Mobilization in Russia for July 22–24, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Vladimir Putin signed several bills into law (1, 2, 3), including:
- A bill equating "extremist" communities with "extremist" organizations, which allows authorities to designate a group as extremist upon the conviction of at least one of its members.
- A bill granting the Federal Security Service the authority to operate its own pre-trial detention centers to hold individuals accused of crimes against state security.
- A bill suspending the expiration of Unified State Exam results—which are required for admission to bachelor’s and specialist university programs—for individuals participating in the war.
The government intends to index pensions for military personnel and other law enforcement officers by 7.6 percent effective Sept. 1, 2025. This mirrors a recently announced salary increase for active service members. The government had originally planned a 4.5 percent increase for both pensions and salaries but adjusted the figure to account for inflation.
Army Recruitment
According to the Kremlin-aligned news outlet Mash, which is connected to law enforcement, border control officers have been granted access to the Unified Military Register—the digital system that tracks Russian citizens subject to military service. They allegedly can now check whether a draft notice has been issued to a conscripted citizen and use this as grounds to deny them permission to leave the country. If a man is refused exit on these grounds, according to the channel, he will be issued a notice warning of criminal liability for failing to report to the draft office.
New reports are emerging about citizens subject to military service being added to the Unified Military Register. Residents of Saint Petersburg, Tyumen, Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic], and Kaluga region have received such notifications. In one case, a man who had been removed from the military rolls due to permanent residence abroad received a notification. Others being added to the register include those who completed alternative civilian service and even individuals permanently deregistered from military service. According to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel, this is due to the system relying not on actual military records but on data from other agencies—the Interior Ministry, the Federal Tax Service, the Pension Fund, and educational institutions—that do not have up-to-date information on a citizen’s current status. In some cases, the draft office may not have forwarded the data about a person’s removal from the register.
The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel has examined in detail the draft law introducing year-round regular conscription. The changes will affect not only the timelines but also the procedures of draft boards, the granting of deferrals, medical examinations, and other aspects. For example, a draft deferral can be granted as soon as the grounds for it arise, without waiting for the start of the draft campaign; those who reach the age of 30 may be transferred to the reserve at any time of year; and final medical examinations may now be conducted year-round, not just during the draft period. At the same time, failure to appear for conscription procedures at any time of the year will now result in criminal prosecution.
In the Chelyabinsk region, Aleksandr Yegorov, a 52-year-old resident of Magnitogorsk, who was accused of rape, sexual violence, robbery and attempting other crimes, has gone to the war against Ukraine. Reports indicate that from the summer of 2016 to January 2018, he committed robberies and sexual assaults against women, waiting for them at the doors of their apartments, with at least nine victims identified. After a thorough analysis of several hundred DNA samples, Yegorov was identified and arrested in December 2024. On July 3, the court granted the head of the military recruitment office's request to suspend Yegorov's case. Afterwards, he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and departed for the frontline.
Igor Ustyuzhanin, former mayor of the Manturovo town in the Kostroma region, who in 2024 was sentenced to eight and a half years in a penal colony for accepting bribes totaling 760,000 rubles [$9,680], has also signed a contract with the MoD and gone to war. In a recorded video address, he claimed that the criminal case was a setup and that he signed the contract after failing to achieve justice in court. Ustyuzhanin had served as an elected mayor for just over a year and was detained in March 2023.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko, in a meeting with Vladimir Putin, said that 24 lawyers have been killed in the war with Ukraine, while another 36 are currently undergoing rehabilitation for injuries sustained. According to the minister, a total of 276 lawyers with attorney status went to war—58 were mobilized and 218 ended up on the frontline as volunteer fighters.
On July 22, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that two Russians who required "urgent medical assistance" had been returned from Ukrainian captivity. The statement emphasized that the two wounded individuals were returned as part of an agreement on open-ended medical exchanges. It was not specified whether the Russian side handed over any Ukrainian prisoners of war in return.
The next day, on July 23, Russia and Ukraine held another prisoner of war exchange, which took place immediately after the completion of another round of negotiations in Istanbul. This was already the ninth exchange since the start of the war, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two sides did not specify the number of POWs exchanged, but according to Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, the exchange was conducted in a "250 for 250" format. According to Zelenskyy, over 1,000 people have been returned to Ukraine through all stages of exchanges under the "Istanbul agreements."
The Lyudi Baikala independent media outlet maintains a list of those killed from Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic] and the Irkutsk region and has published its analysis. Out of 6,374 obituaries, the location of service is known for 1,758 individuals: 353 were fighters of the Wagner Group, 267 served in the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade from Kyakhta, 259 were in the 11th Air Assault Brigade of the Russian Airborne Troops, and 239 were in the 5th Tank Brigade.
A 54-year-old contract soldier from Donetsk, Volodymyr Pirogov, who signed a contract in the fall of 2023, left his unit due to poor treatment by the command. He was then declared AWOL. Later, he was detained and returned to his unit, where, according to him, he was kept in a basement and not allowed to use the restroom. Subsequently, he was hospitalized and diagnosed having had a heart attack and experiencing hypertension. Based on these diagnoses, he was supposed to be classified as unfit for service. However, the unit's commanders refused to accept his request to undergo a military medical board. Pirogov filed a lawsuit requesting the court to compel the military unit to withdraw him from a combat zone until he undergoes the military medical board.
