Mobilization in Russia for July 15-16, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The Federal State Statistics Service no longer publishes detailed data on the number of deaths and mortality from external causes, notes demographer Alexey Rakhsa. This category comprises deaths not related to illnesses, such as traffic accidents, suicides and combat-related deaths. Additionally, the cause of death column has been replaced with education level in the breakdown of deaths by age. This data had been used by Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] to calculate that at least 70,000 Russians had died in the war against Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. Using the same data, Meduza [international Russian-language online media outlet] arrived independently at no less than 64,000 casualties. It is worth noting that Meduza and Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] have published an updated estimate based on the National Probate Registry, suggesting that around 120,000 Russians had died in the invasion.
RBC [Russian media group] reports that Russian banks have yet to work out how they will be rejecting loan applications from individuals evading conscription, even though only a few months remain until the Unified Military Register of Russians subject to military service becomes operational. Starting on Nov. 1, 2024, the Ministry of Defense plans to start using the register to record restrictions against draft dodgers. Banks will be required to apply these restrictions and deny them all loan applications. However, the interface between the banks and the Ministry of Defense has not been defined yet. As the ministry objected to letting banks access to the register, both the transmission channel and the technical access parameters remain unknown to this day. Banks are particularly concerned that in some cases a customer may not be listed in the register at the time of loan approval, but may be added before the contract is registered. The only solution for banks in this situation would be to reconsider their risk policy for an entire class of customers—all conscription age men.
Nina Ostanina, the chairwoman of the State Duma’s [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] Committee on Family Protection, declared that deploying mobilized soldiers and volunteer fighters to the war had a significant impact on demographics. According to her, 300,000 individuals have been mobilized and the same number have volunteered for the war. Current birth rates have worsened even compared to 2023. Anna Kuznetsova, deputy speaker of the State Duma, reported that the population decline over the year reached 282,000, which is 45,000 more than the previous year.
The State Duma, at its seventh attempt, rejected a bill granting reservists the right to substitute mobilization with alternative civilian service. The bill was introduced during the first wave of mobilization but failed to gain support. Consequently, those unwilling to participate in combat operations due to conscientious objections are left to rely on the courts to apply a Constitutional Court ruling. In judicial practice, there is only one known case in which the courts declared mobilization conscription unlawful—in the case of Pavel Mushumansky.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
According to Viktor Valentsov, the head of the contract military service recruitment facility in Yekaterinburg, in the first half of this year, 5,000 individuals signed contracts with the MoD, including 100 women. The number of new contract soldiers has reportedly increased by 20%. In June, the Sverdlovsk regional government raised the sign-up bonus from 100,000 rubles [$1,140] to 400,000 rubles [$4,540].
Two convicts from the Sverdlovsk region have requested to join the war against Ukraine. One of them is Sergey Zuev, who is in a pre-trial detention center on charges of murdering his ex-girlfriend. The other is Oleg Shchegolikhin, sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony for attempted murder with extreme brutality.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Yevgeny Pavlov from the Volgograd region, Vladimir Selivanov from the Oryol region and Vladislav Rakhmetov from the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject].
The Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet has counted 138 new graves that have appeared at the Aleksandrovsky cemetery near Irkutsk since September 2023. Thus, the number of deceased soldiers buried in this cemetery has almost doubled in one year, with the current total of known burials reaching 278.
The family of Kirill Poluyanov, a conscript soldier who died under suspicious circumstances, has highlighted inconsistencies in the official theory of his suicide. They believe that the young man was killed by fellow soldiers because he refused to pay senior conscripts and sign a contract for military service. Poluyanov was subjected to moral and physical abuse in his military unit—traces of a recent beating were found on his body.
Relatives of the Wagner Group mercenaries killed in the war have appealed to Governor of Bashkortostan {Russia’s constituent republic] Radiy Khabirov, citing difficulties in securing military pensions for the loss of breadwinners, regional compensation for death and injury, and allocated land plots for war participants. The relatives claim that the mercenaries themselves are being denied disability status of military personnel and medical treatment in military hospitals. They have requested the governor to grant the mercenaries the same status as all other war participants in Ukraine. A similar appeal has been made by the families and mercenaries from the Omsk region, who point out that some other regions have supposedly amended their local laws to provide compensation for former mercenaries.
The MOBILIZATION | News Telegram channel has released a video featuring Aleksandr Ivanov, a 42-year-old war veteran from Ukraine currently in a rehabilitation center, complaining about the lack of financial support for his injuries.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Astra Telegram channel has found out that Ivan Diakonov, the participant in the war in Ukraine who shot at children in the Volgograd region, had prior convictions for theft and robbery.
