Mobilization in Russia for July 26-28, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The authorized strength of the Russian Armed Forces will increase by 27,000 positions as of Aug. 1—from 2,399,130 set in June to 2,426,130—under a decree signed by Vladimir Putin. The number of military personnel will increase by 25,000, from 1,510,000 to 1,535,000. The number of civilian personnel will grow by another 2,000. The document states that the new expansion is linked to the creation of military construction units. This is already the third (1, 2) increase in the size of the Russian army in 2026 and the sixth (1, 2) since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. Before the invasion, a 2017 decree set the total authorized strength of the RuAF at 1,902,758, of which 1,013,628 were military personnel. Thus, since 2022, the authorized strength of military personnel has grown by 521,372.

Army Recruitment

Kirill Cheplygin, a resident of Achinsk in the Krasnoyarsk region who was sentenced in December 2025 to 19 years and two months in a maximum security penal colony for the particularly cruel murder of two people and the intentional destruction of property, has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and gone to war against Ukraine. According to court records, in February 2025, the 35-year-old Cheplygin, acting out of jealousy, killed his estranged wife, Yekaterina, whom he was divorcing at the time, and her new partner, Vyacheslav. Cheplygin attacked the couple in the apartment building entrance and stabbed Vyacheslav several times. Yekaterina tried to flee, but her former husband caught up with her in the courtyard and stabbed her in the neck in front of her mother, who witnessed the attack from a window. Prosecutors said Cheplygin deliberately killed the woman in front of her mother, seeking to inflict "special suffering" on his mother-in-law. After the murders, Cheplygin tried to kill himself, but relatives and doctors saved him. He asked to be sent to the front while still under investigation, but local residents started a petition demanding that authorities not let him go to war. They also feared that he would retain parental rights and take custody of his daughter after returning from the front. According to media reports, he signed the contract on June 9, 2026—the same day a court ruling stripping him of his parental rights took effect.

The independent outlet Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] has reported on another resident of Achinsk who avoided criminal prosecution after signing a contract with the MoD and deploying to the frontline. Thirty-two-year-old Yegor Chistyakov, who had previous convictions, was facing murder charges. According to investigators, on July 10, during a wedding celebration, Chistyakov fatally stabbed the groom, Semyon Prikhodko, who died in the hospital nine days later. Prikhodko had intervened to defend his best friend and was stabbed in the heart. After the attack, Chistyakov continued celebrating before leaving the restaurant with his wife. On July 12, he turned himself in to police, was detained and later placed in a pretrial detention center. However, on July 24, the victim's widow noticed that Chistyakov had posted photographs of himself in military uniform on social media. The Investigative Committee confirmed that Chistyakov had signed a contract with the MoD and that the criminal case against him had been suspended.

In the Sakhalin region, a 19-year-old conscript was tricked into signing a contract with the MoD. While he was still at a military collection point, he was asked to sign what he was told was a routine document that would help ensure he was assigned to serve close to home on Sakhalin. The following day, after realizing he had likely signed a military contract, the young man submitted a request to terminate it. However, according to his sister, his commanders refused to accept the request, citing various pretexts. The request was officially registered only after his parents appealed to the Military Prosecutor's Office.

Mikhail Shcherbakov, the mayor of Lipetsk, several deputy governors of the Lipetsk region and several heads of municipal districts have signed three-year contracts to serve in the military reserve. They will be assigned to mobile fire teams responsible for defending the region against UAV attacks. The officials will now undergo three months of specialized training and joint combat training exercises in field conditions. They will then return to their regular positions but, during reserve training periods lasting up to two months, will rotate onto combat duty.

In the city of Novosibirsk, the military has set up a contract military service recruitment point directly inside the metro. Local residents filmed a table in the metro with a sign reading "Applications for Contract Military Service," staffed by a representative of the draft office. Earlier, a permanent military recruitment office had been opened in the metro, replacing one of the ticket offices. Then, in July, metro ticket offices also began handing out brochures inviting passengers to sign military contracts.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Vladimir Podkovyrin, a warehouse worker who was forcibly enlisted into military service, has been declared AWOL and placed on a wanted list. On July 25, he was detained at the home of an acquaintance and taken to a military commandant's office. On the way there, he became ill and was briefly hospitalized before being returned to the commandant's office. Podkovyrin was out of contact for an extended period, but later reported that he had been transferred to a military unit in the village of Leonidivka, where he and other men were awaiting deployment to the war. In November 2025, Podkovyrin was seized near his home in Sursk, in the Penza region, taken to a military recruitment center and sent to the frontline the same day. While serving there, he was wounded during an assault, after which he managed to escape.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

A court in Krasnodar has sentenced Demyan Kevorkyan, a participant in the war in Ukraine, to life imprisonment, while his two accomplices, Aram Tatosyan and Anatoly Dvoynikov, to 25 and 23 years, respectively, in a maximum security penal colony. Earlier, a jury found all of them guilty of robbery, murder, aggravated robbery committed by an organized group resulting in the infliction of grievous bodily harm on the victims, carjacking with the use of violence and destruction of property. Kevorkyan was also stripped of the Medal "For Courage," which he had received during the war. On April 28, 2023, the three men murdered two animators, 37-year-old Kirill Chubko and 19-year-old student Tatyana Mostyko, who were returning home to the town of Ust-Labinsk. Their car had stopped due to a flat tire, and the men driving by offered their assistance, after which they robbed and murdered the animators. On May 1, their car was found burned, and shortly thereafter, the previously convicted Kevorkyan, Tatosyan and Dvoynikov were detained.

The Pyatigorsk Garrison Military Court has sentenced a serviceman to six years and three months in a penal colony for going AWOL. According to the case files, the serviceman left his duty station on Nov. 14, 2024, and was absent until March 6, 2026—almost one year and four months. During that time, he lived in the Stavropol region, but then voluntarily reported to a military investigation department and surrendered.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a 55-year-old resident of Khabarovsk on charges of high treason. As the intelligence service claims, the man "proactively established contact" with a representative of the intelligence service of New Zealand, which is part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. He allegedly, "out of selfish motives," transmitted "information on Russia's military-technical cooperation with countries of the Asia-Pacific region" via email and messaging apps. The court sent the detainee to a pre-trial detention center.

The FSB has also reported the detention of a 63-year-old resident of the Belgorod region on charges of high treason, preparing a terrorist attack, undergoing training for terrorist activity and illegal possession of explosives. Law enforcement officials claim the man was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services during a prior trip to Kyiv and was planning an attack targeting members of the Russian-installed occupation "administration of the Kharkiv region" while they were in Belgorod. Investigators allege that he retrieved components for an improvised explosive device from a hidden cache and intended to blow up a vehicle carrying the officials but was apprehended before carrying out the attack. The suspect's identity has not been disclosed. Judging by the video footage published by security services, the detention appears to have taken place before the start of spring.

Children and Militarization

Students at the Omsk Multidisciplinary Technical College have been enlisted to repair military equipment for Russian soldiers, the Omsk Civil Association project reported. The students restored three LuAZ off-road vehicles, which were subsequently transferred to the frontline.

Longreads

The Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] media outlet has published an article detailing how men in the North Caucasus republics are being recruited for the war against Ukraine.