Mobilization in Russia for Feb. 3-5, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
In the Lipetsk region, authorities increased the sign-up bonus for participating in the war from 600,000 to one million rubles [from $7,810 to $13,000] and raised the amount for enlisting in unmanned systems forces to 1.5 million rubles [$19,500]. Additionally, Governor Igor Artamonov ordered municipalities to guarantee a local supplement of at least 600,000 rubles [$7,810]. As a result, including the federal component of 400,000 rubles [$5,210], a recruit now receives two million rubles [$26,000] for a standard contract and 2.5 million rubles [$32,600] for service in unmanned systems forces.
Orenburg and Buzuluk, Orenburg region, introduced additional municipal payments of 700,000 rubles [$9,120] for signing a military service contract, though the measures exclude conscripts, mobilized soldiers, and individuals subject to criminal investigations or enforcement proceedings. When combined with a regional component of 1,000,000 rubles [$13,000] and a federal component of 400,000 rubles [$5,210], the total payout comes to 2,100,000 rubles [$27,300].
A court ruling released by the human rights organization Shkola Prizyvnika [Conscript School] reveals that the Ministry of Defense directly orders the recruitment of conscripts for contract service. Last year, a draftee from the Altai region [a federal subject of Russia] signed a contract under pressure just one day after his conscription and was subsequently deployed to the front line, where he suffered an injury. The soldier filed a lawsuit to annul the contract, arguing he did not understand the legal consequences of the document, but the court rejected his claim. In its decision, the court cites a telegram from the acting chief of staff of the Central Military District that orders military officials to form recruitment groups and send them to military assembly points where conscripts await dispatch to units. It further demands that the military commissar of the Altai region admit these recruiters to the assembly points to organize recruitment efforts. While the directive specifically concerns the spring 2025 draft, reports reaching human rights defenders suggest the military continues to use this practice.
In Tyumen, on Feb. 5, law enforcement officers conducted an anti-migrant raid during which they identified 72 individuals who had obtained Russian citizenship but failed to register for military service. Of these, 37 were conscription age men. All of the men were taken to the draft office to undergo "pre-conscription procedures."
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Russia and Ukraine carried out a POW exchange under the 157-for-157 formula agreed upon on the second day of talks in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, three residents of Russia’s Kursk region were returned as part of the exchange. Of the 157 Ukrainians who returned home, 139 were captured in 2022, including 18 defenders of the Azovstal Steel Factory. As part of the exchange, Russia secured the return of Akhmat serviceman Roman Bibulatov, who had previously been convicted. In 2010, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for an offense related to sexual acts against persons under the age of 14. The Ukrainian Hochu Zhit [I Want to Live] project claims that the Russian side demanded the return of Akhmat fighters in particular and disrupted exchanges by refusing to take back other servicemen.
The sister of Denis Osipov from Moscow has reported to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel that her brother, a 28-year-old serviceman, has been redeployed to an assault mission with a broken leg. According to her, Osipov was mobilized in 2022 and assigned to the 1432nd Motorized Rifle Regiment. In 2024, after being beaten by his comrades, he fled but was detained and returned to his military unit in Naro-Fominsk, Moscow region. During his service, Osipov's health deteriorated, and in 2025, he sustained several leg fractures and repeatedly went AWOL. On Jan. 18, he was detained by police. Upon his return to the unit, he was informed that he would be "deployed to an assault mission" with an unhealed knee fracture. Osipov is currently out of contact.
In the Shebekino district of the Belgorod region, a soldier fled during a combat mission. Daniil Litovsky, a 27-year-old native of Saint Petersburg who was previously convicted, has abandoned his position near the village of Murom while being armed.
A court in Kazakhstan denied the request for political asylum by Russian deserter Yevgeny Korobov. The employment and social protection department of Astana previously refused to grant him refugee status. The court sided with the Kazakh authorities, who deemed that the soldier did not face persecution in Russia due to his political beliefs and desertion, despite a desertion case being opened against him in Russia. Korobov is the eleventh deserter to be denied protection by Kazakhstan since the outset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Korobov told journalists that he was on the frontline only for the first three months of the war, participating in operations near Kyiv. In an attempt to escape, Korobov inflicted a gunshot wound on himself. At the end of 2022, he participated in the Pust Govoryat [Let Them Talk] talk show on Channel One, a major Russian state-controlled television channel. Korobov was supposed to be sent back to Ukraine after the episode aired, so he fled to Kazakhstan.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Omsk, a court sentenced 29‑year‑old war veteran Pyotr Sutaykin to nine years and seven months in a maximum security penal colony for intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm resulting in death. Investigators said Sutaykin killed his partner out of jealousy. He had previously served time for a similar murder. While in prison, he signed a contract with the Wagner Group to fight in the war. Despite his record, the court’s new ruling stated that Sutaykin "had no prior convictions."
