Mobilization in Russia for July 9-12, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment

Anton Filimonov, an 18-year-old orphan from the Pskov region, claims that officials forced him to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense before he turned 18. Filimonov, who just turned 18 on July 7, decided to drop out of the Pskov Agrotechnical College six months ago. When he visited the college to formally withdraw, a man in a military uniform standing nearby asked to speak with him. The man tried to persuade Filimonov to sign documents, assuring him that he would not be sent to the frontline and that he would instead serve in a safe location and receive good pay. Ultimately, Filimonov signed the documents, but he kept neither copies nor photographs of them. On July 6, the day before his 18th birthday, employees of the Pskov draft office arrived at his home and demanded that he appear for a medical examination the next day, threatening to declare him wanted if he refused. At the office, Filimonov underwent a medical examination and again signed some papers, after which officials released him with an order to appear on July 11 for contract military service. Draft office employees told him that he would serve in the 69th Motorized Rifle Division's 3rd Drone Communications Battalion in the village of Kamenka, Leningrad region, and be deployed in three months. According to lawyers, Filimonov signed the actual contract at the draft office after turning 18.

Draft offices in Saint Petersburg have begun recruiting riflemen and drivers for mobile fire teams to protect infrastructure facilities from UAV attacks. Recruiters started posting these announcements on social media in late June. They promise applicants a salary starting at 180,000 rubles [$2,350] (including 80,000 rubles [$1,050] from the protected facility, 50,000 rubles [$650] from city authorities, and 30,000 rubles [$390] from the Defense Ministry) and bonuses of 500,000 rubles [$6,540] for each downed drone. Recruits who sign a three-year contract undergo a two-week training course before guarding city facilities. Active duty at these facilities lasts up to six months a year on a month-on, month-off schedule. The announcements explicitly state that the "contract excludes deployment to the special military operation zone" and claim that service will take place in Saint Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region. Kemerovo Governor Ilya Seredyuk also announced the formation of mobile fire teams with similar tasks.

According to TV Rain [independent Russian television channel], regional authorities are assigning enterprises quotas for sending employees to the frontline. For example, under the 2026 Contract Military Service Recruitment Plan, enterprises in the Muysky district of Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic] are required to provide 61 employees for deployment in 2026. In 2025, the district's enterprises were assigned a quota of 37 recruits, but only 13 ultimately signed military contracts. According to the document, the quotas apply not only to private companies but also to state-funded institutions. Hospitals, for example, are expected to "contribute" two medical workers to the frontline. Regional authorities also offer enterprises contracts to recruit candidates for military service, paying 100,000 rubles [$1,310] for each contract soldier recruited. According to the outlet's sources, the same system operates across Russia, with every enterprise expected to provide a set number of recruits.

Reports of men being detained and sent to war continue to emerge from Penza. A local resident said that her uncle and his acquaintance were detained while intoxicated. According to her, men in military uniforms forced them into a vehicle and drove them to an unknown location. They were later taken to the Rostov region, and their relatives have since lost contact with them.

According to Russell Bentley's widow, the Russian-installed "Donetsk Garrison Military Court" has suspended proceedings against servicemen Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev and Andrey Iordanov, who were convicted of murdering the pro-Russian propagandist and war correspondent. Although the verdict has already entered into legal force, the servicemen are reportedly set to be released from custody after requesting deployment to the "special military operation zone."

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 233,033 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine. Over the past week, the list has grown by 2,409 soldiers. Additionally, at least 3,589 foreign fighters have been killed while fighting alongside Russia, accounting for less than 2 percent of the total number of casualties. The names of 1,285 foreign nationals from 40 countries have been confirmed, while the deaths of 2,304 North Korean servicemen were verified through satellite imagery and photos of the military memorial in Pyongyang. Journalists have identified three key phases in the recruitment of foreign fighters into the Russian army. From mid-2022 to late 2023, the majority of foreign recruits were convicts from former Soviet states who were pressured into military service. From 2024 to mid-2025, as sign-up bonuses increased, Russia actively recruited from distant countries such as Cuba, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Yemen. Since mid-2025, there has been renewed pressure on labor migrants from former Soviet states, who are offered accelerated citizenship or relief from deportation in exchange for military service. More recently, recruitment efforts have increasingly focused on low-income residents of African countries.

In 2026, applications submitted to the Ukrainian Khochu Nayti [I Want to Find] project seeking missing Russian soldiers under 25 accounted for over 15 percent of all requests, compared to 8.5 percent in 2024. During Ukraine’s August 2024 offensive in the Kursk region, missing soldiers aged between 18 and 24 accounted for 16 percent of search requests, while in 2025, this figure stood at 13 percent.

