Mobilization in Russia for July 10-13, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment

Amid reports about the launch of Russia’s Unified Military Register [digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and serve draft notices], the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel argues that it is premature to speak of the system’s full launch. Any notifications received likely indicate only that personnel at draft offices are digitizing the personal files of individuals liable for service, and these alerts do not equate to an official draft notice, carry no legal consequences if ignored and merely confirm that an individual’s information has been entered into the database. Since May 2025, the official "Draft Register" website no longer displays a message indicating the system is being tested in three regions and instead offers the possibility to request an official extract to verify if a draft office has issued a notice or imposed any restrictions. Despite statements from the Ministry of Defense about commencing the distribution of digital draft notices, the register is not yet fulfilling its primary function, as the system is not posting notices or electronically informing citizens of their issuance.

In Chebarkul, located in the Chelyabinsk region, military commanders at the base for the 90th Tank Division continue to coerce new conscripts to sign contracts with the MoD, the media outlet Vot Tak [Like This] reports. This practice persists despite a ruling by the Military Prosecutor's Office in early 2025 declaring such actions illegal. Vot Tak obtained a collective appeal from the mothers and sisters of at least 12 conscripts, which alleges that officials used physical force to secure the contracts. The relatives claim commanders shot rubber bullets at the young men's legs and used overnight training drills that pushed them to the point of collapse. In their appeal, the family members demand the dismissal of the implicated commanders, a formal investigation and the initiation of criminal proceedings. We previously covered the situation in Chebarkul in these summaries: 1, 2 and 3.

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 118,139 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine. Over the past week, the list grew by 1,421 names. Journalists have noted that the list of the deceased includes 523 foreigners from 28 countries, including Georgia, the United States, Sri Lanka, Nepal and others. Notably, none of these men held Russian citizenship at the time they signed their contracts with MoD. The tally does not include military personnel from North Korea. Tajikistan has the highest number of reported foreign casualties, with 72 killed, followed by Uzbekistan, with 66 killed. More than half of the deceased were recruited from Russian penal colonies. Among the Georgian nationals listed, the majority are residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia—regions currently under Russian control.

Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] estimates that by July 2025, at least 117,978 Russian servicemen have been killed or gone missing in action during the war. Journalists maintain a list of names as part of the Kharon [Charon] project, which uses a neural network to search for public notices about the deaths or disappearances of Russian servicemen.

As TV Rain [independent Russian television channel] has learned, 18-year-old soldier Said Murtazaliyev from Russia’s constituent Republic of Dagestan, was declared missing in action after revealing that his commanders had ordered his execution. Murtazaliyev, who had never finished school, was arrested in the Moscow region in early January 2025 on fraud charges. Just days later, during which he was reportedly tortured, he signed a military contract without ever leaving the police station and was deployed to the frontline in the Luhansk region. TV Rain identified the investigator involved in his recruitment as 36-year-old Nadezhda Zabelkina. Murtazaliyev was assigned to a storm unit of the 272nd Motorized Rifle Regiment and served at the front for less than three months. On March 7, he sent his mother a video saying that, under orders from his regimental commander, he had collected over 1 million rubles [$12,800] "so the guys wouldn’t be sent into the assault." To eliminate the witness, commanders ordered a subordinate to execute Murtazaliyev. The next day, on March 8, he was declared missing in action. TV Rain reported that the order came from Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Prasolov, 25. He and other commanders implicated in extortion and killings are currently under investigation but have not been arrested. They remain at the front and continue participating in combat. Murtazaliyev’s case, along with those of other missing soldiers, is featured in TV Rain’s documentary.

Aleksandr Agapov, a resident of the occupied city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region, disappeared after being detained by military police. He had been mobilized into the "DPR People’s Militia" in 2022. In August 2023, he left his unit and traveled with his family to the Samara region for medical treatment. In June 2025, Agapov was detained by traffic police and charged with going AWOL. In early July, he called his wife from a stranger’s phone and said he was being taken to Donetsk. Since then, there has been no contact with him, and the local "authorities" have provided no information on his whereabouts.

