Mobilization in Russia for July 13-15, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

Individuals accused of desecrating military graves and other sites memorializing those who died "in the defense of the Russian Federation or its interests" may face tougher penalties, after the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] approved a corresponding bill in its second and third readings. Until now, the maximum penalty was three years in prison or a fine of up to three million rubles [$38,400], while the aforementioned bill raises the maximum prison sentence to five years and increases the fine to five million rubles [$63,900].

In consecutive second and third readings, the State Duma also approved a bill amending extremism legislation, which introduces changes to the federal laws "On Counteracting Extremist Activity" and "On Mass Media," as well as to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code. One provision equates extremist communities with extremist organizations, while another allows authorities to designate a group as extremist after a court issues a guilty verdict on extremist charges against at least one of its members.

Furthermore, the State Duma approved a third bill, also in consecutive second and third readings, that exempts war participants from paying several court fees. The proposed legislation exempts "veterans of the special military operation" from paying fees when filing applications in courts of general jurisdiction or with magistrates to establish kinship, recognize paternity or accept an inheritance. Additionally, the bill exempts relatives of war participants from paying state fees when courts consider cases to declare citizens "missing or deceased." Last year, Russia increased the amount of court fees by 10 to 15 times.

Army Recruitment

The spring regular conscription campaign concluded on July 15. The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel summed up its results: 160,000 people were drafted into the armed forces—setting a record for recent years. Despite statements from the Ministry of Defense and the activation of the Unified Military Register [the digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and issue draft notices], no electronic draft notices were sent out during this campaign and no restrictive measures were imposed on those who failed to report as ordered. Until the start of the fall draft on Oct. 1, 2025, military commissariats [enlistment offices] will not be able to carry out any conscription-related activities, including medical examinations. However, any pending decisions made by draft boards during this campaign will be executed in the next draft cycle. This conscription campaign was also marked by a limited scale of police roundups, though such operations were reported more frequently during the early phase of the campaign.

The authorities of the Vladimir region have stopped reporting the dispatch of new groups of volunteer contract soldiers to the war. The Chesnok media outlet noted that up until April 10, the regional government regularly posted on social media about new batches of contract soldiers being sent off. However, in recent months, the authorities have ceased these updates. It remains unclear whether this is due to a decrease in the number of people willing to go to war.

In Chechnya [Russia's constituent republic], law enforcement officers released three 16-year-old schoolboys from the police station, where they had been illegally detained for over six months. However, the fathers of the boys were forced to sign contracts for participation in the war, despite all of them being over 50 years old. Said Idygov, Elbrus Saydaev and Mansur Shabazov were abducted off the street in December 2024. Since then, they had been held in Police Station No. 2 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city of Grozny without any criminal charges, access to lawyers or contact with their families. On July 8, all three were released, but the whereabouts of their fathers remain unknown.

In the city of Tyumen, law enforcement officers carried out a raid targeting draft dodgers and men who had violated migration laws. As a result of the raid, several men were taken to migration authorities. Two of them were deported from Russia, while two others were brought to the draft office for "pre-conscription procedures."

In Chelyabinsk, military investigators and police conducted a raid to identify men who had failed to register for military service after obtaining Russian citizenship. The operation took place inside the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate building. More than 60 people were checked and five were detained pending further investigation.

A court in Izhevsk has dropped the criminal case against 43-year-old local resident Viktor Artemyev, who had been accused of unlawful handling of payment instruments and large-scale fraud committed by an organized group. The case was dismissed due to his enlistment in the military. Artemyev signed a contract with the MoD in September 2023.

