Mobilization in Russia for Feb. 4-6, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Many large state-owned and private companies are no longer able to secure mobilization exemption certificates for their employees, journalist Farida Rustamova reports, citing sources at major firms. Earlier coverage indicated that existing certificates would expire on March 21, 2025, and officials planned to tighten the rules for new ones. A classified government decree has reduced the number of organizations allowed to apply for these documents. Rustamova notes that it removes eligibility from businesses engaged in "activities that ensure the population’s livelihood in wartime." That vague provision previously enabled many large firms—from banks and retailers to bread producers—to protect their employees from the draft. Authorities also shrank the list of state offices authorized to issue exemptions, stripping regional and municipal exemption commissions, as well as draft offices, of that power. The new document sets out conditions for revoking exemptions; until now, employees only lost them if they left the company. Faridaily provides more details on these developments.
The Supreme Court revealed the procedure for recruiting convicts into military service in one of its rulings, which was noticed by the Komanda Protiv Pytok [Team Against Torture] group. The case involved Aleksey Tsygankov, convicted of murder, who wanted to go to the frontline but was denied. The ruling disclosed the contents of an order regulating the recruitment of convicts under contract, which was issued in March 2024 and marked "for official use only." The order establishes two methods for convicts to sign military contracts. The first involves the compilation of special lists, prepared monthly by the Federal Penitentiary Service correctional facilities and regional Interior Ministry offices overseeing recently released individuals. These lists are created without the consent of the convicts themselves and include those deemed "fit for contract service," after which they undergo "informational and explanatory work." Three categories of convicts are excluded from these lists (in addition to those already barred by national law): individuals over 65 years old, those with certain health limitations classified as fitness category “D” (unfit for military service), as well as those whose medical conditions prevent them from signing a contract during mobilization, and those serving life sentences. The second method allows any convict or released individual, regardless of recruitment criteria or restrictions, to personally request consideration from the administration of their correctional facility or the Interior Ministry office responsible for their supervision. Such requests must be forwarded to the draft office, which makes a decision based on the results of a "socio-psychological assessment" and medical examination. The Supreme Court rejected Tsygankov’s lawsuit.
In the city of Berezniki, located in the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject], schools, kindergartens, and extracurricular education institutions have been instructed to submit lists of candidates willing to go to war. These directives first appeared in December 2024 from the head of the local education department, requiring each institution to find at least one person willing to sign a contract. In January, an additional column labeled "Willingness to sign a contract" was added to the form that administrators were required to submit.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
In the Bryansk region, a 19-year-old conscript soldier from Tuva, Kuderek Artyn, was killed. Drafted in May 2024, he served in the 1st Tank Regiment. According to Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta], which cited an obituary posted on social media, Artyn was shot five times on Jan. 17 while patrolling the border with Ukraine by a fellow soldier. A serviceman from the same unit reported that during the cleaning of an assault rifle, a soldier jokingly pointed the weapon at Artyn, but live rounds were subsequently fired. Another fellow soldier speculated that the killing may have been intentional. The head of Tuva, Vladislav Khovalyg, has ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the soldier's death.
On Jan. 11, five conscripts serving in the 6th Tank Regiment of the 90th Tank Division were killednear the village of Nekhoteyevka in the Belgorod region. According to the death certificate of one of the victims, 20-year-old Artyom Zherebtsov from Chelyabinsk, the cause of death was an explosion of a guided projectile. All of the young men had been drafted in the summer of 2024. In the fall, they underwent two weeks of sniper training, according to Zherebtsov’s father. After returning to Chebarkul, they were offered contracts that would have allowed them to remain in their unit, but they refused. Subsequently, their battalion was sent to the border. Zherebtsov’s father claims that both those who had signed contracts and those who had not were deployed there. Upon arrival, the soldiers had to construct their own dugout, which was struck by a projectile on Jan. 11. According to Zherebtsov’s father, all nine soldiers living in the dugout were killed, including the five conscripts.
A 150-for-150 prisoner of war exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place, marking the 61st POW exchange. The youngest prisoner returned to Russia is 20 years old, and the oldest is 64 years old, with most of the exchanged being from Moscow and the Moscow region. Among the POWs is 25-year-old Ruslan Abilov, who spent 2.5 years in captivity. Abilov surrendered in October 2022 after five days on the frontline and has since been taken for exchange on two occasions, returning to the POW camp on both. Those who have returned to Ukraine include defenders of the city of Mariupol, marines from the Zaporizhzhia axis, one police officer and other military personnel. According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, some of them had been held for more than two years.
Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has published an investigation based on military tags numbers, indicating that about 30,000 convicts passed through the Storm-Z units. In February 2023, the Ministry of Defense started independent recruitment of convicts, replacing the Wagner Group. Recruitment for the Storm-Z units ceased in September 2023 when Storm-V units took their place. Most Storm-Z combatants were assigned military tags from the AB series, which had previously been used for military personnel from the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. The last tag in this series was issued on Aug. 29, 2023. Based on the tags' numbering pattern, journalists estimated the number of convicts in the Storm-Z units at 30,000 and discovered how the military tag issuance system was organized.
