Mobilization in Russia for Feb. 22-24, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

Russia’s Ministry of Defense proposes amending the Military Conscription and Military Service Act to raise the maximum age limit for admission into military academies. The current system caps the entry age at 22 for applicants without military experience and at 24 for those who have previously served in the military. The new amendments would increase these age limits to 24 and 30, respectively, to "guarantee the fulfillment of the personnel order in the interests of staffing the Russian Armed Forces with officers."

Army Recruitment

Journalists from Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories], an independent Russian investigative media outlet, discovered that in January 2026, Russian officials issued a 36-country blacklist to recruiters enlisting foreigners for the war against Ukraine, barring them from hiring mercenaries from those nations. The list primarily includes African states, Arab nations and "friendly" countries, such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran and Venezuela. Diplomatic discussions and demands from certain nations to stop recruiting their citizens for the war likely prompted officials to compile this list. Earlier this month, Russian authorities may have expanded the ban to include Argentina, Iraq, Yemen, Cameroon, Colombia, Libya and Somalia.

The media outlet Vyorstka reported that Avito [the largest Russian classifieds website] recently published advertisements recruiting "peacekeepers" for the combat zone in Ukraine. Employers offer positions "in rear areas," in the "special military operation," and across the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson. Some vacancy descriptions explicitly require applicants to sign a contract with the RuAF. Other listings describe the roles as "helping the civilian population," "maintaining public order" and "patrolling in safe zones," promising no participation in combat. The recruiters themselves struggle to explain a "peacekeeper's" exact duties, but they freely admit that the military actually lacks any such official position. In recent weeks, additional advertisements have emerged promoting supposedly safe service, highlighting roles such as "Crimean Bridge guard," "welder for repair troops" and "headquarters clerk."

At the Higher School of Economics, a drone festival was held on the fourth anniversary of the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. The event featured an obstacle course, and visitors were invited to try operating aerial and ground drones, complete a racing track, use UAV control and assembly simulators and get familiar with various UAV developments and prototypes. Students were also encouraged to join the frontline as part of the Unmanned Systems Forces. Representatives handed out MoD brochures outlining military service and the benefits available to those who enlist.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

To mark the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion, BBC News Russian, together with Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and a team of volunteers, has published updated estimates of Russian military fatalities. According to the study, at least 200,186 Russian servicemen have been killed over the four years of the war, including 17,949 mobilized personnel. Over the past month, the list has grown by 35,000 names. This increase is not due to recent developments on the frontline, but rather to the matching of missing-in-action records with databases available to researchers, including entries from the National Probate Registry. Journalists note that 57% of those killed were volunteer fighters, mobilized personnel or convicts—in other words, people who were not affiliated with the armed forces at the start of the war. There is strong reason to believe that 2025 was the deadliest year for the Russian army so far: 40% more obituaries were published over the year than in 2024. So far, the names of 83,706 Russian servicemen killed in 2024 and 49,935 killed in 2025 have been identified. However, there remain tens of thousands of unprocessed obituary records from 2025. Preliminary estimates suggest that the number of Russian fatalities in 2025 may exceed 90,000. According to the BBC, total losses among pro-Russian forces—including fighters from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR] and Luhansk People’s Republic [LPR]—may range between 329,000 and 468,500 personnel.

In addition, on the fourth anniversary of the war, Mediazona has released an interactive map of Russian military losses that allows users to search by cities, towns and villages. The map shows that the highest per-capita losses are in Tyva, Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic], Altai and the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], while the greatest losses relative to population are in remote villages in Buryatia, Komi [Russia's constituent republic] and the Zabaykalsky region. Most of those going to war come from villages and small towns: 122,700 of the killed were urban residents, and 57,500 were rural residents.

By the end of the fourth year of the war, the independent media outlet Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] had identified 9,200 frontline deaths: 4,350 from Buryatia and 4,850 from the Irkutsk region. Of these, 20% were mobilized soldiers. At least 2,780 of the killed were fathers, leaving no fewer than 5,023 children orphaned. On average, residents of these two regions lived about one year after being sent to the frontline, and in some districts of Buryatia, as much as 3% of the entire male population has already been killed in the war.

Former police colonel Mikhail Smirnov—who had previously confessed to the 2004 murder of journalist Maksim Maksimov, committed together with fellow officers, and was released from pretrial detention after signing a contract with the MoD—has been killed in the war. The incident occurred about a week ago on the border between the Belgorod and Kharkiv regions, where Smirnov came under a UAV attack. He last contacted his relatives on Feb. 14.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The Southern District Military Court upheld the sentence of mobilized soldier Sergey Zusikov, who received nine years in a maximum security penal colony in a case related to an attempt on bribery, document forgery, going AWOL and evasion of execution of military service. According to investigators, Zusikov spent more than a month living at home in 2024. Upon returning to his unit in Chechnya [Russia's constituent republic], he claimed to have spent the entire time at a hospital in Rostov and presented a forged medical evaluation board report, which he had purchased from hospital staff, declaring him unfit for further service.

