Mobilization in Russia for Jan. 28-30, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

The Vyorstka media outlet, citing sources in Moscow’s city administration, reports that the number of volunteers willing to go to war has significantly declined in the capital. According to the outlet, while an average of 200–250 people per day visited the recruitment center in late summer and fall of 2024, the current number has dropped to 40. Additionally, the composition of Moscow’s new recruits has reportedly changed: now, less than half of the volunteers are Russian citizens, while the rest are foreigners or Russian nationals under investigation, facing administrative cases, or being sued over debts. Among the foreign recruits are citizens of neighboring countries—Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and the unrecognized Transnistria—who are primarily motivated by the prospect of obtaining Russian citizenship. Others include individuals from China, Ghana, South Africa, and other Asian and African nations.

Aleksandr Avdeyev, Governor of the Vladimir region, announced the increase of the regional sign-up bonus for signing a contract to participate in the war in Ukraine to 1 million rubles [$10,100]. Since December 2024, the bonus had been set at 800,000 rubles [$8,090]. Now, with the addition of the national payment, volunteers from the region can receive a total of 1.4 million rubles [$14,200].

At least six Africans have been sent to the war in Ukraine from the Pskov region. They joined a group of 12 contract soldiers heading to the frontline. Over the past year, more than 50 natives of African countries have been sent to the frontline from the region.

On Jan. 29, law enforcement officers in Tyumen conducted raids targeting individuals evading statutory military service and violating migration laws. A total of 68 individuals were checked, and 12 of them—Russian citizens who had failed to register for military service—were taken to the local draft office.

Former Russian Armed Forces Sergeant Aleksandr Naumov, previously sentenced to five years in prison for torturing a child, has returned to the war. Naumov was convicted in September last year and stripped of his military rank. According to the charges, he punished his six-year-old stepson, Daler Bobiyev, by using a stun gun, depriving him of food, and tying him to a chair with duct tape. In June 2023, Daler’s body was discovered in a garage near their home. Naumov claimed he was unaware of the boy's death as he was serving on the frontline at the time. However, lawyers for the boy's birth father claimed otherwise. Naumov’s wife, Veronika, is suspected of the murder. In November, Naumov returned to the frontline, where he was assigned to an assault unit.

Lev Osipov, the former deputy director of the Capital Repair Fund of Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic], has also been sent to the war from a pre-trial detention center. Osipov was detained in 2024. According to investigators, he accepted a bribe of 3 million rubles [$30,300] from a commercial organization in 2022 to pass on to unnamed officials in the regional executive branch. A total of over 12.8 million rubles [$129,400] was reportedly to be paid in exchange for overlooking irregularities in the acceptance of capital repair work on apartment buildings. Osipov was facing up to 12 years in prison.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

Russia’s Constitutional Court declined to consider a petition from a mobilized man who challenged the refusal to revoke his mobilization order. Authorities had mobilized him on Sept. 29, 2022, but one month later, they added his employer to the list of organizations fulfilling state defense contracts, thereby qualifying its workers for deferrals from mobilization. The draft board refused to reconsider its earlier decision, so the man took the matter to court. The court of first instance upheld his claim, but the court of appeal and both courts of cassation sided with the draft board. They ruled that the mobilization decision was legal, since the right to a deferral arose only after the employer’s inclusion in the defense industry list. The man then petitioned the Constitutional Court, which refused to hear his case. According to legal experts from the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel, this means that once officials mobilize someone, it is virtually impossible to have the draft board’s decision overturned, even if a right to deferral arises later. After the first wave of mobilization, the experts note, courts have often ruled in favor of mobilized individuals in similar cases.

Men from every third family in the village of Yelabuga, Khabarovsk region, joined the war, and at least 25 of them departed for the frontline. In 2021, Yelabuga’s population stood at 416.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

In the Tyumen region, a participant in the war in Ukraine beat his wife to death out of jealousy. The soldier, identified as Aleksey, is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center on charges of causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death.