A Donetsk resident, Dmitry Orekhov, was mobilized into the "DNR People's Militia" in February 2022 despite a diagnosis of schizophrenia. While the man had exhibited unstable behavior before mobilization, the war exacerbated his condition. In April 2024, following another combat assignment, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Donetsk. However, despite this and documentation of Orekhov's diagnosis provided by his wife, he was declared to have gone AWOL and officials refused to discharge him from service. Since then, unidentified individuals have been visiting the apartment where his wife and child live several times a month, asking about Orekhov's whereabouts. In December 2024, a hospital in Saint Petersburg confirmed Orekhov's "D" category (unfit for service), but after his discharge he was detained by representatives of the commandant's office at the train station. According to his lawyer, military officials now intend to send him to the city of Kamianske.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In the city of Yekaterinburg, 26-year-old Wagner Group ex-mercenary Andrey Matyushev has been sent to a pre-trial detention center on murder charges in the death of a 38-year-old female taxi driver. Matyushev met the victim on social media. On July 18, they arranged to meet. While in the woman's car and intoxicated, Matyushev stabbed her 82 times. He then drove around the city with the body in the vehicle, drove out of town and got a flat tire. Matyushev abandoned the car and returned home in another taxi. The victim's body was discovered the next day in the abandoned vehicle. The man had prior convictions and, in 2018, received a six-year sentence for assaulting a female taxi driver. In that case, the victim managed to escape. From the penal colony, Matyushev went to the frontline with the Wagner Group, receiving a pardon. He returned home about two years ago.
In occupied Donetsk, 59-year-old Azat Sufiyanov, a serviceman with the 87th Rifle Regiment, reportedly broke into an elderly woman’s apartment, assaulted her, and attempted to rape her. He was later apprehended, and authorities discovered he was already wanted for going AWOL. A native of Bashkortostan, Sufiyanov has prior convictions for theft, hooliganism, unlawful entry, and rape.
A court in Chita has sentenced Russian serviceman Artyom Kucheryavenko to two years and three months in a penal settlement for failing to follow orders. While details of the case are limited, court documents state that Kucheryavenko "refused to participate in combat operations, which was expressed in his refusal to depart on a service-related mission to carry out combat and special tasks."
Yaroslav Chernyak, a 38-year-old native of Ukraine’s Poltava region, has been sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security penal colony on charges of participating in a terrorist organization. According to prosecutors, Chernyak joined the Ukrainian Aidar unit in the summer of 2024 and was deployed to the Donetsk region, where he served as a rifleman and combat medic. He was reportedly captured in November of that year and subsequently charged.
On July 24, the FSB announced the detention of nine Russian citizens across several regions—including the Krasnodar region, the Jewish autonomous region, and the Astrakhan, Vladimir, Murmansk, Omsk, and Yaroslavl regions, as well as the occupied portion of Ukraine’s Kherson region. The individuals are accused of justifying terrorism and inciting extremist activity online. According to the FSB, the charges are based on alleged "calls for the killing of Russian military personnel, law enforcement officers, and their family members."
A closed-door trial has begun in Saint Petersburg for 28-year-old Kazakh citizen Artur Martynov, who is facing multiple national security-related charges, including espionage, sabotage, training for sabotage and for carrying out a terrorist attack, aiding terrorism, and attempted act of terror, according to Russian prosecutors. Authorities allege that Martynov underwent training and was given a cover identity before traveling to Russia, where he allegedly passed on the coordinates of an oil refinery in Saint Petersburg to Ukrainian intelligence. He is also accused of setting fire to two cell towers, a power distribution panel, a supply cable, and attempting to ignite a transformer. The Telegram-based outlet Mash reported that after learning the nature of the charges against him, Martynov attempted to take his own life.
In the Nizhny Novgorod region, law enforcement officers from the FSB detained a man who allegedly set up a stash containing components for a UAV, explosives, communications equipment, and "documents exposing his illegal activity." Authorities have identified him as an agent of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), though his name and the specific charges remain undisclosed. A state treason case has been opened.
The Supreme Court of Russia’s constituent republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has ordered compulsory medical measures for a defendant in a separate state treason case. The independent Russian media outlet Mediazona reported that the court declined to release details. According to public court records, this marks at least the ninth case in which a person accused of state treason has been subjected to forced psychiatric treatment.
Children and Militarization
In Perm, six kindergartens—one in each district of the city—will open training centers to teach children how to operate UAVs.
In Ufa, children whose mothers are participating in the war with Ukraine will be awarded badges reading "My Mom is a Hero," according to the mayor, Ratmir Mavliev. The initiative follows an earlier campaign distributing "My Dad is a Hero" badges.
Miscellaneous
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) [right-wing populist and ultranationalist political party] has nominated Danil Shargan, the head of the Novosibirsk Alpha military-sports center and a "veteran of special military operation," to the city council. The Sibirskiy Express Telegram channel notes that official documents list Shargan as an active-duty "contract serviceman." However, in June, a criminal case was initiated against him. He is accused of torturing children—specifically, of systematically assaulting at least two students under his supervision. In 2024, the mother of a 10-year-old boy filed a complaint accusing Shargan of assaulting her son. Despite these charges, he remains free and continues working with children. The next court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.
Longreads
The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet published an investigation into how Russian authorities are denying assistance and financial support to disabled veterans of the war.
The Glasnaya Telegram channel reported on a widow’s ongoing attempt to hold accountable the contract soldier she says is responsible for her husband’s death following a personal conflict.
The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet spoke with human rights advocates about the sharp rise in criminal cases in Russia involving charges of treason, cooperation on a confidential basis with foreign states, and espionage. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, nearly 800 people have been targeted under these statutes.