Mobilization in Russia for July 1-3, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The Federation Council [upper house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] approved a bill that raises fines to as much as 20,000 rubles [$250] for failing to notify military authorities of a change of residence. The current penalty ranges from 1,000 rubles [$13] to 5,000 rubles [$64].
Army Recruitment
Speaking at a session of the interdepartmental commission on military staffing, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, announced that more than 210,000 individuals signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense during the first half of 2025, averaging over 35,000 people per month. According to him, 18,000 individuals also joined volunteer units in the same period. In late May, Medvedev had reported 175,000 new contract soldiers and over 14,000 people joining volunteer formations. In contrast, an analysis of federal budget expenditures by the independent Russian investigative media outlet Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories] concluded that 89,600 people enlisted in the first quarter of the year.
Authorities let two individuals accused of participating in a group murder motivated by hooliganism join the war against Ukraine. In September 2024, according to the prosecution, three young men quarreled with a resident of Kyzyl, the capital of Russia's constituent republic of Tyva, and beat him to death. Ultimately, only one of the attackers, an 18-year-old man, faced trial and received a six-and-a-half-year sentence in a penal colony. The cases against the other two were separated into individual proceedings and subsequently suspended following their deployment to the "special military operation zone."
Serial killer Vagan Safaryan signed a contract with the MoD and was deployed to the frontline in an assault unit. In 2004, he was first sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony for murder. In 2023, due to good behavior, the 64-year-old Safaryan was released on parole. However, law enforcement later proved his involvement in a double murder—in 1998, in the city of Astrakhan, he strangled and robbed a mother and daughter. In November 2024, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center on charges of group murder, but remained there for just over six months. As of April 29, the criminal case against Safaryan under the article "murder of two or more persons" has been suspended.
Also sent to the war were former deputy general director of Udokan Copper for security, Eduard Shvedovsky, and two of his subordinates, all convicted of gang rape. In the summer of 2024, the court sentenced Shvedovsky to seven years and ten months in prison, Kopylov to seven years and Parfyonov to six years and nine months. The organizer of the outing at which the rape took place spent just four months in a penal colony before departing for the frontline. Kopylov and Parfyonov had served about six months each.
Twenty-four-year-old Yevgeny Khalturin is being held at the Moscow military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street and is reportedly being prepared for conscription despite a court ruling in his favor. Khalturin is an employee of an accredited IT company, which entitles him to a draft exemption. In April of this year, he sued the draft office over a draft notice he received. The court sided with him and granted a six-month deferral, valid until the next draft cycle. However, on July 2, police officers came to Khalturin’s home and took him away, after which he ended up at the military collection point. Khalturin was able to call his mother and told her that he was being readied for deployment to a military unit. He also said he was being pressured to sign certain documents and threatened with being sent to Dagestan [Russia’s constituent republic] if he refused.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
As the Vyorstka media outlet notes, Russian servicemen declared wanted for going AWOL are seldom arrested; instead, they are often sent en masse to assault units. Over the past month, more than a thousand such soldiers have been detained nationwide. Fewer than ten were formally placed under arrest; the vast majority were released on recognizance but, in practice, handed over to the parties that initiated their search—unit commanders, officers of the Military Prosecutor’s Office, the commandant’s office or military police. Once back with their units, some are sent directly into assault operations, while others are held in pits or makeshift detention facilities, eventually finding themselves at forward positions anyway.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, at least 459 men involved in combat operations have been awarded the title Hero of Russia, according to Vyorstka. By comparison, a total of 458 service members received the Gold Star medal during both Chechen wars combined. The award decrees are classified, so in most cases, the specific acts of valor remain unknown. The largest share of Gold Stars went to junior officers (37%), followed by majors (13%), with sergeants and privates each receiving 11%. Colonels accounted for just under 10.5% of recipients. A total of 217 awards were given posthumously.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
On June 26, in the Voronezh region, three police officers were detained on suspicion of involvement in the torture of a detainee. In November 2024, the police had arrested a man for "petty hooliganism" and brought him to the station, where he was subjected to psychological pressure, beaten and tortured with a stun gun in an attempt to force him to sign a contract with the MoD. Ultimately, the man did not sign the contract.
The Tomsk Garrison Military Court has sentenced serviceman Vladimir Moksheyev to seven years in a maximum security penal colony for murder. The serviceman had been drinking alcohol with an acquaintance who made a "negative remark" about him. Moksheyev then grabbed a knife and stabbed the man in the neck, killing him at the scene.
Tatiana, a resident of Russia's constituent Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), has shared on social media about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her partner, who returned from the war. He came home in December 2024 with injuries and a concussion. While under the influence of alcohol, he attempted to suffocate her with a pillow. According to Tatiana, the man has gone into hiding and is wanted at the national level. The police have not yet confirmed this information.
