Mobilization in Russia for Jul. 10-11, 2023 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Today, Jul. 11, the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on restricting the driving license due to failure to appear in a draft office after receiving a draft notice has come into effect. Within 24 hours after the decision to impose restrictions, the information is entered into the federal information system of the Main Directorate for Traffic Safety [Russian Traffic Police]. Those affected by the restrictions will also be unable to take the driver’s license exam, replace their driver’s license, or obtain a new one.
The Department of Economic Development of the Voronezh region proposed merging the Voronezh and Rostov regions with the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions into the Donbas community. According to officials, this will help accelerate the integration process of the "new" regions into Russia’s economic, political, and legal space, as well as "revive the historical ties between the four neighboring regions." The signing of the document on the Donbas community is planned for the end of August.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
The Head of Bashkortostan [Russia’s constituent republic], Radiy Khabirov, has signed a decree on the payment of 200,000 rubles [$2210] to servicemen of "volunteer" units for every 180 days of service. A clause has been added to the document stating that the decree applies to soldiers who are currently serving or have served in "volunteer" units formed in Bashkortostan.
According to the administration of Surgut, the first female contract soldier from the city has been deployed to the war zone in Ukraine. Previously, she worked at Surgut Clinical Hospital, and now she will serve as a medical assistant on the frontline.
Mobilized Soldiers and Volunteer Fighters
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Anton Gaskov and Vadim Shcherbakov from the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], Aleksandr Polunin from the Oryol region, Victor Ivanov from the Omsk region, Erdni Burayev from the Kalmykia [Russia’s constituent republic], Yevgeny Marayev from the Krasnoyarsk region, Sergey Merlin from the Ryazan region, Andrey Elistratov from the Saratov region, Vladimir Loktionov from the Orenburg region, Valery Arteyev from the Republic of Komi, and also Yevgeny Semyonov and Aleksey Ivanov from the Leningrad region.
The Mobilizatsia [Mobilization] Telegram channel has published a photo of a combat order (the document has not been verified) of General Andrei Sychevoi, Commander of the Group of Troops Bakhmut, that requires the servicemen previously assigned to the 3rd Army Corps to be assigned to the Volki [Wolves] and Veterany [Veterans] units. The photo was provided by the mother of a mobilized soldier who had been sent to the frontline outside Bakhmut based on that document. As a reminder, complaints were already received previously (1, 2, 3) from the mobilized, saying that they were being forcibly transferred to the above volunteer units, to be subsequently sent to the frontline as cannon fodder. The Mobilizatsia Telegram channel has also published a video showing women trying to secure leaves for their relatives fighting within the Veterany unit.
An Omsk pro-war Telegram channel has published footage of medical assistance being provided to a wounded serviceman. According to the channel's authors, the video shows conscripts who came under fire near the border.
It has been reported that on Jul. 10, a 19-year-old conscript was killed in a military unit in the Kursk region. Preliminary information suggests that he was shot with an AK-47 assault rifle. The suspected perpetrator of the murder has already been detained and is a serviceman from the same unit. According to the Sota media outlet calculations, at least 137 conscripts have died as a result of incidents related to the war in Ukraine. The data sources for this information were media reports and social networks. The main cause of death was participation in combat operations. Some conscripts were killed by their fellow soldiers who mistook them for infiltrators, while others died in accidents, and a few soldiers took their own lives.
At the most famous cemetery used by the Wagner Group in the village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar region, pyramid-shaped tombstones are being installed instead of wooden crosses. According to cemetery workers, the bodies of those killed are still being brought there. According to activist Vitaly Votanovsky, who monitors burials, the number of graves in the cemetery has increased 17 times since the beginning of the year, reaching 824.
A petition demanding to legislatively establish a period of mobilization service no more than six months has already gathered over 40,700 signatures, claim its authors. The document with the signatures is planned to be submitted to Putin's office. Previously, the authors recorded a video address demanding the replacement of conscripts with law enforcement personnel.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings, and Incidents
The Bumaga [Paper] independent media outlet counted 49 sentences for going AWOL during the mobilization period issued by Saint Petersburg courts from December 2022 to Jul. 11, 2023. In less than ten months since the beginning of mobilization, almost as many servicemen were convicted as in the seven years prior to mobilization (52 cases). Most of those gone AWOL in Saint Petersburg received at least five years in prison, while suspended sentences were given in only three cases.
