Mobilization in Russia for Jul. 3-4, 2023 CIT Volunteer Summary
Prigozhin’s Armed Rebellion: Consequences
The authorities of Rostov-on-Don have assessed the damage to the city caused by Prigozhin’s [owner of the Wagner Group] armed rebellion. The Wagner Group’s military vehicles damaged 12,000 square meters of roadways, 210 square meters of sidewalks, and tram track switches. The repair costs amounted to 28.8 million rubles [$321,644] from the city budget. Additionally, five units of municipal vehicles were damaged, requiring an additional 63.7 million rubles [$711,414] for repair. Thus, the total damage is estimated at 92.5 million rubles [$1,033 mln]. According to the city administration, the authorities are currently not considering the possibility of seeking compensation from the Wagner Group for the incurred damage. However, it became known that Yevgeny Prigozhin, had been returned ten billion rubles [$111,7 mln] and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, as well as five gold bars. Previously, they had been seized in Saint Petersburg during searches related to the rebellion case.
Authorities and Legislation
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has approved an order which temporarily suspends driving licenses due to failure to show up at a military commissariat [enlistment office] upon receiving a draft notice. It will come into effect on Jul. 11. According to the order, within 24 hours the decision to temporarily suspend a driving license is transferred from the unified register of Russians subject to military service to the federal information system of the Main Directorate for Traffic Safety. The temporary suspension can only be lifted upon a decision formed in the unified register.
Putin held a meeting to discuss a massive traffic jam at the Crimean bridge. The President ordered government officials to evaluate an idea to redirect the flow of tourists heading for Crimea through the occupied territories of Ukraine. As one of the primary targets of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, these territories are exposed to continuous air strikes. Russia’s Ministry of Transport pointed out that the Armed Forces were ready to provide two military landing crafts for transporting cars across the Kerch Strait that divides the Crimean Peninsula and the Krasnodar region.
Dmitry Medvedev [Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council] announced that according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, from Jan. 1 to Jul. 4 over 185,000 men were recruited into the ranks of the Russian Army, of which roughly 109,000 were reservists, while the number of recruits brought in daily increased to 1,400. For earlier statements released by the authorities on the tempo of enlistment, check out one of our previous summaries.
Governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said that, according to preliminary estimates, the region will need 20 billion rubles [$224.72 mln] to recover from the strikes against it, and stated that Shebekino evacuees will be offered to go back in two weeks.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
The Vladimir region authorities sent another group of 30 volunteer fighters, who signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense, to the war in Ukraine.
Residents of Kazan [Russia's constituent republic of Tatarstan] spoke out against the opening of the Batyr war recruitment center. Negative comments appeared under the relevant news in one of the city's social media groups.
Mobilized Soldiers and Volunteer Fighters
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated with Oleg Nakvasin from the Lipetsk region, Vitaly Zasukhin from the Arkhangelsk region, Aleksey Borisov from the Ulyanovsk region, Pavel Kochetkov from the Vladimir region, Aleksey Vasilenko, as well as Sergey Sarana and Ragim Babayev from the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject].
In one of the villages in Buryatia [Russia’s constituent republic], photos of residents of the Kabansky district who were killed in Ukraine were displayed. There are already 54 people on the poster. The district has a total population of 58,000.
Relatives of the mobilized individuals recorded a video appeal to the authorities, requesting clarification regarding the units to which the mobilized individuals, deployed in the Zaporizhzhia direction, belong. The relatives also complained about poor supply, lack of artillery support and necessary equipment, as well as the fact that the command does not rotate personnel and denies granting leaves.
Relatives of the prisoners in penal colony No. 3 in Yelets, who signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense and were assigned to the Storm Z unit of the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment, recorded a video appeal. In it, they complain that the ID tags issued to their loved ones are not being registered in the personal accounts of servicemen, and for the third consecutive month, no money is being deposited into their salary cards. According to the relatives, the command sends them into combat without support, and the wounded and deceased are not evacuated from the battlefield.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings, and Incidents
Huler Mongush, a mobilized individual from Tuva [Russia’s constituent republic], while intoxicated, got into a fight with a passerby in Berdsk, Novosibirsk region on Nov. 26, 2023. During the altercation, he stabbed the passerby, resulting in the victim's death. The Novosibirsk Garrison Military Court sentenced Mongush to eight years in a maximum security penal colony and ordered him to pay 1 million rubles [$11,167] to the mother of the deceased.
