Mobilization in Russia for Feb. 23-25, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Three years of full-scale war

Ahead of the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a number of media outlets have prepared special reports and projects.

Meduza [international Russian-language online media outlet] and Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] have published a statistical estimate of Russian army losses over three years of war, based on a named list of the dead and data from the National Probate Registry. According to their analysis, between 160,000 and 165,000 Russians have been killed in the war. Additionally, Mediazona has launched the project "Russia 200"—a publicly accessible named list of dead soldiers [“200” here refers to the code for soldiers killed in action].

IStories [independent Russian investigative media outlet] has launched its own project, "Charon"—a database of Russian soldiers killed or missing in action. The database is powered by a neural network that scans public notices of the death or disappearance of military personnel fighting on Russia’s side. Journalists have also provided their own casualty estimate, stating that at least 103,000 Russian Armed Forces soldiers have been killed or gone missing over three years of full-scale war. IStories notes that the true scale of losses is even higher.

The Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet analyzed the deaths of military personnel from the Irkutsk region and Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic]. Using open data, they identified the names of 2,255 and 2,300 killed soldiers from these regions, respectively, accounting for 0.51% and 1.13% of the total number of working-age men. On average, a soldier from the list lived 312 days from deployment to the frontline until death—less than a year. The shortest survival time was recorded among mercenaries of the Wagner Group and fighters of the Storm-Z and Storm-V units, who lived an average of just three months.

The BBC Russian Service has calculated that since February 2022, more than 100 Russian regional and municipal officials, lawmakers, and law enforcement officers have gone to war to secure release from prison or avoid incarceration. Most were under investigation or had been convicted of bribery, embezzlement of public funds, and abuse of power. However, among the former law enforcement officers, some had also been convicted of murder. Journalists note that none of the officials who went to the front were federal-level civil servants. The BBC found that the recruitment system for such individuals is opaque, with the FSB [Federal Security Service] often having the final say in these decisions. Meanwhile, the Sever.Realii online media outlet [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] reported that more than 30 officials and lawmakers who went to the front have been killed.

Journalists from the 7x7 – Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet have calculated that at least 240 Russians have been killed by veterans who returned from the war against Ukraine. Russian courts have issued 225 convictions in these cases. The study includes only cases confirmed by court verdicts under five legal articles related to murder. Some cases are still under investigation, while others remain unpublished or have had key details removed, meaning the actual number of victims could be higher.

A similar investigation by the Vyorstka media outlet found that since the beginning of the war, at least 754 people have been affected by crimes committed by returning war veterans, with 378 killed. Among the perpetrators, 392 were released ex-prisoners, while 284 were other military personnel. Additionally, participation in the "special military operation" almost always results in a more lenient court sentence.

The OVD-Info independent human rights project has produced a major report on Russian wartime repression. It provides a detailed account of persecutions related to the war and anti-war protests. Over three years, law enforcement officers have initiated more than 1,200 criminal cases against individuals for their anti-war stance. In the third year of the invasion, the number of anti-war criminal cases in Russia has decreased, but the sentences have become harsher.

A major report on how political persecution has changed during the war was prepared by the Avtozak LIVE team in collaboration with lawyers and attorneys. Additionally, human rights activists have published a name-by-name list of those currently deprived of their freedom by the Russian authorities. The appendix to the report contains a list of 3,567 names of political prisoners, Ukrainian civilian hostages, and POWs for whom information was available.

The Takiye Dela [So It Goes] media outlet explored how Russia has changed over the years of war: how many people have left, how many have been killed, how crime rates have shifted, and whether Russians have become more prosperous (or not).

The Ne Norma [Not a Norm] Telegram channel has compiled a small selection of news about how schools in Russia are "commemorating" the anniversary of the start of the war.

Authorities and Legislation

Members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) [right-wing populist and ultranationalist political party] introduced a bill in the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly] that would amend the law on alternative civilian service to allow conscripts during wartime to work in factories fulfilling state defense orders. The bill’s authors aim to mitigate the workforce shortage that emerged in the military-industrial complex amid the ongoing "special military operation."

