Mobilization in Russia for July 2-5, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The Ministry of Defense has proposed changing the medical examinations requirements for contract and mobilized soldiers during mobilization, martial law, or wartime. Under the published draft law, military medical boards will conduct examinations only if soldiers have injuries or illnesses that could serve as grounds for assigning fitness category V (partially fit for military service) or category D (unfit for military service). Such conditions are to be identified during medical checkups, and the MoD itself will determine the procedure for these checkups. Only then will officials decide whether a military medical board examination is necessary. As legal experts note, the document applies only to active-duty military personnel and does not regulate the medical examination procedure for civilians facing potential mobilization.
Army Recruitment
Gazprom signed a contract with the MoD to create mobile fire teams to patrol and protect gas supply facilities. Contracts to serve in the mobilization reserve are signed for three-year terms. The age limit is 52 for privates and warrant officers, 57 for junior officers, and 62 for senior officers. Applicants must pass a medical evaluation, undergo a "rigorous selection" process, and complete two months of training. Reservists will receive their regular salary, additional payments from the MoD for serving in the reserve and participating in military training, and a bonus for continuous reserve service exceeding three years. They will also receive monthly compensation of 200,000 rubles [$2,580] from their employer for participating in military training. During training, authorities can deploy reservists "to protect critical and other life-support facilities only within the region where the contract was signed." This contract allows individuals to combine civilian work with military training, as employers are required to preserve their jobs during the training period.
A recruitment event for BARS-Moscow was held at Moscow Power Engineering Institute for graduating bachelor's and master's students awaiting the issuance of their diplomas. According to one of the university's vice rectors, the unit plans to recruit 3,000 personnel, who would be accommodated at a health resort outside Moscow, where their parents would be able to visit them. He also claimed that the contract would last one year, could be terminated at any time, and would include a bonus of 500,000 rubles [$6,460] for each drone shot down. Service in BARS-Moscow was presented as an alternative to compulsory military service, with organizers arguing that, unlike regular conscripts, members of BARS (Special Combat Army Reserve) volunteer units would not face the risk of being sent to Russia's border regions. Similar recruitment events promoting BARS-Moscow had previously been held at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Higher School of Economics, and the Moscow Aviation Institute.
Job listings for UAV operators tasked with protecting Moscow's airspace have appeared on the HeadHunter employment platform. As first noted by Reuters, applicants are invited to join a BARS volunteer unit, where they would prepare drones for flights, carry out reconnaissance missions, and collect operational data. No prior experience is required, and the position offers a salary starting at 150,000 rubles [$1,940] per month.
According to his relatives, 18-year-old Idris Zyazikov from Ingushetia [Russia’s constituent republic] was coerced into signing a contract with the MoD, despite having a diagnosed neurological disorder. Zyazikov signed the contract on June 30 while in Moscow. According to his uncle, individuals connected to the MoD bought him a ticket after convincing him that he was traveling for a job. Immediately after signing the contract, he was taken away, making it difficult for his family to contact him. His relative said that Zyazikov and other contract recruits were subsequently sent to the city of Rostov-on-Don.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
BBC, in collaboration with Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and a team of volunteers, has identified the names of 230,624 Russian servicemen killed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including 19,269 mobilized soldiers, based on open-source data. Over the past week, the list grew by 1,370 names. This week also marked the first time since the beginning of the war that the number of confirmed military deaths in a single Russian region exceeded 10,000. This threshold was reached in Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic].
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
A military court ordered former 44th Army Corps commander, Lieutenant General Aleksandr Dembitsky, held in a pretrial detention center on charges of large-scale fraud. The general is implicated in the so-called Yastreb PMC case. According to investigators, Dembitsky organized a scheme to embezzle payments intended for 89 servicemen. The criminal case was opened in February 2025, and Dembitsky has pleaded not guilty. Earlier, the trial of Aleksey Marushchenko, the founder of Yastreb PMC, began in the same case. He faces seven charges, including large-scale fraud, kidnapping, and organizing a murder. According to the Kommersant daily newspaper, Marushchenko, as part of a plea agreement with investigators, stated that he paid Dembitsky 4 million rubles [$51,700] in exchange for the right to command assault units within a military unit subordinate to the 44th Army Corps. Marushchenko allegedly oversaw the unit's day-to-day operations, selected candidates for company and platoon commander positions, relayed orders to personnel, assigned combat missions, and received reports from assault company commanders.
A criminal case on charges of high treason has been initiated against 45-year-old Anapa resident Mikhail Ovchinnikov. According to investigators, the man contacted a representative of the Security Service of Ukraine on his own initiative and began transmitting information regarding air defense deployment sites, the locations of oil storage depots, and a military unit. Furthermore, the Federal Security Service claims that the suspect recorded radio signal levels near a military facility in the Krasnodar region. Another task from the SBU allegedly involved collecting data "on the arrival schedule of government authorities and foreign delegations at restricted facilities in Sochi." Ovchinnikov was detained at the end of January. During a subsequent search of his home, he was reportedly assaulted by FSB officers. He was then placed under administrative arrest three consecutive times, after which his whereabouts remained unknown for more than two months. At the end of May, Ovchinnikov's mother was finally informed that he was being held in a Krasnodar pre-trial detention center.