The court has increased the sentence for Ivan Rossomakhin, a Wagner Group mercenary who returned from the war and raped and murdered 85-year-old Yulia Buyskikh in the Kirov region. The appellate court recognized his intoxicated state as an aggravating circumstance. As a result, he will spend 23 years in a penal colony and will be obliged to pay 2 million rubles [$22,700] in compensation for moral damages to the victim's family. It is worth noting that after returning from the war, the ex-convict terrorized his native village of Novy Burets and, despite complaints from fellow villagers, was released by the police, after which he committed the crime.
On June 17, a court in Troitsk, Chelyabinsk region, sentenced former Wagner Group mercenary Vitaly Kirik to five years’ probation for robbery. In December 2023, Kirik, intoxicated, wearing a balaclava and armed with an axe, entered a liquor store and stole a bottle of martinis. His participation in the war with Ukraine and the presence of mercenary awards were considered as mitigating factors. Kirik had been convicted of murder but was released from the penal colony after being recruited for the war.
According to the press service of the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ivan Ch., a 25-year-old deserter from Russia who arrived from Kazakhstan, was detained at Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan. He had been wanted since April 2023 for going AWOL. According to Astra, the soldier fled his unit in Russia in the spring of 2022. Armenian law enforcement officers notified their Russian counterparts of the incident, but later, as reported by the Sota and Astra media outlets, citing human rights activist Artur Sakunts, the soldier was released on a summons by the prosecutor's office.
The Second Western District Military Court sentenced Ivan Nedilsky, a dual Ukrainian and Russian citizen, to 26 years in a penal colony for treason, participating in a terrorist conspiracy, committing an act of terror as part of a terrorist group causing significant property damage and attempting to commit another such act. According to the court, Nedilsky pleaded guilty and expressed remorse. The man was detained in September 2022 for an arson at a military registration desk in the Moscow region.
The Russian Supreme Court upheld the sentence issued to Valeria Zotova, 20, a Yaroslavl region resident sentenced to six years in prison for an attempted arson at an aid collection point for mobilized soldiers. It is likely that law enforcement officers provoked Zotova’s actions. Her attorney petitioned for the charges against her to be dropped citing significant irregularities, however, the court took only 20 minutes to uphold the sentence. The Mediazona news outlet also reported harassment of Zotova by the penal colony personnel and inmates. Zotova said that murder convicts were calling her a terrorist. Human rights activists had also previously reported bullying of Zotova.
Nadin Geysler (Nadezhda Rossinskaya) is now facing an additional criminal charge of aiding terrorist activities. The young woman who founded a women’s volunteer movement helping Ukrainian civilians was detained on Feb. 1 as she returned to Russia from Georgia. On the following day, she was sent to a pre-trial detention center on suspicion of inciting actions against state security with the Federal Security Service (FSB) agents claiming that they had found in Rossinskaya’s correspondence the evidence that she “had been hiding Armed Forces of Ukraine coordinators” and “evacuated atoshniks [Ukrainian resistance fighters].” At the pre-trial detention center, Rossinskaya’s health deteriorated.
Parents demanded the return of their children from the Zarnitsa camp in the Krasnodar region, where they were sent with the support of the Ministry of Education of Yakutia [Russia's constituent republic of Sakha (Yakutia)] as family members of war participants. They complained about the poor conditions in the camp.
Assistance
In Tula, a project called "Good Coffee" was launched to help the families of those killed or injured in the war with Ukraine. The initiative provides vending coffee machines to families who have lost their breadwinners to help them overcome financial difficulties.
Miscellaneous
According to The Bell, over 650,000 people have left Russia since the war with Ukraine began and have not returned. This number exceeds the previous estimate of 510,000 made at the end of 2022. Journalists obtained these figures by contacting statistical and migration agencies in around 70 countries to which Russians have relocated. Previously, the largest wave of emigration was from 1992 to 2004, when about 1.6 million people left the country over 12 years.
Reports continue to surface about the annulment of internal passports of Russians who have left the country. In addition to the founders of the Omsk Civil Association, this happened to Arkhangelsk student Olesya Krivtsova, who was arrested in absentia for "discrediting" the army and justifying terrorism.
Longreads
The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] published an interview with a former contract soldier who deserted from the Russian Army. He spoke about "meat assaults," the smuggling of weapons from the frontline to Russia, and how commanders deal with those who refuse to fight.