Mobilization in Russia for Jan. 21-23, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Legislation

A group of lawmakers from 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 of Russia] that would grant wives of mobilized soldiers preferential hiring in state institutions and military units, along with the right to retain their positions if staffing cuts occur. The proposal would also provide these women with priority access to vocational training programs while allowing them to keep their salaries.

Members of the State Duma have also adopted in its first reading a bill that would exclude the period of participation in the war against Ukraine from the four-year validity period of the Unified State Exam [graduation examination in Russia’s schools]. The proposed legislation would also exclude any time serving under conscription or mobilization from that same validity window.

Vladimir Putin instructed the federal government to raise social insurance and military pensions by 9.5%. The measure should apply from Jan. 1, 2025. The government had raised military pensions by 5.1% on Oct. 1, 2024, but would now adjust the indexation according to the "previous year’s actual inflation rate."

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

The Shkola Prizyvnika [Conscript School] human rights organization has published a letter from a military commissar addressed to the Krasnoyarsk branch of the Academy of Labor and Social Relations. In the letter, the commissar requests that exams be rescheduled to an earlier date, before May 20. The military commissar references Putin's recent decree on training for reservists but specifically targets students born in 2004-2005 who are eligible for regular conscription. In response, Shkola Prizyvnika advises students to voice their disagreement with any attempt to reschedule exams and to file applications for post-graduation leave.

Dmitry Artyukhov, Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region [Russia’s federal subject], has increased the sign-up bonus for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense from 1.9 million [$19,200] to 3.1 million rubles [$31,300]. The bonus applies to those who sign contracts between Jan. 20 and March 31, 2025. Including the national bonus, the total bonus in the region for signing a contract with the MoD will amount to 3.5 million rubles [$35,400]. This makes the Yamalo-Nenets region the second highest paying region for contract sign-up bonuses. The highest bonuses are currently offered in the Samara region, where recruits receive 3.6 million rubles [$36,400] or 4 million rubles [$40,500] with the national bonus included.

In Russia’s constituent republic of Tatarstan, the sign-up bonus for contract soldiers has been increased by 600,000 rubles [$6,060], bringing the regional payout to 2.1 million rubles [$21,200]. This marks the second increase in 2025, as the bonus was already raised by 200,000 [$2,020] rubles on Jan. 1. Additionally, national authorities provide a 400,000-ruble [$4,040] bonus, while municipalities and enterprises in Tatarstan offer up to 300,000 rubles [$3,030]. Previously, the region has also raised the bonus for recruiting contract soldiers to 150,000 rubles [$1,520].

Denis Pasler, Governor of the Orenburg region, has announced an increase in the regional sign-up bonus for individuals entering into a contract with the MoD to 2 million rubles [$20,200]. The bonus will apply to those who sign a contract for one year or more before Dec. 31, 2025. In the fall of 2024, the regional bonus for signing a contract in the region was raised from 400,000 to 1 million rubles [$10,100].

The Sverdlovsk region has extended the period during which individuals who sign a contract to join the war effort are eligible for a payment of 1.5 million rubles [$15,200] for the entire year of 2025. For 2025, the region allocated 1.183 billion rubles [$11.96 million] in the budget for these purposes, representing a 50 percent increase compared to the previous year. This payment also applies to mobilized and conscript soldiers who opt to enter into a contract with the MoD.

In response to the complaint from the Perm 36.6 media outlet regarding the placement of contract service advertisements in city schools and on their social media platforms, the Perm City Administration has stated that the advertisement is not intended for children, but rather for their parents.

The military police conducted a raid in Pskov to find those who are not registered for military service. Five people were brought to a draft office as a result of the raid.

In the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region, law enforcement officers have conducted a roundup of migrants. A total of 28 people were checked, two of whom were sent to a draft office for completing military registration. In addition, authorities have reported that three foreigners signed contracts with the MoD.

A man convicted of murdering three people in Yuryevka, Omsk region, has been sent to fight in the war with Ukraine. In January 2022, the then 17-year-old murdered the family of his 14-year-old girlfriend. In March 2023, he was sentenced to six years and seven months in a penal colony. However, he left the penal colony to join the war.