In Saint Petersburg, a 31-year-old local resident, previously put on the federal wanted list for going AWOL, was detained near the place of his residence. In Moscow, Aleksandr Z. was arrested on similar charges. According to the detainee, he joined the war as a volunteer fighter in October 2022, but a few months later he ran away from the military unit because of systematic beatings by the commander.
The Tomsk Garrison Military Court gave a conscript, Murad Chechilbiev, a 4.5 year suspended sentence for theft and extortion. He had been extorting money from a fellow conscript under threats of violence and spreading information that he had purchased drugs. Chechilbiev had previously been convicted of similar crimes.
The criminal case of Ruslan Zinin, who shot a draft officer in Ust-Ilimsk in September 2022, has been transferred to court. Meanwhile, the charges have been requalified from assault on a law enforcement officer's life and illegal acquisition of weapons to terrorism and illegal weapon manufacturing and transportation. While previously, he faced a potential life sentence, the maximum penalty for the new charges is up to 20 years.
In Moscow, a bank employee has been arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB). According to the investigation, he transferred 50 euros to a foundation collecting money for the AFU. According to the Pervy Otdel [First department] project, the individual in question is Alexandr Kraichik, a resident of Solikamsk who moved to Moscow. He may be facing up to 20 years of imprisonment under charges of state treason.
In the Krasnodar region, a man born in 1959 has been detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Stanislav Rzhitsky, the deputy head of the mobilization department in Krasnodar. The detained individual could be Sergey Denisenko, the former head of the Ukrainian Federation of Shotokan Karate-Do, who recently resided in Krasnodar. Meanwhile, Rzhitsky’s relatives and a friend claim that Rzhitsky was not involved in the shelling of Ukrainian territory. According to them, he submitted a request to resign from the Russian Armed Forces as early as December 2021.
The Avtozak LIVE project has calculated that since Feb. 24, 2022, Russians have attacked at least 164 state facilities. Draft offices were most frequently targeted, with the project being aware of at least 90 cases. Administrative buildings ranked second, having been attacked 24 times. There are at least 148 Russians involved in criminal cases related to these attacks. The most common charge in such cases is a terrorist attack. On each suspect, Avtozak LIVE provides information the team has managed to collect.
In Vladikavkaz, former commander of a unit in the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division Konstantin Efremov was convicted under the charge of "discrediting" the army. The reason for his conviction was his interviews with Gulagu.net and BBC News Russian, in which he detailed the torture of captured Ukrainian military personnel and civilians by his fellow servicemen in the occupied city of Melitopol.
In the Moscow region, a man was arrested for bringing an entire arsenal of weapons from the war. He had an AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle, 420 rounds of ammunition, and 14 RGD-5 grenades with fuses. All of this was stored by the detainee in his garage.
Four military personnel from Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent republic] engaged in a fight directly at their positions in Crimea. As a result of the altercation, one of the contract soldiers suffered a broken nose and several broken ribs. The materials related to the incident were handed over to the Main Military Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
Assistance
Social support workers helped a family from Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic], whose member was mobilized, to unload the hay rolls they had ordered onto the hayloft—previously, their son used to handle this task. In Buryatia [Russia’s constituent republic], families of mobilized individuals receive support from tenants of forest plots.
Tactical all-terrain vehicles (buggies) were sent from Khabarovsk to the "special military operation" zone. The Presidential Academy in Oryol donated electric generators, chainsaws, refrigerators and other equipment to the Russian military. A cargo of beds and bedding items to arrange sleeping places was delivered to the front from Velikiye Luki. Three UAZ and one Niva cross-country vehicles, spare parts, construction tools and equipment were sent to the war from Mari El [Russia’s constituent republic]. Volunteers from Adygea [Russia’s constituent republic] delivered essential items, household equipment, water and food to the front. In addition, the Holy Trinity Church of the Chelyabinsk region will sent individual parcels and equipment for soldiers in the near future.
Miscellaneous
In Saint Petersburg, a talent competition was held among the wives of mobilized soldiers. Among other things, the women competed in sports, singing and culinary skills. State Duma member Vitaly Milonov was the guest of honor at the final ceremony.
The administration of the Yamal district of the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region allocated more than 3 million rubles [$33,000] for a memorial stele dedicated to the war in Ukraine. About 7.4 thousand people live in the village of Yar-Sale, where they plan to erect the monument. In summer the village can be reached only by helicopter, plane or ship, and in the inter-season — only by air as there are no roads leading to Yar-Sale.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the start of transportation of vehicles through the Kerch Strait with the help of two large landing ships. In this way the authorities are trying to solve the problem with the queues at the entrance to the Crimean bridge.