A conscript in a military unit in Chebarkul was forced to sign a contract to serve in the Unmanned Systems Forces. The young man was drafted in late June despite suffering from serious medical conditions. He arrived at the unit in Chebarkul on June 26, and on July 5 called his family to say he had been coerced into signing a military contract. According to him, after being treated in the medical unit, two servicemen took him to a smoking area and threatened to "hand him over to the police" if he refused to sign. He ultimately agreed. The conscript's mother says 10 other conscripts were also forced to sign contracts. Soon afterward, 1 million rubles [$13,100]—a sign-up bonus for contract service—was deposited into his bank account. The conscript submitted a request to terminate the contract, but the appeal has yet to be assigned a registration number or formally logged by the military unit. The Military Prosecutor's Office said its review of the case would take about 30 days.

One of the key witnesses in a murder case involving the so-called PMC Yastreb has reportedly been transferred to an assault unit. Military medic Ivan Kozlenkov testified in February 2025 in the investigation into the murder of his fellow soldier Dmitry Poloumov, who was allegedly beaten to death for attempting to desert. Official records listed the cause of death as heart problems. After giving testimony, Kozlenkov was allowed to return home and was advised to attach himself to another military unit. He also sought to testify about other alleged crimes committed by the so-called PMC Yastreb, including the murders of civilians in Leningrad region. According to Kozlenkov, fighters acting on the orders of the group's leader, Aleksey Marushchenko, "rounded up alcoholics and drug addicts near the base," but investigators never accepted those statements. Kozlenkov was later declared going AWOL. In recent days, he was detained, returned to his unit and reassigned to assault troops. Fellow soldiers say several other mercenaries have been treated the same way, including two men implicated in the Poloumov murder—one has since been killed and the other wounded. Earlier, former 44th Army Corps commander Lieutenant General Aleksandr Dembitsky was placed in a pre-trial detention center in connection with the PMC Yastreb case on charges of large-scale fraud. Separately, proceedings began at the Second Western District Military Court against Marushchenko, the founder of the so-called PMC Yastreb, and several associates. They face seven criminal charges, including large-scale fraud, kidnapping and organizing a murder. Marushchenko, however, has not been charged in connection with Poloumov's murder.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

In Vladivostok, a veteran of the war allegedly threatened a woman with a gun near a children's playground. According to the woman, the man was behaving erratically and approached the playground carrying a firearm while his companion stood nearby smiling. She said he also pointed the gun at teenagers, aimed it at the windows and entrance doors of apartment buildings, told passersby stories about fighting in Ukraine and fired the weapon into nearby bushes. After reaching safety, the woman reported the incident to police. Authorities said they are conducting an inquiry and working to establish the man's identity.

A Chelyabinsk court handed down sentences in a case involving a mass brawl that took place in May 2024 between former Wagner Group mercenaries and local youths. The conflict began over a young woman whose companion, also a former mercenary, was allegedly assaulted by her ex-boyfriend. The woman’s father, Aleksandr Yurin, 42, a Wagner Group member, came to her defense. He showed up to confront the ex-boyfriend and his friends accompanied by several fellow mercenaries. During the ensuing brawl, the mercenaries initially gained the upper hand, but reinforcements armed with rubber bullet pistols soon arrived to help the youths. The mercenaries fled, and one former mercenary was wounded. Three mercenaries, Leonid Aleksandrov, Aleksandr Yurin and Rishat Shaymardanov, along with 18-year-old Maksim Chepurenko received suspended sentences of four to five years on charges of hooliganism. Two others were additionally convicted of causing bodily harm. Two other mercenaries were originally named in the case, Vladimir Bazanov and Dmitry Zaytsev, but both returned to the front during the investigation; Zaytsev has since been killed. The same court is now hearing a criminal case on charges of group hooliganism committed by conspiracy against the youths involved in the brawl.

A military court in Pyatigorsk sentenced a serviceman to six and a half years in a penal colony on two counts of going AWOL.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had foiled "a massive strike by 13 attack drones on the Rostov-Tsentralny military airfield." According to the agency, one of the intended participants voluntarily came to the FSB. He had received from an alleged handler the coordinates of a cache containing FPV drones and instructions for carrying out the attack. Law enforcement said that "after the drones and munitions were discovered and neutralized, and after the man received an advance of 20% of the promised payment, contact with the foreign intelligence representative was severed." Footage released by the FSB shows officers breaking open a lock on an underground garage door, after which bomb disposal specialists find boxes containing drones and munitions.

In Kostroma, Aleksey Gribov, the brother of political prisoner Roman Gribov, was arrested on charges of high treason. He was detained on April 2, the day after Roman Gribov was sentenced to six years in a penal colony on charges of calls to terrorism and extremism. Human rights advocates learned of Aleksey’s detention later. Details of his case have not been disclosed. Roman’s conviction stemmed from online comments in which, according to investigators, he called for the execution of Wagner Group fighters and expressed support for a nuclear strike on Moscow. Aleksey had served as his public defender.

