Mobilization in Russia for Jan. 27-29, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
Russian authorities continue to press students to enlist in the Unmanned Systems Forces, according to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel, which reported a recent recruitment drive at a technical college in Yessentuki. Recruiters there enticed students with one-year contracts and promised payouts of up to 15 million rubles [$196,500], veteran status and benefits packages, while framing the service as office-based computer work located safely away from the frontline. These officials further urged students to enlist as a means to earn money and clear their relatives' debts, assuring them of eventual discharge and demobilization. Separately, media outlet T-invariant details how the Higher School of Economics has become the leader in recruiting students into the Unmanned Systems Forces.
Authorities in Berezniki, a city in the Perm region, have significantly raised the reward for recruiting contract soldiers for the war against Ukraine, with the payout determined by the recruit's place of registration. A recruiter now receives 200,000 rubles [$2,620] if the recruit is registered in the Perm region or has no registration, and 250,000 rubles [$3,270] if the recruit is from another Russian region, is a foreigner or is stateless—up from 50,000 rubles [$650] and 100,000 rubles [$1,310], respectively. Additionally, city authorities pay a 250,000-ruble [$3,270] sign-up bonus to recruits, while the region pays an additional 1.5 million rubles [$19,600].
A Moscow court suspended criminal proceedings against Aleksey Timchenko, the former head of the Digital Transformation Department at the Federal Penitentiary Service, after he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense to participate in the war against Ukraine. Timchenko had faced charges of accepting an exceptionally large bribe.
Oleg Fadeenko, the former head of Saint Petersburg’s Krasnoselsky district, who is accused of taking a bribe, has also signed a contract to take part in the war. The court has suspended proceedings in his case. Fadeenko was detained in December 2024 on suspicion of receiving a bribe of 3 million rubles [$39,300].
In addition, a contract with the MoD was signed by Sergey Kryuchkov, the former CEO and co-owner of the GES-Montazh company, who in 2025 was sentenced to 5.5 years in a penal colony in a case involving abuse in the execution of a state defense contract. Using funds allocated for the construction of the Sakhalin logistics complex in Russia’s Far East under a state defense contract, Kryuchkov entered into leasing agreements for several luxury-class vehicles. In October 2025, another criminal case against Kryuchkov—also related to abuse in the execution of a state defense contract—was submitted to court, but proceedings were suspended due to his contract with the MoD.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
According to estimates by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), since February 2022 the Russian army’s total losses have amounted to around 1.2 million soldiers, including between 275,000 and 325,000 killed. These are the largest military losses suffered by any great power since World War II. In 2025 alone, CSIS estimates losses at about 415,000 personnel. Russia’s total losses in Ukraine exceed the Soviet Union’s losses in Afghanistan by more than 17 times, are 11 times higher than losses in both Chechen wars combined, and are greater than the combined losses of Russia and the USSR in all wars since 1945. CSIS’s estimates are consistent with assessments by BBC News Russian and Mediazona, based on published obituaries. According to journalists’ data, the actual number of Russian military fatalities may range from 254,800 to 368,100, and including fighters from the "DPR" and "LPR," from 275,800 to 391,600.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Irkutsk, Roman Michurin—a serviceman who fled the frontline and had three prior convictions—took hostage a resident of a crisis center and held her for six hours in a rented apartment before killing her and surrendering to police. According to Aleksandr Sobolev, head of the Irkutsk-based charity Obereg, Michurin had previously terrorized his common-law wife and her 7-year-old son for several months, beating them, attacking them with a knife and humiliating them, until they fled to the crisis center. On Jan. 27, Michurin came to the Obereg shelter and waited there for his wife. When another resident left the shelter—a young orphan and mother of two girls aged six and 12—he put a knife to her throat and forced her to his rented apartment. From there, Michurin demanded to speak with his wife and asked that a military prosecutor be summoned so he could be flown by helicopter back to the frontline. Late at night, after several hours of negotiations with police, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and military prosecutors, he exited the apartment—after strangling the woman. Michurin has been detained and charged with murder. He signed his military contract after his most recent conviction, in July 2024, and served with the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade. Neither the Investigative Committee’s statement nor coverage by most Russia-based media outlets mentions that the suspect is a participant in the war.
The Barnaul Garrison Military Court sentenced Andrey Gorshkov, a serviceman with the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade who had fled the army, to nine years in a maximum security penal colony for murdering his wife. According to investigators, in April 2025, while intoxicated, Gorshkov stabbed his wife multiple times because he was "dissatisfied with her complaints" during a "jealousy-fueled conflict" and wanted to "punish" her. Gorshkov had previously been prosecuted multiple times.
The independent outlet Agentstvo [Agency] calculated that since the beginning of 2025, servicemen who fled the frontline have killed at least 11 women. At least two more women and a young girl were killed by Russian soldiers in frontline settlements. According to calculations by Vyorstka, veterans returning from the frontline have killed or maimed more than 1,000 people in total. And according to research by Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta], more than 8,000 veterans have been convicted of "civilian" crimes since 2022.
