Mobilization in Russia for July 12-14, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment

The draft office for the Kirovsky and Oktyabrsky districts of Yekaterinburg requested information from the Ural State Law University about students facing expulsion, as well as 2026 graduates. According to a letter from the draft office to the rector, the information is needed to "fulfill the established assignment for selecting citizens" for contract military service in the Unmanned Systems Forces. At the close of the letter, the military commissar asks the university to send those students and graduates to the draft office for recruitment. The university instructed institute directors to prepare lists of students facing expulsion.

Authorities in the Leningrad region are recruiting reservists to serve in mobile fire teams by hiring them as first responders for an Emergency Rescue Service search-and-rescue squad. The announcement specifies that they will serve only within the region. The recruits will continue to receive their regular salaries during the training period. They will also receive a 250,000-ruble [$3,260] sign-up bonus. Authorities promise to pay them an extra 100,000 rubles [$1,300] a month while they are stationed at a protected facility, and the same amount for each downed drone. Previously, St. Petersburg authorities announced the recruitment of a reserve force to protect infrastructure from drones.

Roundups in Izhevsk have reportedly become more frequent, with men being detained on the streets, taken to draft offices and pressured into signing military contracts. Local residents described at least two such incidents in recent days. On June 9, four men "in civilian clothes but carrying military IDs" detained a 37-year-old Izhevsk resident. At a military collection point, they allegedly pressured him to sign a contract, claiming he would be assigned to dig trenches, and broke his nose in the process. He had already undergone a medical evaluation when he managed to call his father, who came to help him escape. In another case, an employee of a defense industry enterprise who struggles with alcohol addiction was detained outside his apartment building along with several other men standing nearby. He was heavily intoxicated at the time. The man later told his relatives that he had not been beaten and was released the same day, but that while in an impaired state he had signed a document requiring him to report to a military collection point. He then contacted his employer, since employees of defense enterprises are eligible for draft deferments, and was assured that the matter would be resolved.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

In the settlement of Malinovka in the Krasnoyarsk region, a 32-year-old veteran of the war against Ukraine, who was intoxicated, struck a woman with his vehicle after she blocked his path. He was detained on charges of intentionally causing moderate bodily harm, but a court later released him on recognizance pending trial. According to police, the driver did not have a valid driver's license. Local residents said he had recently returned from the war, was disabled as a result of combat injuries, and uses a prosthetic leg.

In Russia’s constituent Republic of Tatarstan, prosecutors have referred to court the case against three teenagers charged with committing an act of terrorism, aiding terrorist activities, sabotage and aiding acts of sabotage. According to investigators, in August 2025, acting on instructions received online, they set fire to a railway relay cabinet near Leninogorsk in exchange for a promised payment of 24,000 rubles [$310]. The teenagers were detained immediately after the arson.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had thwarted a series of sabotage attacks on military airfields—Ukrainka in the Amur region and Shagol in the Chelyabinsk region—that it described as "unprecedented in scale and degree of threat." The agency said it had received advance information about the deployment by Ukrainian intelligence services into the Bryansk region, dropped from fixed-wing drones and balloons, of FPV drones, which "enemy agents" then transported in passenger cars with false-bottomed trailers to the military airfields, where they were prepared for the attacks in rented garages. The perpetrators and their accomplices have been detained, and 24 FPV drones with payloads weighing more than 1 kilogram, two mobile control stations equipped with self-destruct explosive devices, and other equipment have been seized. The FSB stated that criminal cases had been opened but did not specify either the articles of the Russian Criminal Code or the number of perpetrators (operational footage shows at least two detainees). The intelligence services claim that the thwarted attacks were part of a series of sabotage operations that included a previously thwarted attempt to attack the Rostov-Tsentralny military airfield and assassination attempts on senior servicemen of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.

In addition, as part of the same operation, the FSB accused the Ukrainian rapper Kyivstoner (real name Albert Vasyliev) of preparing a drone attack on an unnamed "strategic enterprise" of the military-industrial complex in the Moscow region. The plant was to be attacked by 35 FPV drones "with Canadian control systems," but after launch all the drones were shot down. The UAVs were allegedly smuggled in from Slovakia through Belarus, disguised as a shipment of ceramic tiles, "with the assistance of European intelligence services." Two Moldovan citizens and Kyivstoner, who coordinated the group's actions, were involved in organizing the attack. Vasyliev himself has already denied the accusations. Law enforcement officers detained the alleged perpetrator of the attack. According to the FSB, he is a "former member of an ethnic criminal group" who "was serving a long sentence for committing serious crimes." In 2022, he was released from prison after signing up with the Wagner Group to take part in the war against Ukraine. The man allegedly activated the drones and "established a communications channel with foreign operators," and after the operation was completed, he was allegedly promised evacuation to Ukraine "for participation in combat operations against Russia." Law enforcement officers also reported that they had killed the tenant of a warehouse where the drones had allegedly been stored, because he resisted arrest. In addition, according to the FSB, two Moldovan citizens took part in preparing the attack; "under the direction of their handlers, they prepared the premises for launching the drones and left Russian territory." The agency reported that a criminal case had been opened over an act of terror committed in a group.

