Mobilization in Russia for Jan. 28–29, 2023, CIT volunteer summary
Ombudsman of Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent republic] Saria Saburskaya is seeking to prevent individuals drafted as part of mobilization and fit for limited military service [service fitness category "C"] from being sent to the front lines. Saburskaya insists that such draftees should be performing their duties as part of “rear units of the Russian Armed Forces”. Besides that, according to her, nearly 200 mobilized fathers of many children were “returned to their loved ones.”
Altai State University (Barnaul, Altai region) intends to conduct verification of military service register data of its students and staff from Feb. 6 through May 5. This would be the first time for such an audit in this institution. We have reported about similar verification measures at other universities. In particular, verification of military service register data is taking place in Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, Vladimir State University, Dostoevsky Omsk State University, and Russian State Social University. The latter institution started the audit on Jan. 10 and intends to finish it by Mar. 15.
Unemployed residents of the Pskov region were offered to go to the war. Representatives of the contract military service recruitment facility in the Pskov region came to the job fair with such a proposal in the town of Ostrov. They interviewed applicants, talked about the conditions of contract service, rights and benefits, salary and social package provided. The event was attended by ten residents of Ostrov who were looking for work. Whether any one of them agreed to the proposal is not specified.
A video is circulating online in which a person speaking on behalf of the mobilized thanks the “head of administration” for balaclavas with ears. “Now the military call me Batman,” the man says. Presumably, we are talking about the town of Pechora in Komi Republic.
Blogger and pro-Wagner propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova, a vocal supporter of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, reports that the mobilized servicemen from the 346th regiment who were mentioned in one of our recent summaries “are being taken care of.” Families of these soldiers have released a video appeal to the authorities. “They cry for help telling you it is a matter of life and death, but when you look into it, it turns out they merely haven’t been permitted their leave,” the blogger rebukes. As you may remember, the ASTRA Telegram channel wrote that the mobilized troops from the 346th regiment had been forcibly taken to a forest line and cut off from supplies, being pressured to sign contracts. In the comments to Kashevarova’s post, relatives of the mobilized men confirm the story told by ASTRA.
In the Volgograd region, 42-year-old Pavel Kozachkov was mobilized despite having no prior military experience. Two months later the draft board exempted him for health reasons, but there is still a risk for Pavel to be sent to the front line. Back on Dec. 20, the regional draft office submitted documents to the regional draft board supporting Pavel’s request to be discharged from service, but for unknown reasons he still cannot leave his military unit.
An observer-pilot was mobilized from the Krasnoyarsk forest fire center. He is the only one who was mobilized despite the fact that representatives of this profession are exempt from military service. According to the family, he is serving in the infantry and his flying skills are not used in any way in the “special military operation”. We emphasize that the pilot-observer is a rare profession extremely necessary in a region covered with taiga.
The number of Russians killed in the war in Ukraine continues to grow. 28-year-old mobilized soldier Artyom Churilin from the village of Verkh-Maizas was killed at the front. He left behind a wife and a child. 25-year-old Konstantin Zimin was buried in Sosnovoborsk town. He was sent to the front, despite several medical contraindications. His knee was broken, there was no phalanx on one of his feet and a finger on his right hand had a metal plate and did not bend. He was killed during the first combat mission. Also a People’s Deputy from Bashkiria Denis Pikhtovnikov was killed in the "special military operation" in Ukraine. He was awarded the Order of General Shaimuratov posthumously.
A mobilized man from the Lipetsk region, who had lived in a bar in the town of Kovrov in the Vladimir region for twelve days, was sentenced to two years in a penal settlement for going AWOL during mobilization.
Students of a boarding school in the Kemerovo region have been made to assist the families of mobilized soldiers. Officially, the event is called Snezhny Desant [Snow Assault Force]. It has been on for two weeks and involved schoolchildren, and members of Young Army [pro-Kremlin youth organization], clearing snow from the yards of the families of mobilized men.
Amid increasing rumors about an impending second wave of mobilization and tightening of migration laws in relation to Russians in some countries, the Mozhem ob’yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel made an overview of the migration situation in the most popular regions for relocation.
The Russians who emigrated trying to escape mobilization — residents of the Georgian shelter Tikhoye mesto [A Quiet Place] — held a picket in Batumi last Saturday with an appeal to the head of the UN. They asked him and other politicians to ensure for all the inhabitants of the Earth the right not to participate in criminal wars and thus to provide shelter to those who leave the country trying to escape mobilization.
The remittances of Russians to neighboring countries in 2022 exceeded long-term indicators. Thus, transfers to Kazakhstan from Russia increased by 6.8 times — to $775.4 million, and to Georgia — by almost five times, to $2 billion.