Fyodor Khizhin, who murdered a 17-year-old girl, has returned from the frontline and is now studying at a university. In 2021, then-19-year-old Khizhin, under the influence of mephedrone, brutally stabbed his 17-year-old girlfriend to death. After the murder, he stole money from her bank card, took her laptop and phone, and fled to the city of Kemerovo. Khizhin later admitted he killed her after an argument because she refused to give him money for drugs. In August 2022, he was sentenced to 15 years in a penal colony. However, Khizhin was recently identified in a photograph published on the official website of St. Petersburg's Baltic State Technical University. The university’s rector awarded Khizhin, referring to him as a "participant in the special military operation," for his "contribution and efforts in defending and strengthening the country's defense capability." It is unclear when exactly Khizhin went to war and was pardoned by Putin. As recently as 2023, he had filed an appeal for a reduced sentence, which the court denied.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

At the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, 24-year-old Sergeant Ivan Selin—previously a war participant—died on June 3 during a training jump when his parachute failed to open. Investigators later revealed that the lines of both his main and reserve parachutes had been tied together using segments from a cargo parachute's lines. Law enforcement opened a criminal case on murder charges and cadet Ilya Kazantsev confessed to the crime. According to investigators, Kazantsev sabotaged the parachutes in retaliation for what he described as humiliation, abuse and "other actions degrading to the honor and dignity" of cadets by Selin. However, the Kommersant daily newspaper reported that it may have actually been the cadets who instigated the conflict. They were reportedly unhappy with Selin's appointment as acting deputy platoon commander and with his refusal to grant them any privileges. Among the cadets, according to the paper, was the son of a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, Warrant officer Vladislav Seleznyov, who had expected to receive the post that was instead given to Selin. The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reported that the cadets had also planned to target the company commander, but on the day of the training jump, he did not participate alongside the unit.

A Russian military court has rejected the appeal of Sergey Markov from St. Petersburg, who was sentenced to six years in a maximum security penal colony for desertion after leaving his unit during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. According to prosecutors, Markov was drafted in 2022 under the Kremlin’s "partial mobilization" order. In February 2024, he allegedly went AWOL from his unit stationed in the "DPR." Markov’s attorney argued that his client left his post due to severe health problems, specifically persistent back pain that was ignored by his commanders. After returning to St. Petersburg, Markov sought medical treatment from private doctors and did not attempt to evade law enforcement. He later turned himself in to the police voluntarily. The defense asked the court to reduce the charge from desertion to going AWOL and to replace the prison sentence with a suspended one.

A military court in Rostov-on-Don has found 32-year-old Oleksandr Shalyn, the Azov Brigade fighter, guilty of participating in a terrorist organization and undergoing training for terrorist purposes. Shalyn, originally from the besieged city of Mariupol, has been listed as missing in action in Ukraine since April 2022, amid heavy fighting for control of his hometown. Despite that, Russian authorities only began reviewing his case in May of this year.

The Russian court in the occupied Kherson region has sentenced local resident Yevgeny Sidorchuk, 32 years old, to 13 years in a penal colony on charges of treason. According to occupation "prosecutors," in late December 2023, he allegedly "voluntarily collected data on the locations of military vehicles and personnel of the Russian Armed Forces under the direction of Ukrainian intelligence services." Law enforcement officers believe that Sidorchuk passed the obtained information to his "handlers."

In Moscow, after six months of "carousel" arrests starting in November last year, a court has placed Ukrainian native Roman Serga, born in 1992, in a pre-trial detention center on charges of treason. It is unclear exactly when this occurred, but on July 15, the court is scheduled to consider extending Serga's detention. The specific reason for the criminal case remains unclear.

According to calculations by The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet], Russian courts handed down 110 verdicts in politically motivated cases in June of this year, resulting in the conviction of 145 individuals. Among them, 60 were Ukrainian prisoners of war, another 57 were convicted on charges of terrorism, sabotage, treason or espionage, and 28 were sentenced to actual prison terms for social media posts, "desecration of symbols of military glory," affiliation with "undesirable" and "extremist" organizations and participation in protests.

Assistance

According to Olga Batalina, a representative of Russia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, nearly 48,000 war veterans returning from the frontline have successfully secured employment. She noted that not all returnees are able to start working immediately, as they are undergoing rehabilitation and social adaptation. Previously, the government stated that as of May of this year, 57% of those who had returned from a combat zone had found employment.

Longreads

The Cherta [Boundary] independent online media outlet published an article about the work of military doctors in Russia.

The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet told the story of 42-year-old Vitaly Anisimov, a general laborer from Chita, who was first mobilized and then, despite broken legs and a cancer-related condition, sent back to the frontline.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also shared the story of a woman who tried to save her husband from being mobilized and is now fighting to bring him back from the front. Despite serious health issues, he has not been released from the combat zone.