Ilya Kovalenko, a 27-year-old mobilized soldier from the Tver region, has been reported facing threats of forceful deployment to an assault mission with a leg injury. During the offensive in the Avdiivka direction, the soldier sustained a shrapnel wound. After treatment, Kovalenko has no feeling in the lower part of his leg, cannot put weight on it and walks with crutches. Doctors and commanders promised to discharge the man. In August 2024, Kovalenko traveled to a Donetsk military unit in order to address bureaucratic issues, and he has been in a combat zone since then. Following his lawyer's appeal, the court recognized Kovalenko as unfit for military service and ordered the command to transfer him to a unit outside the combat zone and discharge him from service. However, Kovalenko still remains in the military unit. After the commanders learned of Kovalenko's appeal to court, they threatened to deploy him to an assault mission.
Servicemen from the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania [Russia's constituent republic] who served in the commandant's office of occupied Melitopol have appealed to Russia's Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov and the Investigative Committee regarding their transfer to assault troops. In a recorded video, the soldiers described being taken under guard to an undisclosed location at night, only to find themselves assigned to an assault company. The men claim they were assigned to the assault unit because they know about the lawlessness in the commandant's office of the Zaporizhzhia region. According to their statement, personnel at the commandant's office are involved in illegal property appropriation of real estate and vehicles, and extort money from soldiers after they sign contracts. The men also revealed that commandant's office staff are covering up a murder of one serviceman.
Opposition blogger Mikhail Alfyorov from Kemerovo, whose death at the frontline we previously reported, had been producing propaganda videos during the war. This was revealed by journalist Natalia Zubkova, who shared an example of such footage. In the video, Alfyorov, wearing a balaclava concealing his face, thanks a pro-war foundation for supporting his battalion with medicine and "other equipment." According to Zubkova, Alfyorov's initial role consisted solely of recording such videos, as he was stationed at headquarters and did not participate in combat operations.
Relatives of servicemen who went missing in the Black Sea have been seeking an investigation for six months. Servicemen from the naval infantry unit were sent to observation towers in the Black Sea to monitor attacks from unmanned surface vessels. According to what commanders told the soldiers' families, the tower came under missile attack, and as the servicemen attempted to relocate by boat, a projectile struck their vessel directly. On Aug. 1, 2024, the command of the naval infantry unit officially declared eight servicemen missing in action. However, commanders have been providing conflicting information to the families. Some were told an investigation was ongoing, while others were informed it had concluded with body fragments being found. The remains of two casualties were indeed recovered and buried. The families of six other servicemen still haven't received any confirmation about their relatives being declared missing. After the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced into the Kursk region, the investigation stalled, and the MoD has refused to recognize the servicemen as "special military operation participants."
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, a war participant fatally stabbed a man at a bus stop on the night of Jan. 31 to Feb. 1. The perpetrator was a 45-year-old repeat offender who had enlisted for the war from a penal colony. He was arrested the same night, with his case being handled by the Military Investigation Committee.
According to the Dos’ye Shpiona [Spy Dossier] Telegram channel, on Feb. 2, three ex-convicts—servicemen of the 104th Regiment of the 76th Air Assault Division of the Russian Airborne Troops—escaped in the Bryansk region on their way to the frontline. Reports indicate that during their escape, they opened fire on their fellow soldiers, wounding one of them. The fugitives are being searched for in the Bryansk region as well as in neighboring areas.
In the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], a former Wagner Group mercenary has killed one person and wounded two others. The crime occurred on Feb. 2 in the town of Lesozavodsk during a domestic conflict. The mercenary had previously been convicted twice, including for murder.
A resident of Sevastopol claims that a war participant attempted to shoot him. In the early hours of Jan. 7, a woman unknown to him knocked on his apartment door, asking him to call a taxi. A few minutes later, a man burst into the apartment after her, threatened the owner with murder and put a gun to his head. During a struggle, the attacker fired multiple shots, hitting the man in the shoulder. The victim managed to escape the apartment and call for help. He was taken to the hospital, and the police detained the attacker. The suspect turned out to be a serviceman who, according to the victim, had participated in the war, been captured and later exchanged. The attacker remains at large.
Georg Grigoryan, a resident of Tula, has been deployed to the war as part of the Wagner Group after being recruited from a penal colony, where he had been serving time for murdering a man he suspected of having a relationship with his ex-partner. After receiving amnesty and completing his contract, the mercenary returned home and attempted to kill his former partner. The woman was lucky again: the attacker was scared off by a neighbor, and her son quickly took her to the hospital. Following the attack, the ex-mercenary was detained. The court sentenced him to eight years in a penal colony for attempted murder. He is now requesting to be sent back to the frontline.
As noted by journalists from the Yesli byt tochnym [To Be Precise] independent media outlet, statistics recorded 4,200 deaths from crimes throughout Russia in 2024. And what is more, 3,700 of those deaths were recorded in the second half of 2024. This number is several times higher than in previous years. Criminal justice researcher Yekaterina Khodzhaeva suggested that in 2024, military investigators started systematically submitting reports directly to the central office, which were then incorporated into Russia's national crime statistics.