A court in the Murmansk region has sentenced the commander of a motor rifle detachment, Oleg A., to two years in a penal settlement for refusing to participate in combat, as Oleg refused to follow the order to leave for a combat area in December 2022. He motivated his refusal by the fact that a litigation was ongoing regarding his discharge from service.
A 62-year-old man, who brought his weapons home from the war, has been arrested in Saint Petersburg. He stored a grenade launcher, grenades and weapon spare parts in his apartment, and rounds, a pistol, rifles and other items in his country cottage. He explained to the police that he had been preparing for war.
Military Commissar Vladimir Pichugin, who was caught red-handed on Jun. 28, was arrested in Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, supposedly for distributing draftees to military units according to their preferences. He has been reportedly placed in a temporary detention facility in Yekaterinburg.
A court has fined Senior Lieutenant Viktor Tarmaev 50,000 rubles [$560] for manipulation with aviation fuel, as he falsified data on aircraft refueling in official documents. The officer received 524,000 rubles [$5855] from the fuel depot chief for providing inflated figures. Additionally, he is prohibited from holding positions in public service for a year and a half.
In Tyumen, a man has been detained on charges of treason, according to the Federal Security Service (FSB), for allegedly attempting to persuade Russian military personnel to defect to the AFU. The man faces punishment, including potential lifelong imprisonment.
Vasily Gavrilishen, a resident of Nizhnevartovsk, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for arson at the military commissariat, which occurred in early May 2022. Previously, another defendant in the same case, Vladislav Borisenko, was sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony. This case marked the first instance where the arson of a military commissariat was classified as a terrorist act.
The Rospartizan [Russian partisan] Telegram channel reports on the successful arson of relay cabinets in Engels, Saratov region. The message is accompanied by a video of two burning relay cabinets. There are no confirmations of this information from other sources.
Activist and human rights defender Tatyana Sporysheva, who tried to investigate the death of Anatoly Berezikov in the Rostov-on-Don pre-trial detention center, has left Russia.
The Vikulovsky District Court in the Tyumen region considered the participation of the defendant's father in the war with Ukraine as a mitigating circumstance. The defendant is a young man, born in 2005.
A resident of the Zabaykalsky region who returned from the war is trying to dispute in court his own death certificate issued in the "LPR". As proof of his continued existence, the applicant intends to appear in court in person, according to the court's press release.
Assistance
A resident of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, who became a wheelchair-bound disabled person after participating in the war, has appealed for help to the governor of the Rostov region with a request to adapt the roads in the yard near his apartment building to the needs of people with limited mobility.
Members of the United Russia party [Putin’s ruling party] in the Khanty-Mansi Regional Duma [representative assembly] will transfer part of their salary to the account of the Gumanitarnyy dobrovol'cheskiy korpus Yugry [Humanitarian Volunteer Corps of the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region] autonomous non-commercial organization. Earlier, the fund reportedly assisted in the evacuation of more than 30 people, including 10 children, from the territory of Donbas for treatment and rehabilitation. Meanwhile, servicemen from the region asked for the boats seized from poachers to counter the AFU on the left bank of the Dnipro.
Children
The Ministry of Education of the Tyumen region announced that the new history textbooks for 10th-11th graders contain a section dedicated to the "special military operation." Moreover, from Sept. 1, a module on "Recent History" about "The coup in Ukraine in 2014" and "Reunification of Crimea with Russia" will be read to students. At the same time, in Tyumen, 259 children of participants in the war with Ukraine were enrolled in kindergartens out of turn.
Miscellaneous
The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet published an article about how military personnel and their relatives are trying to get the state to let wounded soldiers home. Military medical evaluation boards find all the men fit for service, even those with untreated wounds and shell fragments in their bodies.