Following the arrest of Buryatia’s [Russia's constituent republic] Minister of Agriculture, another group of officials from the region, including deputy heads of the republic and the acting Minister of Agriculture, departed for the war. They joined the Tigr [Tiger] volunteer unit.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The wife of a deceased soldier from the 123rd Motor Rifle Brigade discovered evidence of electric torture on her husband’s phone. On Aug. 3, she learned from a company medic about her husband’s death. Along with his body, she was given his phone, which contained unsent messages. These messages revealed that in late June, Mikhail was sent on an assault mission, during which he sustained a finger injury. On June 23, he wrote that after his return, he was tortured with electric shocks and sent back to the front, accused of self-inflicted injuries. Due to the lack of medical care, he was forced to amputate his finger himself. The widow claims that in the last video he recorded for her, a barely alive Mikhail said he had crawled halfway back on his own. He was never evacuated.

A contract soldier from Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk region, contracted HIV and hepatitis A and B while on the frontline. The 35-year-old man, who had previously fought in the 2014 war, signed a new contract with the MoD in the spring of 2023. After six months of service in an assault unit, he was hospitalized with a concussion and other injuries. Blood tests revealed his illnesses. On Jan. 14, he was deployed to Rostov-on-Don "to participate in the special military operation," but contact with him has since been lost.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Andrey Marchenko, a businessman from Krasnodar, who signed a contract with the MoD after being accused of large-scale tax evasion, has become a suspect in a criminal case for desertion. He is also accused of large-scale fraud and bribery. A court placed him under house arrest as a preventive measure, but the businessman later fled. Marchenko was deployed to the frontline after being charged with large-scale tax evasion. Local Telegram channels reported that his deployment to the war was fake: for a bribe, he obtained a military medical board conclusion at a hospital declaring him unfit for service, which allowed him to be discharged from the army.

Novosibirsk businessman Andrey Schastlivy, who unexpectedly joined the war in the summer hoping to avoid criminal prosecution, has been detained in the city of Luhansk. According to media reports, he did not participate in combat operations and remained far from the frontline. Under new charges, he is accused of involvement in operating an underground casino and bribing police officers who protected the establishment.

An employee of the Military Prosecutor's Office has been detained in a bribery case. According to investigators, Lieutenant Colonel Aleksey Akhrameshin, who served as a state prosecutor in criminal cases against military personnel, for 200,000 rubles [$2,020], removed a Sochi resident from the frontline who had decided to desert, under the guise of being a witness in the case. After this, the serviceman was taken by relatives, reports the Kommersant daily newspaper. Kommersant notes that Akhrameshin may have been involved in dozens of similar incidents.

On January 23, the Kursk Garrison Military Court handed down its verdict on Stanislav Lopatin, who was accused of looting. According to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], this is the first known conviction of a Russian serviceman on such charges since the beginning of the war. The length of Lopatin's sentence remains unknown.

Later the same day, Mediazona reported that the Kursk court also sentenced another serviceman, Nikita Sobolev, for large-scale looting. The exact length of Sobolev's sentence has not been disclosed either.

In the Krasnoyarsk region, a 17-year-old local resident was sentenced to four years in a juvenile penal colony for attempting to sabotage a railway. According to investigators, in March 2024, the defendant and his 15-year-old accomplice, acting on an Internet assignment, attempted to set fire to relay and battery cabinets on a stretch of the railway between the Achnisk-1 and Tarutino stations. The teenagers were apprehended at the scene before they could open the cabinets. The 15-year-old involved was released from criminal liability due to his age.

In Belgorod, programmer Ilya Chubukov was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for the possession of explosives. Chubukov had initially been detained in connection with setting fire to a Z-installation in downtown Belgorod on Sept. 18, 2023, for which he was fined. Following this, a search of his property uncovered a grenade, leading to a new criminal case. Chubukov’s lawyer claimed that the explosives had been planted on him.

In Nizhny Novgorod, a 20-year-old man has been detained on suspicion of setting fire to a relay cabinet at the Nizhny Novgorod-Sortirovochny railway station. Law enforcement officers claim he acted under the guidance of fraudsters. A criminal case has been initiated under the article on a terrorist attack committed in a group. The detainee has been placed in a pre-trial detention center.

In the Sverdlovsk region, a group of teenagers was detained on charges of arson targeting a relay cabinet on the railway between Krasnoufimsk and Zyurzya stations. They were allegedly promised 10,000 rubles [$100] via a messaging app for committing the act. A criminal case was initiated against them under the article on a terrorist attack. The teenagers were placed in a pre-trial detention center.

A man from Birobidzhan has been arrested for planning to set fire to police stations. According to investigators, the suspect allegedly contacted a representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion and, under the instructions of his "handler," planned to carry out the arson of police stations.

