started to recruit people to work at mobilization alert stations. According to the order of Andrey Makarenko, the rector of the university, TSPU is required to recruit staff for two alert areas: 30 people for the main staff and 44 for the reserve. The lists must be ready by Mar. 15. The Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University is mobilizing students to help in draft offices and hand over draft notices. The students began to receive personal messages about this from the leadership of the university. They plan to recruit a team of 15 people to help draft offices in the Oktyabrsky and Central administrative districts.
About a thousand graduate students were expelled from the Moscow Financial and Law University in just a day. All of them entered the university after the mobilization announcement. According to the university, the graduate students did not pay for the next semester by the due date.
Head of the Primorsky region Oleg Kozhemyako visited regional paratroopers on the front line and also brought them another batch of special equipment: quadcopters, optical sights, thermal imagers, and other gear. Governor of the Zabaykalsky region Aleksandr Osipov showed how gunners and tank commanders are being trained at the Krasny Yar training ground to participate in the so-called special operation. 40 fighters have already passed all the exams and are preparing to be sent to the “special military operation” zone.
Ramzan Kadyrov [head of Russia’s constituent Republic of Chechnya] criticized governors who "trumpet the death toll" in the war in Ukraine and urged them not to comment on the losses. BBC News Russian noted that Kadyrov's statement had coincided with the moment when journalists began to record a sharp jump in reports of killed Russian soldiers — both in official statements and on social networks.
However, multiple reports with personal details of draftees killed in Ukraine continue to emerge. Among these draftees is Marat Makhiyanov from Bashkiria [constituent republic of Russia]. Another mobilized soldier, 43-year-old Vladimir Prostakishin from Trans-Baikal Territory [Russia’s constituent entity], died unexpectedly while serving in the “special military operation” zone.
Senior Lieutenant of the Russian Airborne Forces Yuri Schneider from the Krasnoyarsk region was killed only one month after having received a military decoration from Vladimir Putin. Schneider was one of the service members who had been filmed standing behind Putin in the President’s New Year 2023 video address to the nation.
Draftees from the 144th division deployed near the town of Kreminna in Ukraine are being forced to fight on the front line. Threatened with imprisonment, soldiers are being coerced into signing a voluntary consent to participate in hostilities at the forefront. Their relatives will be appealing to the Ministry of Defense, the military prosecutor's office, and the Moscow city council, urging for the situation to be investigated.
A resident of the Kirzhachsky district of the Vladimir region filmed a police officer in an unsuccessful attempt to hand-deliver him the draft notice. Having failed in this, the policeman threatened to press administrative charges. The video recording was published by the Resonance media outlet. “The police officer was not given a single chance to hand in the draft notice and eventually had to leave, completely outsmarted by a member of the public. Despite his threats, the policeman also failed to issue an administrative offense report under Article 19.3 of the Code on Administrative Offenses,” reporters pointed out.
Residents of the Yamal peninsula complain about having difficulties with sending humanitarian aid to volunteer fighters deployed to the “special military operation” area. They argue that the aid intended for the mobilized soldiers is being prioritized while families of volunteers struggle to have their parcels accepted for delivery.
Wives of soldiers from Irkutsk participating in the war demand “equal pay for all.” An Irkutsk woman informed the Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] news outlet that her husband, who volunteered to fight in the war, is being paid less than the mobilized. This caused the ire of not only the volunteer contract service members but also their wives. “My husband receives 200 thousand rubles (base salary, per diem, and combat pay),” said the woman. “His fellow soldiers who were drafted, on the other hand, are being paid 300 thousand rubles and above. They all sit in the same trench and eat from the same plate, yet they have different rights!”
State Duma representative Maksim Ivanov named incorrect banking details as one of the reasons why some draftees and contract soldiers had not received their pay. He cited an example of such an occurrence in his Telegram channel.
According to a post in the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan citizens who are digging trenches near Luhansk have been underpaid by 200,000 rubles for the work they completed. The laborers filed a complaint with the authorities.
Over three thousand Karelia [Russian constituent republic] residents are currently participating in Russia's war against Ukraine. Chairman of the State Construction Oversight Committee Aleksandr Temnyshev reported the number. Andrey Artemyev, the military commissioner in charge of the draft boards in the republic, reported the same number when he pointed out that Karelia sent over 3,700 people to Ukraine since the war started. This amounts to 2.5% of the working-age male population of the republic.
2,600 Omsk men have received deferral from being drafted. Recently, the Prosecutor General of Omsk sued the city draft board, demanding that it revoke draft deferrals for 2608 people as not employed by the local defense enterprises. On Feb.15, the Central district court ruled to keep the deferrals for employees of 12 companies. As a result, the 2,600 men will not head to the war in Ukraine.
In the Krasnodar region, the bailiffs suspended the collection of debts from 10 thousand participants of the "special military operation." The amount of debt they owe is not specified.
Mobilization leads to a shortage of workers. In one of the outpatient clinics of the Kromskaya Central District Hospital of the Oryol region, repairs were delayed. In the fall TV report of the “First Regional” TV channel, they spoke about the slow pace of the workers, but the reason turned out to be different: there was no one to work — the employees were mobilized. Meanwhile, in the village of Ara-Ilya, Zabaykalsky region, the medical and obstetrical station lost its paramedic, who was also mobilized.
Spartak Myshkin, who fought for 9 days only as part of the “Akhmat” Regiment, became a symbol of pro-war propaganda in Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic]. Now, he conducts “lessons of courage” for schoolchildren, gives interviews, and collects aid for soldiers. During mobilization, he personally delivered draft notices. At the same time, before the war, Myshkin was convicted of an armed attack on Sovcombank [Russian privately owned universal bank].
The Presidential Administration of Russia sent recommendations to the regions on holding a campaign timed to coincide with the anniversary of the start of the war. One of the main events is the Heroes of Our Time rally, the participants of which will line up in the shape of a star. It is also proposed to organize master classes on knitting warm socks and mittens and making trench candles and pouches for military personnel. The pouches should have embroideries such as “We are waiting for you to return with the victory”, “Forward to victory,” etc.
The Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Kaluga Region proposed to collect 20 thousand from the members every month for the needs of the Army. The money should be spent on military vehicles for the RuAF in Ukraine. “Helping the front is a key task for all of us,” Gennady Novoseltsev wrote on his page on the VKontakte social network.
The United Russia Party [Putin’s ruling party] activists collected the cargo "on specific requests" to be sent to the front. In addition to warm clothes, food, and potbelly heating stoves, sledgehammers were also sent to Russian servicemen. The latter puzzled one of the commentators, who wondered, “Why do they need sledgehammers? To hit down drones?” Meanwhile, the Rucheyok [Small stream] kindergarten in the village of Suzemka, Bryansk region, was visited by border guards wearing uniforms and balaclavas. They were photographed together with the children and told them about what needed to be done to become a military man.
The event called "Buy porridge — help our people" was held on the square near the Krasnoyarsk shopping center in the same city. All the funds raised during the campaign will be spent on aid for mobilized soldiers. In Magnitogorsk, children took part in swimming competitions wearing military uniforms and carrying training assault rifles, and in Blagoveshchensk, 145 people poured cold water on them in support of the war with Ukraine.
In Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, one of the central streets was named after 48-year-old Aleksey Katerinichev was killed in Kherson. In the Ural school, the portrait of a school graduate killed during the “special military operation” caused a scandal. His relatives expected the photo to be exhibited in a local museum but found it under the sofa in the teachers' room.