In Chita, a court also suspended a criminal case against Igor Klochikhin, head of the underground gas pipeline service at Chitaoblgaz, due to his deployment to the war. Klochikhin had been charged with negligence in connection with a March 9, 2023, explosion in an apartment building in the settlement of Antipikha. The blast caused the collapse of several floors, injuring 11 people, including four children. According to investigators, the explosion occurred during a gas supply startup due to a leak. They allege that Klochikhin was aware of a faulty gas riser and knew that not all apartments had been inspected, but nonetheless ordered the gas to be turned on to avoid delays in the project.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

At a military unit on Sakhalin, 19-year-old conscript Danila Minyailo died from heatstroke and dehydration. Minyailo was drafted into the army on July 3, receiving a service fitness category "A" (fully fit for military service), despite a cardiologist's recommendation against physical exertion. According to fellow soldiers, conscripts were forced to train for several days in 95°F (35°C) heat during basic training and were denied access to water. On July 7, Minyailo was taken to the hospital, where he fell into a coma and died the same day. The command was unable to explain the cause of his death to relatives. The young man's family wants to press criminal charges and investigate the circumstances of his death. The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet previously reported that conscripts in Chebarkul were being coerced into signing contracts, while the independent Russian media outlet Dovod described how some are pushed "to the point of unconsciousness" during night drills and forbidden to drink water.

Junior Lieutenant Kamil Zainulin, who had previously complained about "lawlessness in the unit," was lured out supposedly "for an award ceremony" but instead was sent to an illegal basement for "refuseniks" in the village of Zaitseve, where he is being prepared for deployment to assault operations. After the basement, he was taken to a training range near the city of Luhansk—without his phone and in a severely weakened state. According to his wife, he is now being prepared for deployment to assault operations with either the 22nd or 41st assault brigade (CIT notes that no open-source confirmation of such units within the Russian Armed Forces currently exists). The woman claims that commanders bluntly tell soldiers, "You're going to be meat" and threaten them with execution.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

A court has sentenced a mobilized father of multiple children to one year in a penal settlement for being AWOL for five days. After learning about possible deployment to an assault unit, the junior lieutenant decided to leave his unit but voluntarily turned himself in five days later at a military investigative office. Investigators opened a criminal case for failure to report to his duty station within 10 days and forwarded the case to court. During the trial, the defendant requested imprisonment in order to be discharged from the RuAF and avoid further participation in combat. The court granted his request, sentencing him to one year.

In Voronezh, a court has arrested Gennady Shvyrkov, the Minister of Tourism of the Voronezh region, on charges of large-scale fraud. The arrest occurred just one day after he "willingly" resigned from his position. According to investigators, while attempting to meet the top-down war recruitment quota, Shvyrkov and his alleged accomplices promised contract soldiers that they would be assigned to kitchens or headquarters roles in exchange for their sign-up bonuses, which ranged from 800,000 rubles [$10,200] to 900,000 rubles [$11,500]. In reality, the majority of those recruited were assigned to assault troops, with many reportedly killed on the frontline.

In Tyumen, employees of the Federal Security Service (FSB) killed a man suspected of preparing for an act of terror. The man had allegedly intended to plant a bomb under the vehicle of a Russian serviceman at the request of the Ukrainian side. According to the FSB, the suspect had planned to flee to Ukraine and "participate in combat operations against the Russian army" after committing the crime. Reports indicate that the suspect retrieved an explosive device from a cache and used armed force to resist arrest.

The FSB has reported the initiation of a criminal case for treason and preparation for an act of terror against a woman born in 2000, a resident of the town of Staryi Krym. The young woman, who holds both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship, was detained in Russian-annexed Crimea back in May. She is accused of preparing to plant an explosive device on a vehicle of a "senior officer of the Russian MoD" on the eve of the May 9 celebrations. Authorities allegedly seized "Western manufactured" components of an explosive device from her. She has since been held in a pre-trial detention center. According to investigators, she was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services on Ukrainian territory. After her arrest, she recorded a video confession. The Crimean Tatar Resource Center has identified her as 24-year-old Khatidje Buyukchan.

In Udmurtia [Russia's constituent republic], a court has sentenced a 19-year-old student from Glazov to 12.5 years in a penal colony for sabotage committed in a group in conspiracy. According to the court, in June 2024, the young man, whose name has not been disclosed, contacted an unknown individual via Telegram, who offered him to set fire to a relay cabinet on a railway line. According to investigators, after receiving the coordinates, he carried out the arson that same night.