In late December 2025, the Ishim City Court of the Tyumen region sentenced Aleksandr Taruta, a 40-year-old former Wagner Group mercenary, to four years in a penal colony for armed robbery. According to the case file, on Oct. 28, 2025, Taruta, while drunk, attacked his mother with a knife demanding money from her. After receiving 250 rubles [$3.27], he left the apartment. Taruta has a history of multiple convictions for attempted murder as part of an organized group, as well as death threats. However, the new court verdict states that he is effectively considered to have no prior convictions, as he received a pardon for his participation in the war.
In the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], the Chita Garrison Military Court has sentenced a serviceman to six years in a penal colony for going AWOL and robbery. On June 16, 2025, the soldier did not report for duty and went home. On July 4, at a jewelry store, he asked to view several bracelets made of precious metals. Then, threatening the staff with a knife, he stole the jewelry worth more than 300,000 rubles [$3,930] and fled. He was caught by the police four days later.
In Russia's constituent Republic of Khakassia, the Abakan Garrison Military Court has sentenced a private to six years in a maximum security penal colony for desertion. On Sept. 21, 2024, the private left his military unit's temporary deployment point and returned home. On July 18, 2025, he was detained, and during the investigation, he was attached to a military unit, from which he fled again on Aug. 16. He was detained for the second time on Oct. 24.
The Kaluga District Court has convicted three employees of a military medical board on charges of bribery and official forgery. Natalya Golubenko, a board employee, was sentenced to nine and a half years in a penal colony; physician Anna Uskova received eight and a half years, while accounting employee Raisa Kashtanova was sentenced to seven years and seven months in a general‑regime penal colony. Investigators said that between 2020 and 2023, the women accepted bribes to exempt conscripts from statutory military service by falsifying medical records.
The Southern District Military Court has sentenced Ukrainian serviceman Oleksandr Azarov, a member of the Azov Brigade, to 18 years in prison. He was convicted on charges of participating in a terrorist community and undergoing training for terrorist activities. Azarov was captured in mid‑May 2022 during the fighting for Mariupol and has remained in Russian custody since then.
On the evening of Jan. 28, two volunteer headquarters in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, were set onfire within half an hour. Both centers, located on the same street, collect aid for participants in the war. The first site, the Iskra Zhizni [Spark of Life] center, sustained significant damage, with most parcels prepared for shipment destroyed. The second, Vremya Deystvovat [Time to Act], suffered only minor damage. Local volunteers said a woman seen on surveillance footage was detained by police shortly after the attacks. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet issued an official statement on her identity.
On Jan. 28, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow granted investigators' motions to extend the detention of long-haul truck drivers Mikhail Ryumin (55) and Sergey Kanurin (47), who are accused of conspiring and committing an act of terror in a group along with three other drivers—Aleksandr Zaitsev, Vasily Pytikov and Andrey Merkuryev, one of whom died on the day of the attack. The men were unknowingly used in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Spiderweb Operation. They delivered trailers containing hidden UAVs to Russian military airfields, which subsequently attacked Strategic Air Force aircraft. According to investigators, the men were members of a "terrorist organization" created by the SBU for the purpose of carrying out the operation.
The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced a 14-year-old from Vyshny Volochyok in the Tver region to seven years in a penal colony on charges of participating in a terrorist organization and attempted terrorist attack. According to investigators, the teenager corresponded with "a representative of a Ukrainian terrorist organization banned in Russia." On May 8, 2025, acting on instructions from Ukrainian handlers received via a messaging app, he attempted to set fire to a draft office building using three bottles filled with incendiary mixture but was detained.
The same court has sentenced two teenagers from the Moscow region to six years in a penal colony each on charges of committing an act of terror. One of them was 15 at the time of detention and will serve his sentence in a juvenile penal colony, while the college student, who turned 18 by the time of sentencing, will serve in a general-regime penal colony. According to investigators, in January 2025, a 10th-grader contacted an unknown individual online who offered him money to commit arson. The teenager agreed and recruited his acquaintance, a college student. Together they set fire to three relay cabinets and a battery cabinet near Golutvin station, then sent video evidence to their employer. They received 60,000 rubles [$790] for this.
Additionally, the same court has sentenced a 15-year-old schoolboy and a 17-year-old college student from Nizhny Novgorod on charges of committing an act of terror. The schoolboy was sentenced to six years and three months in a penal colony, and the student to six years in a penal colony. According to prosecutors, on the night of May 21, 2025, in exchange for a promised payment of 60,000 rubles [$790] from an unknown individual, they set fire to three cellular base stations in the city. They sent videos of the arson to their employer.
The same court has sentenced 30-year-old factory worker Yaroslav Muratov from the Ryazan region to 18 years of imprisonment on charges of preparing an act of terror, treason, participation in a terrorist community and undergoing terrorist training. According to investigators, from March 13 to Nov. 3, 2024, Muratov cooperated with Ukrainian intelligence services, in particular by providing them information about military facilities in the region. He then manufactured three incendiary devices and hid them in a cache. Prosecutors stated that Muratov intended to use them to blow up a draft office on Nov. 4, 2024. He was detained the day before.