A 68-year-old native of Ukraine, Valery Dobrovolsky, will stand trial on charges of high treason. Initially, in the summer of 2025, he was placed under house arrest on charges of establishing cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, but the case was later upgraded to high treason. According to the FSB, the man had maintained contact with representatives of the SBU for an extended period and traveled to Ukraine in 2023 to renew his passport. Dobrovolsky’s lawyer emphasized that the charges were based entirely on his client's own statements made during a conversation with law enforcement officers in November 2024. The man has a Group II disability due to speech and cognitive impairments. According to database leaks, Dobrovolsky was born in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region but currently resides in the village of Zaporozhye in Kamchatka. His sons live in Ukraine.
In Moscow, the Lefortovo District Court ordered the arrest of Aleksandr Gradulenko, a former marine and an entrepreneur from the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], on charges of treason. Details of the accusations remain undisclosed. Gradulenko had previously been convicted twice for illegal gambling operations. In recent years, he was involved in a corporate dispute with his former business partner, Igor Lyapustin. However, it is unclear whether the current treason case is related to that dispute.
A Saint Petersburg court sent Maksim Panin to pre-trial detention on charges of participating in a terrorist organization. According to investigators, between June 13, 2023, and June 20, 2026, Panin fought alongside Ukraine as part of the Freedom of Russia Legion and received payment for his service. Panin was detained on July 2 upon arriving in Russia. His age and reasons for travel remain unknown.
The Central District Military Court sentenced five residents of the Sverdlovsk region to prison terms ranging from six to eight and a half years for an act of terror and an attempted act of terror. Two of the convicted, aged 19, will serve their sentences in a penal colony, while three minors, aged 16 and 17, will be sent to a juvenile penal colony. According to investigators, in July 2024, the defendants agreed to set fire to cellular equipment in the town of Krasnouralsk in exchange for 100,000 rubles [$1,290] offered by "Ukrainian handlers." Days later, the young people attempted to set fire to a railway locomotive. The Investigative Committee has stated that the defendants never received the promised payment, and the locomotive fire did not disrupt train traffic.
The Rostov Regional Court sentenced a local resident to 12 years in a penal colony on charges of high treason. According to investigators, the man transferred money to a blogger listed on the register of terrorists and extremists, and the funds were allegedly used to support various Ukrainian armed formations. The court did not disclose the blogger's identity.
The Khabarovsk Regional Court sentenced 20-year-old local resident Karina Gritsiyenko to 14 years in a penal colony on charges of high treason, three counts of sabotage, two counts of attempted sabotage, and money laundering. Gritsiyenko was detained on June 20, 2025. According to investigators, in May and June 2025 she carried out a series of arson attacks targeting transportation infrastructure and communications facilities, and later laundered the money she allegedly received in return.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Valery Slyusar, a resident of the Rostov region, to 18 and a half years in prison on charges of aiding a terrorist attack. According to investigators, on the evening of June 13, 2024, he agreed to help an acquaintance prepare the bombing of the car belonging to the chief of staff of a local military unit in exchange for payment. Prosecutors allege that Slyusar arrived with a group at a parking lot in Millerovo, where his accomplices placed an explosive device beneath the vehicle while he kept watch. The following day, June 14, the device detonated while the serviceman and his daughter were inside the car. The serviceman sustained moderate injuries. The authorities did not report what happened to his daughter.
Russia’s Crimea Supreme Court sentenced a Yalta resident born in 1977 to 18 years in prison on charges of high treason. According to investigators, in the summer of 2024, the man made contact with a representative of Ukraine’s Security Service and, acting on his instructions, used a dashboard camera installed in his car to film the location of Russian law enforcement personnel, then transmitted the footage via a messaging app. He was detained by the FSB shortly afterward.
Assistance
Starting Jan. 1, 2027, servicemembers of the Unmanned Systems Forces in the Murmansk region are set to receive personal housing certificates worth 500,000 rubles [$6,460] for the purchase or construction of housing. The certificates will be available one year after signing a contract.
Children and Militarization
At the request of the regional draft office, authorities in the Kuzbass region have ordered schools to intensify their recruitment drive for military academies among graduating students. According to a letter from the Mezhdurechensk education department sent to school principals, the town was given a target of 33 candidates due to a shortfall of applicants, but by April only a third of that target had been met.
A school drone piloting festival was held in Sakhalin. Students from the Primorsky, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kamchatka, Vladimir regions, and the Jewish Autonomous region participated in the competitions—a total of 104 schools whose curriculum includes courses on unmanned aircraft systems.
Longreads
The German Deutsche Welle news outlet and the Astra Telegram channel has published an investigation into Russian deserters whom Germany denies asylum—they face deportation to Russia despite the risk of criminal prosecution and being sent back to the war.