Mobilization in Russia for Feb. 16-18, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia], announced his plan to introduce legislation exempting contract servicemen who have spent at least six months fighting in the war with Ukraine from conscription, calling such an exemption "absolutely fair."
Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivilyova, who also heads the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund, stated that more than 13,000 former mercenaries from private military companies gained combat veteran status last year. In November 2024, authorities streamlined the process for securing "special military operation veteran" recognition for these fighters by requiring only witness testimony. Moreover, Tsivilyova noted that the government is now reviewing a bill granting combat veteran status to members of Storm-Z units—recruited from penal colonies—who signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense between Jan. 1 and Sept. 1, 2023. Officials previously refused to issue such certificates to ex-convicts, arguing they did not technically qualify as service members. The plan now is to "integrate them into the veteran community," Tsivilyova said.
Russia’s Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov signed an order that changes the way contract soldiers receive financial compensation for performing tasks without limiting their service hours. Under the previous system, they only qualified for these payments, in lieu of additional leave days, only after returning to their unit's home base from a high-intensity deployment. Now. soldiers can receive the pay in addition to their regular pay, without having to wait for the deployment or assigned mission to conclude.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
In Russia’s constituent republic of Mordovia, the regional sign-up bonus for signing a contract with the MoD has been increased from 400,000 rubles [$4,370] to 1.1 million rubles [$12,000], according to the head of the region, Artyom Zdunov. With the addition of the payment from the MoD, the total amount will reach 1.5 million rubles [$16,400]. The governor also noted that residents of the republic’s capital, Saransk, will receive an additional 200,000 rubles [$2,190] from the city.
Murmansk region governor Andrey Chibis has ordered 51 million rubles [$557,500] to be allocated from the regional government's reserve fund for bonuses to local self-government bodies "for assisting in the fulfillment of tasks assigned to the Russian Armed Forces in 2024." This likely comprises payments for recruiting volunteer fighters to participate in the war.
Details of a new joint order from the MoD, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Federal Penitentiary Service regulating the recruitment of convicts for the frontline have emerged. According to the document, prisoners are currently ineligible for recruitment if they:
- Are 65 years old or older,
- Are serving sentences for certain extremist or terrorist offenses or crimes against the sexual integrity of minors,
- Have medical conditions classified under fitness categories "D" (unfit for service) or "V" (limited fitness),
- Have been sentenced to life imprisonment or received a death sentence later commuted to life imprisonment.
According to the calculations of Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] based on data from the Central Bank, more than 198,000 new participants in the war applied for a payment holiday in 2024. This figure exceeds the numbers from the early months of mobilization when 167,000 people took advantage of the program. It is also nearly double the 110,500 cases recorded in 2023. The fourth quarter of 2024 set a new record, with 65,000 people receiving a payment deferral—twice as many as in the first quarter (33,200). Since the start of mobilization, war participants and their families have applied for a total of 476,000 payment holidays, amounting to 188 billion rubles [$2 billion].
The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking] Telegram channel analyzed advertisements for contract-based military service posted on Avito, Russia's largest classified ads website. The listings offer payments ranging from 260,000 rubles [$2,840] to 620,000 rubles [$6,780] "per shift," though the exact meaning of "shift" is not specified by the advertisers. Additionally, recruits are promised sign-up bonuses between 2 million rubles [$21,900] and 3 million rubles [$32,800]. Employers also offer debt repayment assistance, full support from the recruit's hometown to the draft office, combat training, "professional medical treatment," and other benefits. Contracts are reportedly available to people with no prior military experience, no military ID, health issues, criminal records, or suspended sentences.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The Astrakhan region authorities have confirmed the death of 1,112 residents of the region in the war against Ukraine. This many names will be engraved on a monument dedicated to soldiers killed in the war, which will be opened on Feb. 23 in the Astrakhan State University square. This figure is almost 400 more than the one determined by Mediazona and BBC News Russian from open sources.
The wife of Aleksandr Merzlyak, a serviceman of the 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade, has appealed to Vladimir Putin, demanding the punishment of the unit's command. According to the woman, during the assault on the town of Kurakhove in November 2024, her husband sustained multiple wounds. He had to reach the evacuation point on his own, and he only was admitted to a hospital a month later, in December. Merzlyak was examined and issued a medical report, but the shrapnel was not removed, and he was reassigned to a reserve battalion. At the end of January, Merzlyak, along with fellow soldiers moving on crutches, was transferred from the medical company to an assault unit near the town of Avdiivka, from where he last contacted his family on Feb. 2. The soldiers also published a video in which they reported being deployed to an assault mission.
Aleksey Sapunov, a mobilized soldier from the Tula region, has been redeployed to the frontline despite having failing kidneys and two concussions. His command sent Sapunov to a warehouse in the Kharkiv region, where the man is still working, carrying loads of up to 40 kilograms [88.2 lb] on crutches.
