Mobilization in Russia for July 5-7, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment

Saint Petersburg State University's administration sent students a letter advertising contract service as a UAV specialist in the 12th Chief Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, which oversees military nuclear development, prepares for nuclear weapons tests, and manages the storage and operation of the nuclear arsenal. The letter states that the service will take place in the Arctic. It also promises that students who sign a one-year contract will receive a one-time payment of 3.8 million rubles [$49,100] and a university stipend of 50,000 rubles [$650].

The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reported a scheme to recruit people for the war under the guise of construction jobs. A former employee of a recruitment company said recruiters lured job seekers, primarily men over 50 from Russia's regions, to Moscow ostensibly to sign employment contracts as construction workers, drivers, or loaders. The recruiters then took them to the one-stop contract military service recruitment facility on Yablochkova Street and pressured them into signing contracts with the MoD.

Law enforcement officers conducted a raid at a city market in Kemerovo. During the roundup, authorities identified eight naturalized Russian citizens who had failed to register for military service and directed them to draft offices.

A Saint Petersburg court has suspended the criminal case against Vsevolod Dubinsky, accused of attempted murder committed in a manner dangerous to the general public and intentional destruction of property, after he signed a contract with the MoD. According to investigators, in November 2025, Dubinsky set fire to a basement where Nelson Iskandaryan, a 66-year-old artist, had lived and worked, while knowing Iskandaryan was inside. Iskandaryan suffered burn injuries but was able to escape. Media reports suggest that the motive was resentment after the accused, who considered the artist a friend, took offense when Iskandaryan ended their communication.

Mikhail Lekhanov, 23, accused of murdering athlete Aleksandr Takayev, has signed a contract with the MoD and has been deployed to the frontline from pre-trial detention. The court has suspended proceedings in his case. According to investigators, in April 2026, Lekhanov had a confrontation with Takayev, after which Lekhanov fatally stabbed Takayev in the chest. Lekhanov pleaded guilty in court, claiming that he was drunk and only intended to scare the victim.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Nikita Malyshev, a young man born in the village of Poperechnoye in Russia's constituent Republic of Buryatia on April 7, 2008, has been killed in the war in Ukraine. This is the second confirmed death of a Russian serviceman born in 2008. At the time of the outset of the invasion of Ukraine, Malyshev was 13 years old. He signed a contract with the MoD on the day after his 18th birthday and served as a rifleman in an anti-aircraft missile platoon. He was killed on June 12 near the village of Vesele in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. Malyshev was two months younger than Alisher Svirin, the first confirmed contract soldier born in 2008, who was killed in May.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The Pyatigorsk Garrison Military Court sentenced a serviceman to five years in a penal colony for going AWOL. According to investigators, he left his duty station without authorization on Oct. 22, 2025, and remained in the Stavropol region until he was detained by police on Dec. 22, 2025.

The Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] media outlet calculated that during the first half of 2026, garrison military courts in southern Russia and the North Caucasus heard 1,755 administrative cases involving traffic violations by servicemen—nearly four times as many as during all of 2021, when 443 such cases were heard. Servicemen are most frequently prosecuted for refusing to undergo sobriety testing, driving under the influence, driving into oncoming traffic, and driving without a license. According to the outlet, most of these cases end in fines. However, when traffic violations result in fatal crashes, the servicemen involved are often sent to the frontline, after which the proceedings are terminated.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced Ukrainian prisoner of war Dmitry Lenko, 27, to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of participating in a terrorist organization and undergoing terrorist training. Lenko served in the Azov Brigade and was taken prisoner by Russian forces in May 2022.

A 14-year-old teenager from the Leningrad region has been detained in a case involving an act of terror. According to investigators, the boy, acting on instructions from an unknown person he had been messaging, set fire to a relay cabinet on the stretch of track between the Melnichny Ruchey and Rzhevka stations. The Interior Ministry contends that the teenager was coerced into committing arson. The court ordered him to refrain from certain activities.

In the Moscow region, a 16-year-old girl has been detained in a case related to an attempt on the deliberate destruction or damage of property. A separate criminal case has also been opened over an act of terror. According to the Interior Ministry, the detainee set fire to a gas station in Shchyolkovo, a town near Moscow, on June 19, acting under the influence of phone scammers. No one was injured in the fire.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has reported the detention of a 21-year-old resident of the Sverdlovsk region suspected of the illegal trafficking of explosives. Authorities are also weighing whether to open a case over an attempted act of terror. According to the intelligence service, in March the man, acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services and in exchange for a promised payment, used the Russian Post to send five parcels containing improvised explosive devices disguised as perfume sets. The shipments were intended for service members and officials in Moscow, the Krasnodar, Voronezh and Saratov regions. In Chelyabinsk, investigators also found a cache with four more similar improvised explosive devices meant to be sent to the Tver, Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga regions. The FSB contends that the young man had also previously gathered information on Russian service members and defense industry enterprises.

The Stavropol Regional Court has sentenced a 34-year-old Russian citizen, likely Aleksey Kaplunov, to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony in a case involving high treason. According to investigators, while in Kyiv in 2025, he agreed to cooperate with Ukrainian intelligence services, after which, on their instructions, he arrived in Stavropol Region to prepare acts of sabotage and terrorism against critical and military infrastructure facilities. However, tracking data indicates that Kaplunov was detained no later than December 2024 after returning to Russia.

The Pyatigorsk City Court has ordered the arrest of Ukhta native Galina Taranets on charges of an attempted terrorist attack and the illegal transportation of explosives. Taranets is one of the two women whose detention in Pyatigorsk was announced by the FSB at the end of June. At the time, the security services claimed that a young woman born in 2006 was detained near a law enforcement agency building with explosives in her backpack. The second woman, Taranets, was allegedly supposed to deliver a similar device to the site of the first blast at the exact moment an investigative-operational team began working the scene. According to the FSB, the detainees "acted on instructions from representatives of Ukrainian intelligence services," who intended to use them as suicide bombers.

The FSB has reported the detention of a 27-year-old resident of Gelendzhik on charges of high treason. According to investigators, since April of this year, the young man had been monitoring the movement of vehicles belonging to service members and law enforcement officers on instructions from the Security Service of Ukraine. He also filmed the cars at a local parking lot. Russian security services claim that the SBU paid him in cryptocurrency for executing the tasks and promised to assist him in traveling abroad. The court has remanded the detainee to a pre-trial detention center.

An appeals court increased the sentence of Halyna Bekhter, 68, a retiree from the village of Plodorodne in the occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia region, from 11 to 12.5 years on charges of high treason. According to investigators, she transferred 1,240 rubles [$16] to the Armed Forces of Ukraine through a Ukrainian bank in July 2023. She was detained on Oct. 2, 2025. The appeals court cited the commission of the crime during a period of mobilization as an aggravating circumstance. According to her defense, Bekhter’s dementia has progressed during her time in custody. She has stopped writing, refuses food and is unable to care for herself.

Children and Militarization

A Multifunctional Public Services Center in Belgorod has posted an advertisement for the Voin [Warrior] center, which offers drone operation training for children as young as 7 and for adults. The program promises bonus points toward the Unified State Exam [graduation examination in Russia’s schools], preparation for competitions and sports rankings, with war veterans listed as instructors.

Longreads

Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta], published an investigation into how Chechen units deployed in the war against Ukraine are organized and how recruits are enlisted.