In the Vologda region, 32-year-old Alyona from the city of Cherepovets has reached out to the Ostorozhno, Novosti Beware the News] Telegram channel to report that she is being stalked by her ex-partner, 30-year-old Aleksandr S., who fought in the war with Ukraine but returned home due to an injury. The man systematically abused her, leading to the end of their relationship. After the breakup, Aleksandr began to stalk Alyona. She has already filed 11 reports with the police, but no action has been taken.
A court has sentenced Irvin Lysenko, a 31-year-old resident of Bashkortostan, to 22 years in prison for setting fire to relay cabinets. He was convicted on charges of participating in a terrorist organization and committing acts of sabotage. Another resident of the town of Uchaly, a student who served as a lookout during the arsons, received six years in a penal colony for aiding in the sabotage. Lysenko was arrested in June 2023. According to prosecutors, on June 6, he set fire to four relay cabinets on the Khrebet-Syrostan railway section, causing delays to several passenger trains. Authorities allegedly found correspondence with Ukrainian handlers on his phone containing instructions.
Andrey Smirnov, a resident of the Kemerovo region, was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason and using malicious computer programs. According to investigators, Smirnov joined a cyber unit working for Ukrainian intelligence in 2022 and carried out hacking attacks on Russian internet resources at their direction. This resulted in "disruption of the country's critical infrastructure facilities." Smirnov was detained in fall 2023. The Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that during a search, they discovered equipment and communications devices confirming his "anti-Russian activities."
A woman from Nizhny Novgorod has been detained on suspicion of passing information to Ukrainian intelligence services. She faces charges of treason. The FSB claims the detainee, "acting deliberately for ideological reasons," began cooperating with intelligence services and provided them with photos, coordinates and information about air defense forces at a region's defense company. The woman's name and other case details have not been disclosed.
The FSB has detained a resident of the Tomsk region in connection with a treason investigation. The individual is suspected of filming military facilities in the region on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence. Authorities have not disclosed the detainee’s identity.
The FSB reported the arrest of Yulia Moskovskaya, who allegedly planted an improvised explosive device under the car of an employee at a St. Petersburg military-industrial complex company. According to officials, Moskovskaya was acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services. She was detained on June 19, and on June 25, a court ordered her into pretrial detention. She is facing charges of attempted terrorist attack and possession of explosives. A criminal case has also been opened against Pavel Cheberyako, who is accused of aiding terrorist activity. The Bumaga [Paper] independent media outlet previously interviewed one of Moskovskaya’s friends.
A Moscow court has ordered the pretrial detention of 51-year-old Nikolay Elankin, who is accused of engaging in "confidential" cooperation with foreigners. His arrest follows a series of short-term detentions—known as "carousel arrests"—between December 2024 and spring 2025 he was detained seven times, mostly on charges of petty hooliganism. The specific grounds for the criminal case against Elankin remain unknown.
Two Ukrainian servicemen who participated in the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region and were taken prisoner have been found guilty of committing a terrorist attack in a group with severe consequences. Forty-five-year-old spotter-operator Maksym Nazarenko was sentenced to 16 years in prison, while 33-year-old tank brigade rifleman Hryhorii Mikushev received a 15-year prison sentence. According to investigators, the servicemen "illegally" crossed the border in the fall of 2024, took part in "blocking villages," "opened fire on Russian military personnel and civilians" and "obstructed the movement and evacuation of civilians."
Children
On the websites of Russian educational institutions, instructional manuals from the "Heroes of the Special Military Operation" project have been published. As part of this project, the stories of participants in the war with Ukraine who have been awarded the title of Hero of Russia are presented in comic book format.
Olga Kazantseva, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], said that indicators of family distress are rising among the families of participants in the war in Ukraine. According to her, "dozens of families of special military operation participants are already registered with municipal commissions on juvenile affairs." Similar trends have been noted by ombudsmen in other Siberian regions as well.
Longreads
The OVD-Info independent human rights project reports on how the girlfriend of a mobilized soldier has been trying for nearly three years to bring her beloved back home from the frontline.
The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] has published a report on how the FSB organizes staged "acts of terror" that result in real prison sentences.
The Vyorstka media outlet recounts the story of Viktor Bondarenko, a volunteer clergyman from the city of Berdiansk, who was abducted by Russian law enforcement officers. He was accused of sabotage and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
The Sistema media outlet has prepared a report on Dmitry Khlyestov, head of the Tsaritsyno district in Moscow and a member of United Russia [Putin’s ruling party], who allegedly paid over one million rubles [$11,000] to obtain official "combat veteran" status without having fought in the war.