In Volgograd, 30-year-old war participant Aleksey Polyakov was sentenced to eight years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of murder. His victim was a 54-year-old acquaintance. In the past Polyakov served in the Russian Airborne Troops, then he was doing time for murder. Polyakov rejoined the army after the war began, becoming a squad commander in a tank regiment.

Wanted posters for AWOL Russian soldiers have been noticed at bus stops in Simferopol, Crimea. One such poster with information about a 50-year-old wanted man named Yury Smetanin has been posted by the Krym.Realii [Crimea.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] media outlet.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Vladimir Garrison Military Court has convicted 228 people under charges of going AWOL. More than half of the known sentences—132 in total—were handed down in 2024. In January 2025, the court received 12 new criminal cases under the same charge.

The Garrison Military Court in Budyonnovsk has sentenced contract soldier Aleksander Pavlov to six years in prison on charges of theft and illegal arms trafficking. According to the verdict, after a training exercise, Pavlov stole two guns and sold one to a fellow serviceman and the other to a taxi driver for 50,000 rubles [$510].

A court in Adygea [Russia’s constituent Republic] has sentenced Lieutenant Colonel Khalidin Shaidayev to three years in a penal colony on fraud charges. However, the officer was not stripped of his military rank or decorations. In the fall of 2022, Shaidayev offered to help a Rosgvardia (Russian National Guard) officer secure a rightful compensation payment of 3 million rubles [$30,300] for a combat injury—on the condition that he would receive 2 million rubles [$20,200] in return. Desperate for the money, the Rosgvardia officer agreed to the deal. However, Shaidayev had no actual ability to influence the payout process. The wounded officer eventually received his compensation on April 5, 2024, but refused to pay Shaidayev and instead reported him to the police.

In the Moscow region, a 14-year-old schoolboy has been detained on suspicion of attempting to set fire to a local administration building. According to the detainee, unknown individuals first extorted money from him by threatening criminal prosecution of his parents. After that, they convinced him to help arrest "criminals" whose call centers were allegedly located in the local administration building. Following the caller's instructions, the boy set fire to two vehicles and threw a Molotov cocktail at the building. The boy was charged with deliberate damage to property. The age of responsibility for this offense is 14, but only if the crime was committed under aggravating circumstances.

In the Moscow region, a Russian citizen has been detained, allegedly for carrying out a series of sabotage missions on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), in 2023 and 2024, the man set fire to a military tractor under repair, a relay cabinet, a cellular tower and a warehouse. In return, he was promised forged documents to travel to Europe, but after the last mission, his handler stopped contacting him.

In the Irkutsk region, Dmitry Mikheyev, a 23-year-old sound engineer from a Bratsk TV channel, has been sentenced to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony for setting fire to a draft office and transferring money to the Freedom of Russia Legion. The incident took place in the early hours of Jan. 9, 2023, and the next day, Mikheyev was detained on suspicion of arson. Initially, he was charged with destruction of property, but the case was later reclassified as an act of terror. In addition, Mikheyev was charged with treason and undergoing terrorist training.

Central District Military Court sentenced a 23-year-old man from Mordovia [Russia’s constituent republic] to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of committing a premeditated act of terror in conspiracy with others. According to the prosecution, the man had allegedly established online contact with Ukrainian intelligence operatives, who offered him payment in exchange for setting fire to railway infrastructure. In December 2022, the defendant set fire to battery cabinets in the Alatyrsky district of Chuvashia [Russia's constituent republic] and a traction substation of a railway section in Mordovia.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced 22-year-old Nikolay Yefremov from the Donetsk region to 16 years in prison for allegedly collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence. Authorities charged Yefremov with treason, possession of explosives, membership in a terrorist organization, undergoing training for terrorist activities, and plotting an act of terror. Law enforcement officers claim that Yefremov began communicating with a handler from Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Service in the spring of 2022. He was allegedly instructed to plant and set off explosives in vehicles belonging to the DPR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Between August 2022 and October 2023, authorities say, he gathered information on potential targets. In the fall of 2023, Yefremov was supposed to retrieve explosives from a hidden cache, but law enforcement had replaced them with a dummy device. Yefremov was arrested.

