Mobilization in Russia for July 30-Aug. 2, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
Unidentified people in civilian clothes are now involved in roundups of men in the Penza region, the independent media outlet Agentstvo [Agency] reported. They refuse to identify themselves and use vehicles registered to the district administration and to a municipal institution to transport detainees. The outlet cites two cases in the village of Bashmakovo in which unidentified people tried to forcibly take local men away to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, according to residents. In both cases, relatives managed to free the men and then turned to the police. After these incidents, local residents formed an informal group to obstruct the roundups. Police later summoned some of its members and threatened them with being sent to war. In response to the outlet's inquiry, Tamara Pavlutkina, head of the Bashmakovo district administration, dismissed the published information as a "fake."
Agentstvo also noted a rise in job openings for specialists in military registration and mobilization preparation. HeadHunter, the job search website, currently lists more than 2,500 such openings, nearly 1,300 of which appeared in the past week. By comparison, employers published 145 similar openings throughout 2021 and about 500 between the announcement of mobilization in the fall of 2022 and the end of that year. Legal experts suggest that the hiring push may stem from bureaucratic reasons: authorities have recently increased the burden on employers to maintain military registration and introduced fines for violations.
The Lefortovo District Court in Moscow suspended proceedings in a lawsuit the singer Larisa Dolina brought against Dmitry Leontyev after he signed a contract with the MoD and went to war against Ukraine. Leontyev was convicted of taking part in a fraud scheme in which 175 million rubles [$2.20 million] were stolen and, in November 2025, was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony [the civil suit for property damage continued separately]. According to investigators, he acted as a "dropper"—money that phone scammers stole from Dolina passed through his account.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
BBC News Russian, in collaboration with Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and a team of volunteers, has identified 236,066 Russian soldiers killed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine using publicly available data. The figure includes 19,644 mobilized men. Since the previous update, the list has grown by 1,271 names.
The parents of several conscripts from the city of Tyumen whose military contracts were signed without their consent have succeeded in having those contracts annulled. The conscripts—Kirill Ponomaryov, Lavrentiy Kuznetsov, and Umed Khamdamov—were serving at a military unit in the village of Kashtak, the Zabaykalsky region, when, in November 2025, they agreed to be transferred to another unit that was allegedly said to offer better service conditions. At the time, there was no mention of signing contracts with the MoD.
A few weeks later, however, each of them received 2 million rubles [$25,100] in their bank accounts as a signing bonus for military contracts. The conscripts maintained that they had signed transfer requests that contemplated the subsequent conclusion of a military contract, but that they had never signed the contracts themselves. In the spring, the young men were taken to the city of Rostov-on-Don, from where they would likely have been transferred to a combat zone. However, after their parents filed complaints with the Presidential Administration, the MoD, the Investigative Committee, and the Prosecutor's Office, a handwriting examination was ordered. It concluded with 99.9% probability that the signatures on the contracts had been forged. Although the unit's command initially refused to accept the findings, prosecutors ultimately identified violations in the way the contracts had been concluded. The contracts were annulled, the conscripts were returned to the Zabaykalsky region, and the signing bonuses were returned to the state.
Mobilized serviceman Denis Kuzmin from Novosibirsk was declared a deserter and threatened with transfer to an assault unit, but the case against him was dropped after it attracted public attention. Kuzmin sustained multiple injuries and concussions at the frontline, but his commanders refused to transfer him to a military hospital. According to his daughter, while on leave, he sought medical treatment on his own, underwent emergency surgery, and in November 2025 was officially recognized as having a Category III disability. Kuzmin informed his military unit of all his actions and did not go into hiding, but military investigators nevertheless opened a criminal case against him for going AWOL. In January 2026, Kuzmin was detained and sent to a military unit in the Kochenyovsky district of the Novosibirsk region, where he was threatened with transfer to an assault brigade. His relatives immediately appealed to the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Novosibirsk regional human rights ombudsman. In July, the Novosibirsk Garrison Military Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee ordered the criminal case against Kuzmin closed after he was found fit only for limited military service because of his injuries.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Vladimir Garrison Military Court has received 477 criminal cases involving charges of going AWOL and desertion. Before 2022, the court handled only isolated cases of this kind. It received 132 such cases in 2024, 78 in 2023, and just eight in 2022.
A court in Moscow has remanded a 28-year-old resident of Noginsk in pretrial detention on charges of attempted terrorist attack. According to investigators, he set fire to an electric commuter train parked at Monino station while recording his actions on his phone. The fire was quickly extinguished, and there were no injuries or disruptions to rail service.
In the Ryazan and Vologda regions, the Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have detained two people suspected of treason and collaborating with a foreign state on a confidential basis. According to law enforcement, a resident of the Ryazan region planned to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine and contacted the Main Directorate of Intelligence/Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense for that purpose. The second detainee was recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and sought people to carry out acts of sabotage at transportation infrastructure facilities in the Vologda region.
In the Rostov region, the FSB has reported the detention of an 18-year-old resident of Taganrog accused of treason and involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization. The FSB alleges that the young man joined a Ukrainian "militarized association" recognized in Russia as terrorist and, on the instructions of a handler, collected information about railway infrastructure to prepare an act of sabotage. In addition, the FSB claims that he planned to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in order to then attack Russian servicemen and subsequently surrender to the Ukrainian side in captivity.
In the Nizhny Novgorod region, law enforcement officers have detained a 50-year-old resident of the Moscow region, charging him with participation in a terrorist organization. They claim that, since 2023, the man had been a member of the Artpodgotovka movement, recognized in Russia as a terrorist. According to investigators, he posed as an employee of a logistics company, gathering information about enterprises of the military-industrial complex in seven regions of Russia and sending it via Telegram to representatives of the organization "in the interests of Ukrainian intelligence services." It is reported that the detainee gave statements admitting his guilt, and the court ordered him to be held in custody.
The Second Western District Military Court sentenced 23-year-old Kursk native Daniil Pavlov to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of high treason, participation in the activities of a terrorist organization, and money laundering. Pavlov has been in custody since June 9, 2025. The details of the charges have not been disclosed. However, according to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], the list of physical evidence suggests the case may be linked to the Russian Volunteer Corps or the Freedom of Russia Legion.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced 46-year-old Novorossiysk resident Denis Popov to 25 years in prison on charges of high treason, participation in extremist and terrorist organizations, financing extremist activities, and aiding terrorist activities. According to investigators, Popov was a member of the Artpodgotovka organization, collected information on the movements of military vehicles, warships, and submarines of Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk, and passed it to the group's leadership. Investigators also allege that he transferred money to the organization.
Assistance
Authorities in Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan plan to grant participants in the war against Ukraine and their family members free admission to state-run cultural institutions. Under the proposed legislation, institutions overseen by the regional Ministry of Culture would be required to reserve at least 10% of seats for them at theater performances, concerts, exhibitions, museum displays, and other cultural and educational events.