The State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation has endorsed a bill that would criminalize the failure to report acts of sabotage.

The Ministry of Defense has drafted amendments to the Law on Veterans to grant combat veteran status to conscripts and law enforcement officers who served near Russia’s borders. If passed, the federal government would determine which areas would qualify. The changes would apply retroactively to service performed as far back as Feb. 24, 2022. More than 83,000 people would be eligible for the new status, including 41,000 MoD’s service members.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

BBC News Russian has reported a consistent rise in MoD contract sign-up bonuses across a number of Russian regions. In February, the sign-up bonus in the Astrakhan region increased from 1 million rubles [$11,350] to 1.6 million rubles [$18,200]. According to the media outlet, at least 29 regions have now reached or exceeded 2 million rubles [$22,700] in national and local payments, with some regions also increasing bonuses for recruiters.

Starting March 1, those signing a contract with the MoD in the district center of Kosa in the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject] will receive 100,000 rubles [$1,140] in addition to regional and national payments.

In Krasnoyarsk, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has conducted mass roundups of migrants who violated the law and new citizens who had not undergone military registration. 455 people were taken to a police station, 58 of whom were summoned to a draft office. Law enforcement officers also organized roundups in Saint Petersburg, checking the documents of 100 people who recently obtained Russian citizenship. It is reported that 22 of them were taken to a draft office for completing military registration. It is worth noting that during the inspection, law enforcement officers offered men to sign contracts with the MoD.

Defendants from the so-called "private military company ‘ENOT’" have signed contracts with the MoD. According to the Kommersant daily newspaper, Oleg Ocheretny, Ivan Kovalenko, Aleksey Konovalov and Mikhail Maksimov have signed contracts and joined as assault troops. Some reports suggest they are participating in the Russian-Ukrainian war, while others indicate they are serving in Africa. In 2019, the Investigative Committee accused the group members of creating a criminal organization and attacking smugglers. The group's leader, Roman Telenkevich, was sentenced in March 2022 to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony, after which he was deployed to the war. The group's founder, Igor Mangushev [Russian nationalist fighter], died in February 2023 from a gunshot wound sustained under unclear circumstances in the annexed part of the Luhansk region.

According to the Federal Chamber of Advocates, 333 lawyers have become participants in the invasion. Of these, 225 are currently in forward positions, 57 have returned from the war, and 21 have been killed.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

In Saint Petersburg, police are searching for a 26-year-old war participant suspected of raping and murdering a 43-year-old woman with Down syndrome. Her body was discovered earlier by a relative. According to local media, the suspect named Andrey was convicted of armed robbery as part of a criminal group in 2018 and sentenced to nine years in a maximum security penal colony for murder in 2020. He was released from the penal colony after being recruited for the war but deserted his military unit in Luga in April 2024 and had been wanted by authorities since. He was a neighbor of the murdered woman.

The court in Vladimir sentenced mobilized soldier Aleksey Nikulin to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony. He was charged with nine counts of attempted illegal production or sale of drugs on an especially large scale by an organized group, as well as going AWOL.

A resident of the Moscow region was sentenced to six years in a penal colony charged with going AWOL. In September 2022, the man voluntarily signed a contract to fight in the war. Six months later, the unit where he served was disbanded, and his contract ended. The man went home, but in April 2024, he received a call from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, telling him he was listed as going AWOL.

A war veteran from Tyumen was sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony on charges of desertion and fraud. The 35-year-old signed a contract in October 2022, and a month later he escaped from the unit and came home to Tyumen. On April 26, 2024, police arrested him on suspicion of fraud—as part of a gang he was defrauding old people.

A Moscow court has refused to hear the first known criminal case of voluntary surrender during the war with Ukraine. This case of a miner from the Sakhalin region, Roman Ivanishin, has been kicked around from court to court—in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Khabarovsk and Moscow—and finally sent back to the Far East. According to Kommersant’s sources, the case may ultimately be forwarded to the Donetsk Garrison Military Court, where "many controversial criminal cases" are "heard without any public scandals."