A court in Kursk has sentenced Georgy Pilishvili, a former lecturer at Kursk State University, to one year on probation, finding him guilty of attempted destruction of property. According to investigators, he transferred about 4 million rubles [$52,400] to scammers, part of which he took out as loans. Subsequently, individuals who presented themselves as law enforcement officers promised to return the money in exchange for arson attacks on police vehicles. In the early hours of Dec. 21, 2024, Pilishvili, receiving instructions via video call, set fire to a police car but was detained.
The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced 30-year-old Yevgeny Ubiraev, the son of a war participant from the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], to 15 years of imprisonment on charges of participation in a terrorist community. According to investigators, in March 2022, Ubiraev called the International Legion of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces and stated he wanted to fight on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In October of the following year, on instructions received via Telegram from a representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion, he photographed an anti-aircraft missile system and military vehicles in a parking lot in Moscow. At the time the photographs were taken, the Freedom of Russia Legion had not yet been designated as extremist. After a handler suggested that Ubiraev place an explosive device under someone’s car, he categorically refused and, amid threats to report him to Russian intelligence services, left Russia together with his wife. Following an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a foreign passport in Armenia, he was forced to carry out a "visa run" after 180 days and was detained in Belarus.
Two residents of Ingushetia [Russia’s constituent republic], 27-year-old Akhmed Sakalov and 31-year-old Muhammad Tumgoev, have been sentenced to 13 and 12 years, respectively, in a maximum security penal colony on charges of preparing an act of sabotage. According to investigators, they were planning a sabotage attack on a fuel and energy sector facility.
The Central District Military Court in the city of Yekaterinburg has sentenced Ukrainian citizen Ivan Kravchuk to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of participation in a terrorist organization and hooliganism. Prosecutors had sought an 18-year prison sentence. Investigators claim that in June 2024, while living in Izhevsk, Kravchuk, corresponded with representatives of the Russian Volunteer Corps and representatives with the possibility of traveling to Ukraine.
A resident of Russia’s Kursk region, Svetlana Tolkachyova, has been placed in a pre-trial detention center in Kursk on charges of treason. According to the Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial project, the case is based on her correspondence with a volunteer from Tbilisi, whom investigators consider to be an employee of Ukrainian intelligence. In May 2025, Tolkachyova had already been detained in a separate terrorism financing case. During her administrative arrest, the source claims, officers from the Federal Security Service (FSB) subjected her to electric shocks and forced her to sign an interrogation record, later using the restored correspondence from her phone to fabricate the criminal case. After her release, she was placed under surveillance. On Dec. 25, she was detained again and arrested. After her release, the woman was placed under surveillance. On Dec. 25, she was detained again and subsequently arrested.
A regional court in Yaroslavl has sentenced 39-year-old Nikolay Kharitonov, a resident of the city of Rybinsk, to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason. According to investigators, from September 2024 through July 2025, Kharitonov, acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services, transmitted information via a messaging app about measures introduced in the Yaroslavl region during drone attack alerts, as well as details regarding air defense systems deployed in the region. During questioning, Kharitonov admitted that a "representative of Ukraine" had promised him payment in cryptocurrency and assistance in obtaining a passport from a European country. The FSB reported Kharitonov’s detention in August 2025, along with the arrest of another resident of the Yaroslavl region in connection with the case.
A regional court in Tula has sentenced 32-year-old Davyd Volodin, a local resident, to 12.5 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason. According to investigators, in April 2022 Volodin purchased cryptocurrency worth 1,200 rubles [$16] and transferred it to a wallet that authorities claim was used by Ukrainian intelligence services and the AFU to purchase weapons and gear. Volodin was detained in November 2025.
A regional court in Tambov has sentenced a 33-year-old man to 18 years in prison on charges of treason and preparation for sabotage. According to prosecutors, in the summer of 2024 the man established contact with representatives of Ukrainian intelligence services, who allegedly offered him money to carry out a sabotage operation on a railway line. Officers of the FSB detained him after he purchased materials intended for the production of an incendiary mixture.
Assistance
The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) has revised its survey methodology for measuring demand for care and rehabilitation equipment among people with disabilities, a change that sharply reduced the official share reported as needing prosthetics, wheelchairs, diapers and other supplies, the Vyorstka media outlet reported. In 2021, Rosstat estimated that 54.3 percent of people with disabilities across all age groups required such assistance. By 2025, that category had been narrowed to those experiencing limitations in carrying out everyday activities, causing the figure to drop to 21.6 percent. Demographer Alexey Raksha said the methodological change appeared to be deliberate and aimed at understating actual needs.
Children and Militarization
A court in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region fined the mothers of two schoolgirls 15,000 rubles [$200] each on charges of discrediting the Armed Forces over comments made at a parents’ meeting about fundraising for the military. During the meeting at a school in the settlement of Tinsky, Tatyana Zinnatullina and Yulia Klushina proposed that money raised at a school fair be used for the school’s needs rather than to support war participants, saying that soldiers "already earn good money and receive benefits." One of the meeting’s participants later filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office.
Longreads
The Cherta [Boundary] independent online media outlet reports on how students facing expulsion are being misled into signing contracts with the MoD.
The Activatica project has published a review of children’s board games themed around the war in Ukraine.