The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] has established that the resident of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky detained by the FSB in connection with an "unprecedented series of terrorist attacks" targeting Russian service members and major defense enterprises is 24-year-old Valeriya Naryzhnaya. Journalists identified the location where, according to the FSB, Naryzhnaya lived and conducted surveillance on the high-ranking officer as Building No. 10 on Novy Arbat. Meanwhile, the building where the officer resided is located at 18 Bolshaya Molchanovka, roughly 660 meters from the General Staff building of the Russian Armed Forces. The Insider also noted that Naryzhnaya was added to Rosfinmonitoring's [the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation] "list of terrorists and extremists" as early as July 7—two days before the FSB released the video of her detention on July 9.

The Second Eastern District Military Court has sentenced 18-year-old Andrey Malyshko to nine years in a penal colony on charges of high treason and financing terrorism. According to the prosecution, the young man transferred cryptocurrency to support the Azov Brigade, as well as to an individual listed on Rosfinmonitoring's registry of extremists and terrorists. The identity of this individual and the exact amounts that served as the basis for the criminal case have not been disclosed. It is likely that Malyshko was still a minor at the time the alleged offenses were committed.

In the Lipetsk region, the Second Western District Military Court has sentenced 22-year-old student Artyom Kuzin to 12 years in a penal colony on charges of carrying out a terrorist attack. According to law enforcement, in December 2025, he accepted an offer from an unidentified user to set fire to a locomotive in exchange for a reward. Kuzin agreed and, on the evening of Dec. 23, arrived at Yelets station, where he broke the glass of the locomotive's control cab door and threw a combustible mixture inside. The damage caused by his actions was estimated at more than 1 million rubles [$13,100]. Kuzin stated that he set fire to the locomotive with the aim of "proving his loyalty to the Motherland" under the strain of "mounting financial difficulties."

In annexed Sevastopol, 55-year-old local resident Vladimir Zosich has been sentenced to 17 years in a penal colony on charges of attempted high treason and illegal possession of explosives. According to the prosecution, in February, Zosich was recruited by an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), after which, on the instructions of a handler, he "conducted visual reconnaissance of the deployment location of a military facility." An improvised explosive device was also allegedly found during a search of his property.

The Central District Military Court has sentenced 37-year-old Ilya Alalykin to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony under articles on high treason, participation in a terrorist organization, calls for extremism and justification of terrorism. Exactly what prompted the criminal case remains unclear. According to Alalykin's cellmates, in 2024 he was reading "news about the special military operation," after which Ukrainians allegedly contacted him and asked him to send photographs of military facilities. He sent them an image of an enterprise that he had found on the internet, and the next day authorities searched his home.

The Second Eastern District Military Court has sentenced 25-year-old Sergey Gostyukhin, 26-year-old Aleksandr Shavrin and presumably 16-year-old Danila Kolesnichenko to 23 years in a penal colony, 21 years and three months in a penal colony and six and a half years in a juvenile penal colony, respectively, in a case involving high treason and an act of terror committed in a group. The teenager was found to have acted as both an instigator and an accomplice. The details of the case are unknown; an acquaintance of one of the defendants claims that the young men set fire to "some kind of tower."

The Moscow City Court has sentenced 37-year-old Moscow region resident Georgy Pirogov to 23 years in a maximum security penal colony after convicting him of high treason. The trial was held behind closed doors. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Pirogov moved to Georgia, where he worked as an industrial climber. In the summer of 2024, he traveled to Uzbekistan on a business trip and disappeared in the city of Kungrad on July 6. On July 9, 2024, it emerged that he was in Russia after a court ordered him held in the Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention center. It remains unclear who detained him in Uzbekistan, under what circumstances he was transferred to Russia, or what the specific charges against him were. During an appeal against his pretrial detention, it emerged that Pirogov had pleaded guilty to the charges, expressed remorse, and given a confession.

The Telegram channel Tyuremny Advokat [Prison Lawyer] reported that transfers of Telegram's virtual currency, Telegram Stars, to "banned organizations" are now being treated not only as financing terrorism but also as high treason. According to Mediazona, the cases involve users who sent Stars to the Telegram channels of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion. In one treason case, the donation was reportedly made in 2025, although criminal proceedings were not initiated until 2026. The Telegram channel Slovo Zashchite noted that, in November 2025, criminal charges for "assisting terrorism" were brought against Vladivostok resident Elena Bulgakova after she used Telegram Stars to support the Freedom of Russia Legion's channel.

Children and Militarization

In Khakassia [Russia’s constituent republic], students and teachers at a boarding school for visually impaired children in Abakan have begun sewing camouflage ponchos, camouflage nets and other supplies for Russian troops.