About 40 servicemen from the 136th Motorized Rifle Brigade are being sent to the frontline instead of receiving the medical treatment and leave they are entitled to. All the soldiers have documents confirming their diagnoses, indicating the fitness category "G" (temporarily unfit for military service). They have been assigned to the 150th Regiment as healthy reserve soldiers. They are now being prepared for deployment to forward positions. According to the soldiers, this decision was made by Colonel Yegrafov, the brigade's chief of staff.
In a military unit in the Khabarovsk region, a soldier from Russia’s constituent Republic of Dagestan broke a conscript’s leg. 20-year-old Pavel was drafted during the regular biannual conscription in July 2024 from Perm. He was assigned to the 57th Motorized Rifle Brigade in the town of Bikin in the Khabarovsk region. On Dec. 30, a soldier named Kurbanov inflicted a severe injury on Pavel. Lieutenant Magomed Nasirov attempted to cover up for his fellow Dagestani and downplay the situation. To do this, Pavel was pressured not to inform his parents about the incident. Eventually, the conscript was taken to a hospital, where he underwent two surgeries under anesthesia. However, he was denied leave for rehabilitation.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
Dmitry Gronostaysky, accused of theft at the Almaz-Antey [Russian state-owned concern in the arms industry] defense plant in Nizhny Novgorod, who signed a contract during the investigation and was deployed to the war, has now been returned from the frontline and placed under arrest. He is charged with theft of a particularly large amount.
The Investigative Committee has reported the initiation of a criminal case against two teenagers from the Nizhny Novgorod region, suspected of attempting sabotage. According to investigators, at the end of 2024, the suspects attempted to set fire to two relay cabinets on the railway section between Shatki and Satis stations, but were detained on the spot.
A court in Moscow, on its second attempt, has determined the pretrial restrictions for Artyom Zharov, a defendant in the case of terrorist attacks on railways in the Moscow region. Zharov and his "accomplice," whose last name is Kulakov, are charged with setting fire to two electric trains on Dec. 30, 2024. Zharov has been placed in custody until Feb. 28 on charges of attempting an act of terror and committing an act of terror.
A court in Krasnodar sentenced Yaroslav Lozko, a native of Ukraine's Sumy region, to 10 years and 6 months in prison on charges of sabotage. He was accused of setting fire to relay cabinets on the railway in Krasnodar.
The Second Western District Military Court found three young men guilty of "attempted sabotage committed in a group with grave consequences." 19-year-old Yury Mikheev was sentenced to seven years in a maximum security penal colony, while 20-year-old twin brothers Matvey and Timofey Melnikov were sentenced to 20 and 19 years, respectively. According to investigators, the Melnikov brothers were recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services. They joined the Freedom of Russia Legion under whose orders they were preparing to set fire to military facilities in the Moscow region. They involved Mikheev to record the events on video. The Melnikov brothers pleaded guilty. In the final version of the verdict, they were also charged with treason and participation in a terrorist organization. All three were detained in November 2023 while attempting to infiltrate a military base.
In Moscow, 18-year-old Yegor Melnikov from Dolgoprudny, Moscow region, was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony on charges of sabotage. The details of the case remain unknown. Melnikov was arrested a year ago.
Two defendants in a case involving the arson of a cell phone tower in a Saint Petersburg district, Sergey Gladky and Sergey Perkson, have been sentenced to ten and eight years in prison respectively on charges of sabotage. The arson occurred in May 2024, and two days later, two previously convicted local residents were detained as suspects in the crime.
In Izhevsk, an elderly woman set fire to a police station under instructions from fraudsters. The incident occurred on Feb. 14. The elderly woman entered the police station, broke a jar containing flammable liquid and set it on fire. No one was injured, the fire was extinguished, and the woman was detained.
In 2024, investigators sent 429 criminal cases related to terrorist activities to Russian courts, according to the Investigative Committee. This represents a 40% increase compared to 2023. Law enforcement officers say that the perpetrators of such crimes are typically high school students, college students and elderly people. They act under the direction of fraudsters who either coerce them to take out loans and transfer money to supposedly secure accounts, then convince them that burning buildings is a way to recover their stolen funds. In other cases, they are promised payments for participating in these acts.
Twenty-nine-year-old Yevgeny Ubiraev from Pyt-Yakh, Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], the son of a war participant, was arrested at Minsk airport and charged with participation in a terrorist organization. He was subsequently transferred to a pre-trial detention center in the city of Yekaterinburg. According to his relatives, Ubiraev photographed and recorded videos of several military facilities at the direction of handlers from the Freedom of Russia Legion, which had not yet been designated as extremist at the time of the filming. After his handlers suggested that Ubiraev plant an explosive device under someone's vehicle, he firmly refused. When threatened with being reported to Russian intelligence services, he and his wife left Russia. After an unsuccessful 180-day attempt to obtain a passport in Armenia, he was forced to make a visa run and was detained in Belarus.