A court in Ulan-Ude sentenced serviceman Lev Zharkoy to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of robbery and desertion. According to investigators, Zharkoy fled his unit three times, once for nearly a year. Each time he was detained, but he continued to leave his duty station. In addition, he fired an air pistol several times at a woman whose car he attempted to steal and then brutally assaulted her.

In Saint Petersburg, authorities detained 30-year-old serviceman Anatoly Sharoglazov from Sakhalin on suspicion of involvement in a fraud scheme. According to investigators, Sharoglazov served as a courier tasked with collecting 3.5 million rubles [$45,500] from a 71-year-old elderly woman who had been swindled by phone scammers. He had previously been convicted multiple times for robbery, armed robbery, theft and car theft. At the time of the invasion, he was serving a sentence in a penal colony, from which he most likely enlisted in the military. He was subsequently captured as a prisoner of war but was exchanged and returned to Russia.

Also in Saint Petersburg, a 15-year-old girl was detained on suspicion of committing an act of terror. According to law enforcement, on Feb. 23 she set fire to a fuel pump at a gas station in the city; station employees were able to extinguish the blaze on their own. The girl reportedly fell victim to phone scammers.

In the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a man born in 1984 on treason charges. According to investigators, he collected information on defense industry facilities and railway infrastructure in the region, then sent the data to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate via Telegram. The detainee reportedly pleaded guilty. In a video released by the FSB, he stated that in 2024 he applied for drone pilot certificate, and in August 2025 he filmed infrastructure sites.

In Saint Petersburg, a 20‑year‑old man has been charged with assisting terrorism, attempted terrorist attack, participation in a terrorist organization and treason. Investigators said that in January and February 2025, he corresponded with representatives of the Russian Volunteer Corps and agreed to carry out their assignments. Together with two accomplices, he allegedly monitored an army aid collection point and military cargo shipments, passing the information to his handlers. Later, the group reportedly received more than 27 kilograms of a "highly toxic substance," the name of which prosecutors did not disclose. Authorities claim they intended to use it to poison food products being prepared for shipment to the frontline.

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced 25-year-old Anastasia Donova to 18 years in a penal colony in a case involving the illegal manufacture and storage of explosives, preparing a terrorist act and treason. The prosecutor had requested a 19-year sentence. Donova's case was considered on the same day as Polina Kostyuchenko's case with the same charges. In early February, Kostyuchenko was sentenced to 17 years in a penal colony. According to the court, Kostyuchenko, a native of Vyborg [Leningrad region], and her unnamed "acquaintance," presumably Donova, were sent to Rostov in January 2025 by Ukrainian intelligence services to track down "a member of the RuAF command staff" and "an LPR Government official." At the same time, the women "acquired components" for a makeshift bomb and received an explosive device from Ukrainian intelligence officers. All this was allegedly stored "at their temporary place of residence."

The Memorial Human Rights Defense Center has published data on politically motivated criminal prosecutions related to the war that have been initiated in Russia and in the Russian-occupied territories. In total, at least 4,029 people have been affected by these cases. Of these, 3,059 defendants have been imprisoned. Courts have issued 2,730 verdicts, of which 2,302 are actual prison sentences. There have been no acquittals. Russian citizens are primarily charged with treason, terrorism or public calls for terrorism. Ukrainian passport holders are typically charged with treason, terrorism or espionage. Among the defendants, 1,614 hold Russian citizenship, 1,277 hold Ukrainian citizenship, 121 hold dual Russian-Ukrainian citizenship and 47 are citizens of other countries. Russian courts have brought similar charges against at least 551 Ukrainian civilians and 726 Ukrainian soldiers.

Children and Militarization

The Ne Norma [Not a norm] Telegram channel reports on how Russian schools marked four years since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. With each passing year, the number of participating educational institutions has grown. This year the scale was particularly striking: across the country, schools, technical colleges, vocational institutions and kindergartens held "lessons of courage," meetings with veterans of the "special military operation," lectures, rallies and commemorative events.

War veterans from the Sverdlovsk region will serve as mentors to schoolchildren in a "patriotic workshop" program. According to a representative of the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund, children will explore "10 aspects of patriotism" and "bring to life the ideas of participants in the special military operation," for example by organizing interest-based clubs.

Longreads

The T-invariant media outlet examines how college and university students are recruited to participate in the war.

The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet reports on how relatives of soldiers listed as missing in action search for information about them and attempt to seek justice.

The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet has released a report about criminals who signed contracts to participate in the war, returned home as "heroes," and the consequences this has had for local residents.

The Vyorstka media outlet has published an investigation into crimes committed by female relatives of Russian servicemen and the underlying motivations behind these offenses.

The Cherta [Boundary] independent online media outlet has released observations by journalist Marina Romanovskaya and photographer Daria Volkova, who have spent several years attending funerals and visiting the graves of fallen servicemen.

Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has reported on the case of Doctor of Medical Sciences Aleksey Dudarev, who researched the health effects of pollution on residents of the Russian Arctic for 25 years and was recently sent to a pre-trial detention center on charges of high treason.