In Tomsk, a court sentenced serviceman Ivan Tabatchenko to 12 years in a penal colony after convicting him of murder for strangling an acquaintance. Because part of a previous sentence remained unserved, the court imposed a cumulative term of 16 years in a penal colony. Tabatchenko already had a criminal record prior to this case.
In Moscow, police shot and killed one suspect and detained another during a Feb. 3 shootout in the Kuntsevo district. The men, both war veterans, were wanted in connection with the kidnapping of a Penza resident and the murder of a taxi driver. Authorities said the suspects "offered armed resistance" during their arrest in a high‑rise building, prompting officers to use their service weapons. One suspect was fatally wounded, while the other was taken into custody. Criminal cases have been opened for murder, attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, and robbery. One of the men also faces a weapons possession charge. According to a published wanted bulletin, the suspects were identified as Mikhail Leontyev and Aleksey Lanchikov. Leontyev was killed, and Lanchikov was detained. Prior to 2022, both men were serving sentences in a penal colony, where they signed contracts with the Wagner Group, received pardons, and went to fight in the war. They returned from the frontline after six months.
In Donetsk, law enforcement officers assaulted anddetained human rights defender Maksim Davydov, who had previously been accused of document forgery and fined for "discrediting the Armed Forces." Davydov is known for defending forcibly mobilized individuals in occupied Donetsk and had previously reported threats and pressure from the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The Southern District Military Court sentenced prisoner of war Denys Holub, a fighter of the Azov Brigade, to 20 years in prison on charges of participation in a terrorist organization and training in terrorism. He has been listed as missing in action since May 17, 2022—it is likely that this was when the Ukrainian was taken prisoner.
In Saint Petersburg, 24-year-old Elizaveta Neustupova was detained on suspicion of setting fire to a collection point for military aid run by the Dobrovolets [Volunteer Fighter] foundation. A criminal case on charges of a terrorist attack has been opened against her, and the court has placed her in a pre-trial detention center. According to media reports, she threw Molotov cocktails into the basement, which started a fire; only property was damaged. The Fontanka[pro-Russian media outlet of the Leningrad region] provided a detailed account of the woman’s story.
Two 15-year-old residents of Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic] have been sent to a pre-trial detention center in connection with a case involving a terrorist attack. According to investigators, the teenagers, acting on instructions from "online recruiters," set fire to railway equipment near the Yanaul station on the evening of Jan. 27.
The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced a 57-year-old Moscow resident, Nikolay Makovsky, to 18 years in prison on charges of treason, participation in a terrorist organization, and preparation for an act of terror. According to investigators, Makovsky joined a group created by the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) "on his own initiative" to carry out "subversive activities against Russia" from January 2024 through February 2025. Prosecutors said Makovsky was tasked with preparing an act of terror on railway tracks at a station in the Domodedovo urban district.
The same court also sentenced a 19-year-old resident of Kineshma to 19 years in prison for carrying out an act of terrorism that caused significant damage and for participating in a terrorist organization. According to investigators, from Dec. 19, 2024 to Jan. 8, 2025, acting on instructions from handlers, the young man set fire to a transformer substation supplying a cellular operator’s base station in the Nizhny Novgorod region, as well as a server base station in the Ivanovo region.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Polina Kostyuchenko, a resident of Vyborg, to 17 years in a penal colony for involving the illegal manufacture of explosives, their storage, preparation of a terrorist attack and treason. According to investigators, in 2024 the woman and her acquaintance contacted a representative of Ukrainian intelligence, and in November of the same year, acting on his instructions, she traveled to Rostov-on-Don, where she planned to blow up an officer of the Russian army. In addition, from Nov. 19, 2024, to Jan. 31, 2025, Kostyuchenko identified the addresses of several other officers and one official from the "LPR government" in Rostov-on-Don. She allegedly conducted covert surveillance of them as well, taking photos and videos. She was later detained, and as a result, according to investigators, was unable to carry out the bombing.
A 56-year-old resident of the Mykhailivka district, Zaporizhzhia region, was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison in a case involving sabotage, participation in a sabotage group, and the use of ammunition and explosives. The man’s 25-year-old son had previously been sentenced to 15 years in prison on the same charges, as well as on a charge of undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out sabotage activities. According to the prosecution, from March 2022 to October 2023, the defendant, together with his son, prepared weapons, explosive substances, explosive devices, and ammunition to carry out acts of sabotage. In September 2023, the men blew up two RuAF military vehicles.
Longreads
The Vyorstka media outlet reports on how Russian authorities are effectively pushing orphans to sign contracts with the MoD, promising them faster access to housing.
BBC News Russian has published a report on how Russian soldiers attempt to buy their way out of participation in combat operations — and the consequences that follow.