According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), a 22-year-old resident of Omsk was fined 540,000 rubles [$5,900] on charges of publicly inciting terrorist activities. Law enforcement officers state that he attempted to join one of the Russian units fighting on Ukraine’s side. He contacted a handler who instructed him to gather information about military facilities and defense industry enterprises. However, he changed his mind at the last moment. The man’s detention became publicly known in August 2024.
A case has been submitted to the "court" in annexed Crimea against a resident of Yalta who allegedly cooperated with Ukrainian intelligence. According to the charges, at the end of 2023, the defendant photographed and "sketched" the locations of RuAF units near Yalta and warships of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. The gathered materials were allegedly sent to his handler via social media.
Artyom Konstantinov, a resident of Murmansk, was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason. According to the FSB, Konstantinov contacted "representatives of a Ukrainian armed group" and sought to join them to fight on Ukraine's side. The persecution of the 25-year-old student from Murmansk State Technical University became known in October 2022. FSB officers detained him on June 3, 2023, just before his exam. Konstantinov stated that during the investigation, he was subjected to pressure and physical abuse. In March 2023, human rights activists reported that he had gone missing and was likely arrested.
In the occupied part of the Luhansk region, Russian authorities detained a police officer who is alleged to have worked for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Directorate of Intelligence. It is claimed that he was gathering "information about the location of Russian Armed Forces units and the personal data of police officers." A treason case has been initiated.
The Rostov Regional Court sentenced an engineer-designer from one of the defense industry enterprises to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony for treason. According to Mediazona, the convicted person's name is Aleksandr Babkin. The FSB alleges that the engineer was passing information about the enterprise to a Ukrainian intelligence officer.
Assistance
In Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent republic], the Batyrlar: Heroes of Tatarstan program has been launched, similar to the national Time of Heroes personnel program commissioned by Putin. The goal of the program is to form and prepare a team of leaders from among participants and veterans of the war who can work in the system of state and municipal administration. A similar program will be launched in Chuvashia, where participants of the war in Ukraine will be trained in management and public administration. Governor Andrey Vorobyov of the Moscow region announced the launch of a regional program for employment and qualification of war veterans.
In the Leningrad region, courses for sewing military gear have been opened for mothers, wives, and sisters of war participants in Ukraine.
Children and Educational System
In Kumeratau in Bashkortostan [Russia’s constituent republic], Pavel Yarmolenko, head of the BARS organization of war veterans in Ukraine, attended a meeting dedicated to Defender of the Fatherland Day with children from a kindergarten. He showed the children how UAVs work and taught them how to disassemble assault rifles.
Authorities in Bashkortostan plan to equip 711 schools with assault rifle models and grenade replicas at a cost of 203 million rubles [$2.22 million]. The equipment will be distributed across all municipalities in the region.
A resident of Cherepovets, Sergey Andriyanov, who beat his wife to death in front of the children and was later pardoned after fighting in the war, is now employed at a private school. In 2018, Andriyanov killed his 35-year-old wife. In 2020, he was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony. In the summer of 2023, he was recruited to fight in the war. After being wounded, he received a pardon and returned home. He is now employed at a school.
Miscellaneous
Authorities in Russia’s Kursk region have launched a registry of missing residents whose relatives have been unable to locate them following the incursionby the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The registry is hosted on the regional government’s website, but the site does not display the total number of people listed. Earlier, Alexander Khinshtein, the Acting Governor of the Kursk region, said it contained more than 1,900 names.
Putin ordered monthly 65,000 ruble [$710] payouts to all Kursk region residents who lost property as a result of the war with Ukraine. Alexander Khinshtein said that 112,620 residents have been affected. The Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet calculated that 7.3 billion rubles [$79.80 million] would be paid out each month. If the displaced residents would not be able to return to their homes within a year, the cost to the state budget would amount to 87.8 billion rubles [$960 million], just under the 88.7 billion rubles [$970 million] total expenditures from the Kursk region’s budget for the whole of last year.
Longreads
Having analyzed over 85,000 civil and criminal cases related to politics, Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] discovered that 303 judges specialize in repressions. These judges hear an abnormally large number of such cases.
Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] reports on the market of payoffs to avoid participation in the frontline activities in the Russian army. In 2023, the "service" cost from 500,000 rubles [$5,470], depending on the circumstances. The price was not only affected by the soldier’s status, i.e. whether he was mobilized, signed a contract, or served as an ex-convict, but also depended on the place of service, i.e. whether it was on the occupied Ukrainian territory or in the Kursk region. Currently, a removal from the frontline in the Kursk region costs 3 million rubles [$32,800].
The Vyorstka media outlet studied several dozen convictions and found that criminals, companies, regional authorities, and even the MoD cite the war as a mitigating factor. The article tells how the war became a universal argument in Russian courts.