In the Arkhangelsk region, the Investigative Committee has concluded its investigation into a 16-year-old resident of the town of Onega, accused of participating in a terrorist organization and preparing for sabotage. According to the report, in November 2025, the teenager expressed a desire to join the activities of an "international terrorist organization," after which, on orders from his "handler," he spray-painted the organization’s symbols on buildings and vehicles. The teenager also recorded a video urging people to join a volunteer unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was detained in February 2026, when he was 15. At the time, it was alleged that he had been paid to recruit others to set fire to transportation infrastructure in the Onega district.

The Baltic Fleet Military Court has sentenced two teenagers, aged 17 and 16, to five years in a juvenile penal colony for participating in a terrorist organization. According to investigators, in 2025, the teenagers contacted a "terrorist organization," for which they provided coordinates and photos of cell towers and electrical cabinets in the Polessky district of the Kaliningrad region. The investigation claims that the teenagers made contact with their "handler" via a messaging app in March 2025 and received about 25,000 rubles [$330] in cryptocurrency. Their detention was reported in February 2026.

The Central District Military Court has issued sentences to Orenburg residents in connection with the case involving sabotage, preparing an act of terror and preparing for sabotage. Yury Blednykh and Dmitry Dementyev have been sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Maksim Polukarov has been sentenced to seven years and 11 months. According to investigators, Blednykh and Dementyev set fire to a Megafon [mobile provider] cell tower for a promised payment of 20,000 rubles [$260]. Dementyev also took pictures of the Polymer Plant, while Blednykh and Polukarov took pictures of the Orenburg-2 military airfield. Dementyev claimed that after his arrest FSB officers physically assaulted him and forced him to confess to collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence. Blednykh stated that he was coerced into confessing under threats of violence after being shown a video of Dementyev being beaten. Meanwhile, military investigators refused to open a criminal case into the alleged torture, ruling that the use of force during the arrest had been lawful.

A Rostov regional court sentenced two local residents to 16 and 18 years in prison on charges of high treason, sabotage and money laundering. One of the defendants was also convicted of recruiting another person to commit sabotage. According to investigators, the defendants, "acting in the interests of a foreign state," which was not named, set fire to a transportation infrastructure facility and received payment from a handler, which they then laundered. The defendants were not identified and further details of the charges were not disclosed.

A court established by Russia in the Kherson region sentenced a resident of the Oleshky district to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of high treason. According to investigators, in 2023 the 31-year-old man contacted Ukrainian intelligence and agreed to cooperate, after which he collected information on the locations of Russian servicemembers and military vehicles. In February 2025, he passed the information to his handler via Telegram.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced 43-year-old Ilya Mezhankov, a resident of Horlivka, to 22 years in prison on charges of high treason, terrorist training, illegal handling of explosive devices and preparing an act of terror. According to investigators, in the winter of 2024 Mezhankow was contacted by an officer of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, who recruited him to join a terrorist organization. Mezhankov’s role was to receive packages containing components for explosive devices, store them temporarily and then pass them on to other members of the group. In late December 2024, he allegedly retrieved bomb components from a cache and stored them in his garage until his detention in January 2025. The name of the terrorist organization was not disclosed during the trial.

Children and Militarization

The Russian Orthodox military-patriotic camp in the Omsk region has received a presidential grant of nearly 5 million rubles [$65,100] for its "We are Bogatyrs [Legendary Epic Knights]!" project. Under the initiative, children and teenagers aged 7 to 18 will be trained in UAV piloting, military tactics, forced marches and navigating obstacle courses.

Miscellaneous

Members of a voluntary people's patrol made up of veterans of the war in Ukraine have been deployed to monitor gas stations in Tomsk, regional governor Vladimir Mazur announced. Working alongside police officers and local administration officials, the former servicemen will help maintain order at the facilities.

Longreads

Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] has examined the emerging trend of women in Russia receiving draft notices, including calls for military training, and outlined what is currently known about the situation.

Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] has published the second installment of its investigation into the structure and organization of Chechen units participating in the war against Ukraine.