The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow has sentenced 18-year-old Kursk resident and activist of the Left Socialist Action party Gagik Grigoryan to seven years in a penal colony for preparing an act of terror, state treason and possession of explosives. Grigoryan’s arrest was reported in the fall of 2023—at that time, he was in the 11th grade and was 17 years old. During the FSB investigation, he was held in Lefortovo for over a year. He was accused of planning an assassination attempt on a Russian army officer, specifically a pilot from the Kursk aviation regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gal. According to a source, the teenager was detained near his home, assaulted, had his phone taken away and was forced into the trunk of a car. Relatives believe the case was fabricated: according to Lieutenant Colonel Gal’s sister, he died on Sept. 24, 2023—a week and a half before the activist's arrest.

The Supreme Court in Chuvashia has sentenced a 25-year-old resident of the Moscow region to 12 years in a penal colony on charges of state treason. According to prosecutors, in 2022, the man, whose name has not been disclosed, took photos of a military unit "in one of the regions of Russia" and provided them to the Ukrainian side. He also allegedly transferred cryptocurrency to accounts linked to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Sergey Saulyak, a 41-year-old resident of Sevastopol, has been sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for state treason. According to the FSB, he was detained in December 2022 for passing information about the RuAF to Ukrainian intelligence services. He was also accused of setting fire to an administrative building in Sevastopol on orders from the SBU in the summer of 2022.

A court in Saint Petersburg has sentenced 29-year-old Ukrainian Ivan Zabavskyi to 11 years in a penal colony on charges of espionage, according to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet]. In September 2022, Zabavskyi traveled to his home village of Tavolzhanka in the Russian-occupied Kharkiv region to evacuate his mother. However, he disappeared shortly thereafter. Due to communication issues, Zabavskyi was unaware that his mother had already left the village by then. It was only in May 2023 that Russia’s Ministry of Defense informed his mother that her son was in captivity and had been "detained for opposing the special military operation." In June 2023, a court placed Zabavskyi in a pre-trial detention center. According to the Pervy Otdel [First Department] human rights project, he had been held in a prisoner camp in the Stary Oskol detention center for nearly a year before his official arrest, during which time he was subjected to torture. In Ukraine, he was listed as a prisoner of war. In his note cited by Mediazona, Zabavskyi described being tortured, including through starvation and electric shocks.

Assistance

In a kindergarten in Yekaterinburg, parents were asked to donate construction materials for soldiers on the frontline. Meanwhile, in the Saratov region, a special account was set up to collect financial contributions from businesses to support Russian soldiers.

In Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic], schoolteachers and daycare workers have complained about being asked to donate part of their salaries to soldiers participating in the invasion. The local mayor’s office confirmed the initiative, but said the donations were voluntary. However, according to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, at least one kindergarten required all employees to sign a donation pledge.

Children and Educational System

According to the draft of the Ministry of Education's children's recreation program, summer camps will be transformed into centers for "patriotic education” and the promotion of "traditional values." The program for children between the ages of 7 and 10 aims to "teach love for the homeland," while the program for 11–14-year-olds focuses on "embracing their Russian civic identity," and for young people between the ages of 15 and 17, the goal is to instill a willingness to defend the country and "build a stable family."

Children from the occupied city of Makiivka in the Donetsk region have been taken to a military training range in Russia, where they are being taught to shoot "at Russia's enemies" and operate tanks.

Miscellaneous

In Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic], war participants have had 10.2 million rubles [$103,100] in loans written off, with 108 enforcement proceedings terminated. Earlier, a similar debt cancellation for participants in the invasion was reported in the Perm region [Russia's federal subject].

Residents of the Arkhangelsk region who return from the war will be involved in regional government bodies, says Governor Alexander Tsybulsky.

Longreads

The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet reported on how Vologda authorities are introducing propaganda into the curriculum of the region's kindergartens.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty spoke with human rights activist Olga Romanova, executive director of the Russia Behind Bars civil rights movement, about why convicts want to go to war.

Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] tried to find out why Russian soldiers are committing suicide en masse instead of surrendering, and to understand how Russian propaganda openly encourages the idea of suicide.