The Southern District Military Court has sentenced 60-year-old Pavel Chibisov to 10 years in a maximum security penal colony for two counts of preparing an act of terror that could result in death, as well as for acquiring explosives via the internet. The court refused to disclose details of the case. Leaked data indicates that Chibisov, originally from Donetsk, moved to Russia in 2021 and was registered in Tver.

The Appellate Military Court in the Moscow region has slightly reduced the prison terms for Artyom Begoyan, Konstantin Zeltsev and Amal Igamberdiyev, who had been convicted of sabotage on railway infrastructure. A total of thirteen people were convicted in this case, with the sentences for ten of them remaining unchanged. Begoyan’s sentence was reduced from 20 years to 19 years and 10 months, while Zeltsev and Igamberdiyev had their sentences reduced from 16 years to 15 years and 9 months. The ruling states that the court "took into account the defendants’ cooperation with the investigation." According to investigators, between December 2022 and January 2023, the group members carried out 13 acts of sabotage targeting railway and energy infrastructure in Moscow and the Krasnoyarsk region. They also allegedly planned to set fire to fighter jets at a military base in the Primorsky region.

Oleksandr and Iryna Ryzhkov, a married couple from the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, have been sentenced to 18 and 16 years in a penal colony, respectively, on charges of espionage. Investigators allege that in May 2022, they assisted their son, who was purportedly carrying out tasks for the Ukrainian Security Service. Oleksandr is accused of driving his son to various locations, while Iryna, who worked at a hospital, allegedly gathered information about wounded Russian soldiers being treated there. According to Russian authorities, the Ukrainian Armed Forces later struck the hospital with HIMARS rockets, killing 14 people, including patients and medical staff. The Ryzhkovs were apprehended in February 2024, and their son, a student at a Luhansk's university, was detained in September 2023. He faces separate charges of espionage and sabotage, with proceedings still underway.

In Russian-annexed Crimea, a 53-year-old local resident has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for treason. According to investigators, from February 2022 to September 2023, the accused corresponded with a representative of Ukrainian intelligence, providing information about the positions of Russian military personnel, equipment, and fortifications.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced 20-year-old Vladislav Bugara from the Zaporizhzhia region to nine years in a penal colony for financing terrorism. According to law enforcement, Bugara made multiple transfers to the bank accounts of a Ukrainian militarized nationalist group in January while in the Zaporizhzhia region.

A court in the "DPR" has sentenced Artyom Moroz, a sniper from Ukraine’s Azov Brigade, to 24 years in a penal colony. Moroz was charged with mistreating civilians and murdering two people during the battle for Mariupol in March 2022, allegedly motivated by hatred. According to Russian law enforcement officials, Moroz shot two local civilians under orders from his commanders. Ukrainian authorities have declared him missing in action and placed him on a national wanted list. Available reports indicate that Moroz was captured in the Donetsk region in September 2022 and later charged by Russian investigators.

Assistance

In Russia’s Rostov region, authorities have announced the creation of a new governmental body dedicated to supporting veterans of the war in Ukraine and their families. The agency will also focus on preparing civilians for military service and promoting military-patriotic education among youth. Its functions will include veteran reintegration programs, support for pro-military narratives, and pre-conscription training for young people.

Oleg Nikolaev, Head of Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic], reported that newborn children of soldiers fighting in Ukraine are now being awarded commemorative medals inscribed "A Miracle Born of a Hero", along with photo albums labeled "Born a Hero."

The parliament of the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject] has expanded the scope of war-related benefits to include not only active combatants but also personnel from Russia’s Interior Ministry, Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard], the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee, including those transferred to the reserve who participated in the invasion of Ukraine.

Longreads

The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] has published a report on how officials from the Bryansk region and employees of Russia's Foreign Ministry are actively recruiting men from Syria, Yemen, Libya and other parts of the Middle East to participate in the war, offering lucrative payouts and fast-tracked Russian citizenship.

The Dossier Center [independent Russian investigative media outlet] tells the story of a Tomsk resident who was recruited by the FSB through threats and torture, and later managed to flee Russia.

BBC News Russian summarizes the article "The Impact of the Special Military Operation on Crime in Russia," written by Willy Maslov of the Ural Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.