In Adygea [Russia's constituent republic], Federal Security Service (FSB) officers reported the detention of a 24-year-old local man suspected of involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization. The man allegedly held discussions with a coworker, attempting to persuade him to participate in acts of sabotage against law enforcement officers. However, the coworker reported him to the authorities.

A 32-year-old resident of Crimea has been charged with high treason for allegedly working for the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the MoD of Ukraine. According to Russian law enforcement officers, in the fall of 2023 the accused allegedly "carried out photography and videotaping of the deployment sites of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the town of Feodosia."

In 2024, Russian law enforcement recorded 1,191 terrorist attacks, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs report on the state of crime last year, the Vyorstka media outlet noted. This is a record number for the entire time of keeping statistics—since 2003. The number of such crimes last year was almost three times higher than in 2023, when the ministry reported 410 terrorist attacks. These statistics began to grow in 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine started. This is how Russian law enforcement qualifies arson attacks on relay cabinets and draft offices, which could be seen as anti-war activism or results of phone scams. There was also a record number of "extremist" offenses recorded in the time statistics have been kept. In 2024, there were 1,719 such crimes, compared to an average of half as many in the previous 21 years (805).

Children and Educational System

At the "Talking About Important Things" [a compulsory lesson held every Monday in schools across the country], veterans of the Ukraine war will be equated with World War II heroes. This message will be conveyed to students by WWII veteran Konstantin Fedotov and Nikolay Sokolov, who served in Ukraine, both of whom have participated in events with Putin.

Between February and April, schools will host "patriotic music lessons" featuring performances by SHAMAN [a stage name of Russian pro-war singer Yaroslav Dronov], Oleg Gazmanov, and Denis Maydanov, who will tour educational institutions. The initiative for these "patriotic music lessons" came from the artists themselves, according to the State Duma deputy Sergey Kolunov, a member of the working group tasked with creating a new list of musical compositions.

Several regions across Russia have reported that preschools have begun conducting weekly propaganda sessions of "Talking About Important Things" with their young students. During initial sessions in the Krasnodar, Zabaykalsky, Lipetsk, Murmansk and Nizhny Novgorod regions, children were taught about the war and military careers, and were dressed in military uniforms.

Saint Petersburg authorities have allocated more than 5.6 million rubles [$56,600] for hosting a "Youth Patriotic Forum." Last year's contract for organizing the event cost 3 million rubles [$30,300].

Miscellaneous

Since Jan. 16, relatives of residents in the Sudzhansky district, who remain under the occupation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, have been posting dozens of messages on the VKontakte social network. These posts include photos and names of missing loved ones, accompanied by the hashtags #WeAreSudzha and #WeAreNeededPeople. In their posts, people are urging the authorities of Russia, Ukraine, and international organizations to evacuate their relatives. According to local residents, approximately 3,000 people remain in the Sudzhansky district.

The Presidential Grants Foundation has allocated at least 202.2 million rubles [$2.04 million] to support projects in various ways connected to the war in Ukraine. One of the funded initiatives is a program aimed at "socializing teenagers with mental disabilities through vocational training." Under this initiative, children with Down syndrome and other developmental disorders will engage in making toys for soldiers involved in the invasion of Ukraine. Another grant of 5.6 million rubles [$56,600] was awarded to the Great Don Army to train Cossacks in territorial defense. Additionally, Cossacks in the Chelyabinsk region received a presidential grant to teach schoolchildren saber-cutting techniques using drones. More details on how state funds are being allocated to war-related initiatives can be found in the report by the Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet.

Human rights activists have analyzed the list of 172 organizations supposedly associated with the "terrorist" "Forum of the Free Post-Russia States" published by the FSB. Their findings reveal that 68 of these groups likely do not exist. Among the listed entities is the "Belgorod People’s Republic," a name that appears to be derived from an Internet meme popular in Ukraine rather than a credible organization.

In Tatarstan, a "patriotic" literary competition titled "Heroes Among Us" is underway. Participants are invited to celebrate themes of "heroism and patriotism" in the context of Russia’s ongoing "special military operation" through stories, poems, essays, and other literary forms in both Russian and Tatar languages.

Longreads

The Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet published a report examining the role of veteran lawmakers from Siberia who have served in the "special military operation." The findings reveal just how few of them there are - only 5% of regional deputies are veterans of the conflict, and nearly all of them had prior experience in government or adjacent fields before their military service.

Vyorstka reported on the recovery and rehabilitation processes for soldiers who have returned from the frontlines with severe injuries. The piece highlights the work of specialized centers providing prosthetics and care to these individuals.