In Buryatia, the Ulan-Ude District Court fined a local young man 200,000 rubles [$2,270] for dodging regular conscription. The young man was expelled from a technical college due to absences and poor results, making him eligible for regular biannual conscription. Following a medical examination, he was deemed fit for service with minor restrictions. He received draft notices from the enlistment office every six months but ignored them.

A man from Arzamas was arrested for setting fire to several cars and a draft office in the early hours of Feb. 23. The man first burned vehicles in the village of Vyezdnoye before heading to the draft office in Arzamas, where he attempted to attack it with Molotov cocktails. He was soon apprehended, and a criminal case was opened against him on charges of terrorist attack and deliberate destruction or damage to property. The court remanded him in a pre-trial detention center.

A man from Stavropol was detained for attempting to set fire to a post office. According to law enforcement, the 20-year-old local had allegedly agreed via messenger with a representative of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to carry out the arson in exchange for a reward. On Jan. 28, he attempted to set fire to the post office in the regional center. He was apprehended and charged with attempted terrorism.

Five young people have been accused of attempting a terrorist attack at a military base in Balashikha near Moscow, the Russian state news agency TASS reports, citing law enforcement sources. No details of the charges have been provided.

In Bashkortostan [Russia’s constituent republic], the FSB has detained a 17-year-old youth on charges of collecting and sending information about an oil refinery in Ryazan at the direction of Ukrainian intelligence services. The agency noted that the detained teenager's father had been mobilized to fight in the war against Ukraine. He is currently in the hospital.

In Saint Petersburg, Maksim Motovilov, a 41-year-old former employee of a research equipment supplier, has been sentenced to nine years on charges of state treason and attempted smuggling of toxic or explosive substances, weapons, equipment, technologies and scientific-technical information. Motovilov pleaded guilty and entered into a pre-trial agreement.

In the Moscow region, a resident of Domodedovo urban district has been sentenced to 16 years imprisonment on charges of preparing for a terrorist attack, weapons smuggling, aiding terrorism, and illegal acquisition, storage and manufacturing of weapons, ammunition and explosives. According to investigators, on April 11, 2024, the man recorded coordinates and captured footage of an anti-aircraft missile and gun system in Podolsk, after which he sent the data to a Ukrainian social media platform. Additionally, back in 2017, the accused illegally transported weapons from Ukraine to Russia, and then manufactured ammunition for them, preparing for terrorist attacks on military and civilian facilities, as well as on railways in the Moscow, Bryansk and Belgorod regions.

Assistance

The administration of Nizhny Novgorod has created a new deputy head position, responsible for supporting war veterans and their families, as well as overseeing "patriotic education" for young people.

In Krasnoyarsk, transportation companies have donated their three-day revenue from ticket sales to support the "special military operation." A similar initiative took place last year, when the companies collected and donated 1.2 million rubles [$13,600]. This year, the total collected is 2.5 times higher—almost 4 million rubles [$45,500]. The funds will be used to buy uniforms and equipment for Russian soldiers.

Volunteers in the Zabaykalsky region are making stoves named "'Matryoshka" for soldiers. In addition to the stoves, they are also producing heavy hammers and trench candles.

Children and Educational System

Affiliated with the Ministry of Defense, the Association of Veterans of the "Special Military Operation" has begun to recruit women who participated in the invasion to promote war in schools and orphanages.

From Feb. 24 to May 9, 500 war propaganda events will be held in Russian universities. Across the country's universities, there will be over 500 meetings with war veterans, war correspondents, historians, and representatives of patriotic movements.

Longreads

The Bumaga [Paper] independent media outlet publishes the monologue of the wife of a mobilized soldier—despite her efforts to support her husband, he was killed, and now she is trying to save his fellow soldiers.

The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet tells the story of a contract soldier whose mother paid a recruiter for him to serve in the rear, but he was killed a month later in forward positions.