The Novorossiysk Garrison Military Court sentenced 22-year-old serviceman Sergey Belim to two years in a penal settlement for failure to obey orders during an armed conflict. According to the court, in the spring of 2024, the young man received an order from his command to be deployed to the frontline but refused to participate in combat operations in Ukraine.
Investigators dismissed the criminal case of AWOL initiated against First Lieutenant Yevgeny P. The officer left his military unit in December 2022 and never came back. After he was detained in June 2024, a military medical board was appointed, which assigned the man fitness category "D" (unfit for military service). The investigation considered that such a category was sufficient to dismiss the criminal case for lack of corpus delicti.
On the evening of Feb. 4 in Kungur, an unknown man set fire to ATMs and a post office. The man also attacked the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and tried to set fire to their car. The next day the arsonist was detained. According to the detainee, he acted on the instructions of the fraudsters, to whom he transferred 60,000 rubles [$610]. A criminal case has beenopenedagainst him under the articles on preparation for the crime and intentional destruction of property.
A resident of North Ossetia was detained on suspicion of high treason. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), in 2022, the 37-year-old man visited the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, where he bought medicines for a large sum and transferred them to an organization engaged in collecting aid for the needs of the AFU and the National Guard of Ukraine. A criminal case has been opened against the suspect.
The Bryansk Regional Court sentenced the resident of Klimtsy, Artur Yun-Ku-Po, to 17 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of high treason. According to investigators, the man, an active opponent of the "special military operation," collected and passed on information to Ukraine regarding the movements, as well as the numerical and qualitative status of Russian Armed Forces units.
A new criminal case has been opened against 21-year-old Artyom Begoyan, sentenced to 20 years for railway sabotage, for justifying terrorism following conversations with fellow inmates. According to operatives, surveillance equipment was installed in the room.
The court sentenced disabled saxophonist Andrey Shabanov from Samara to six years in a penal colony on charges of justifying terrorism and publicly calling for activities against state security. The criminal case was triggered by posts on Facebook in which he, according to investigators, called for fighting against Vladimir Putin and the current government. Since March, Shabanov has been in detention, with his defense arguing that his health condition does not allow him to be held in a pre-trial detention center. The saxophonist's support group reported that his health has deteriorated significantly during his detention. The Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel] cites Shabanov's last statement, and his story was previously covered by the Vyorstka media outlet.
In St. Petersburg, folk singer Vadim Stroykin fell from a window during a police search of his home. According to reports from Telegram channels linked to law enforcement, authorities had been searching Stroykin’s residence as part of an investigation into alleged participation in a terrorist organization, allegedly for providing financial support to the AFU. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Stroykin had posted anti-war statements on his page on the VKontakte social network. Previously, he was a host and writer for a program on the Echo of Moscow radio station in Yekaterinburg.
Assistance
In the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia’s federal subject], young families with members involved in the war will receive priority access to social benefits. Additionally, a regional housing assistance program for combat veterans, people with disabilities, and families with disabled children has been extended until Sept. 1, 2027. Similar policies are being introduced across Russia. In the Perm region, families of servicemen will receive priority for mortgage assistance. In Pskov, children of wounded soldiers will receive free hot meals at schools and colleges, while families of soldiers missing in action will continue receiving support for six months. In the Magadan region, children of soldiers wounded in the war against Ukraine will also start to receive free school meals.
Children
At School No. 2 in Cheboksary, as part of the "Talking About Important Things" program [a compulsory lesson held every Monday in schools across the country], they invited a participant of the war with Ukraine, the commander of a platoon in the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade. The brigade's emblem features a black cross with white skulls and bones overlaid.
Miscellaneous
Governor of the Orenburg region Denis Pasler appointed war participant Nursultan Mussagaliyev as acting Deputy Minister of Regional and Information Policy. During the invasion, Mussagaliyev commanded a company in the 104th Regiment of the 76th Air Assault Division, whose soldiers are suspected of murdering civilians in Bucha. In Ukraine, criminal proceedings have been initiated against Mussagaliyev for violations of laws and customs of war. According to investigators, under his orders, a 29-year-old local resident was abducted, tortured, and subsequently killed. Mussagaliyev underwent training under the Time of Heroes personnel program.
In Russia, a new tabletop "patriotic" game about the war in Ukraine, "Special Operation in the Outskirts," has been released. The game is designed similar to Monopoly, with the game board adorned with Z-symbolism, and images of Putin, Lavrov, and Medvedev on the game's banknotes. Part of the proceeds from game sales goes to the "special military operation" fund.
Longreads
The Bumaga [Paper] independent media outlet reviewed rehabilitation programs for war participants funded by the Presidential Grants Foundation in 2025, detailing their main aspects.
Vyorstka published an article on how Russian schools are opening VR museums about the "special military operation" to immerse children in the theme of war.