Mobilization in Russia for July 27-29, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
Authorities in Chita will offer a reward to individuals who help recruit contract soldiers for the war. The authorities did not specify the amount, but the independent media outlet Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] reported the amount as 50,000 rubles [$620] per recruit. According to an official from the draft office, to receive the payment an individual must personally bring a candidate to the recruitment center and be present when they sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense. The reward applies to contracts signed between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2025. Administrations in the city of Krasnokamensk and the Uletovsky and Borzinsky municipal districts have posted similar resolutions on their websites.
In the city of Berezniki in Russia’s Perm region, conscripts who sign a contract with the MoD will receive an additional payment of 250,000 rubles [$3,110]. Concurrently, city legislators introduced a reward for bringing recruits to a local draft office. The payment is 50,000 rubles for a resident of the Perm region and 100,000 rubles for a resident of a different region, a foreigner or a stateless individual. The city's bonus is in addition to 400,000 rubles [$4,980] that contract soldiers receive from the federal budget and 1.5 million rubles [$18,700] from the region.
The Russian government has approved a directive to establish the Nizhny Novgorod Higher Military-Engineering Command School. The school is scheduled to open on Sept. 1 on the grounds of the MoD’s 210th Regional Multiservice Training Center. This initiative marks the beginning of a MoD plan to open 15 new military universities between 2025 and 2034.
In the city of Tyumen on July 28, law enforcement officers conducted another citywide raid, detaining 18 people. Seven violation reports were filed, one detainee was deported and two others were issued draft notices for pre-conscription procedures. According to reports, 610 people in the region who obtained Russian citizenship have been registered for military service since the beginning of the year, and 56 of them were conscripted.
In the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], a resident of a dilapidated building in the town of Borzya reported receiving a call from the regional Ministry of Social Protection, offering him a contract with the MoD. In return, officials allegedly promised expedited resettlement and additional benefits.
According to the Baza Telegram channel, two Brazilian nationals organized a fraudulent scheme to recruit fellow countrymen to fight on Russia's side in the war. Posing as "official recruiters for the Russian army," they gained thousands of followers on their social media accounts since 2024, where they promoted the benefits of serving in the "special military operation," promising salaries ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Upon arrival, the foreigners were taken to a notary where, under false pretenses, they signed powers of attorney granting third parties control over their bank accounts and the right to claim insurance payments in the event of their death. Throughout the entire process, the scammers "oversaw" the recruits, extracting large sums of money under various pretexts. According to Baza, dozens of people have fallen victim, yet the scammers are reportedly still operating.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
In the Bryansk region, military registration officer Elena Sokolova persuaded local resident Sergey Khandozhko to sign a contract with the MoD. That same day, she obtained a certificate stating that Khandozhko was a participant in the "special military operation" and, on Oct. 5, 2023, married him. Five months later, he was killed on the frontline and Sokolova applied for death gratuity payments for herself and her children from another marriage. Although she did not have a death certificate with her, she managed to receive the money. However, Khandozhko’s brother filed a lawsuit, and the court ruled that the marriage had been a sham—the woman had not even had a marriage stamp placed in her passport—and ordered the Civil Registry Office to annul it. As a result, Sokolova lost her right to the payments.
Volodymyr Pirogov, a 54-year-old contract soldier from the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, was deployed to the frontline after being denied discharge from service following a heart attack. According to his lawyer, Pirogov was coerced into signing a consent form for deployment to assault units under the threat of physical violence.
Ilya Yudakov, a 27-year-old serviceman, who had been assigned service fitness category "G" (temporarily unfit for military service) due to injuries and is barely able to walk, was abducted on July 24 outside a police station in the Krasnodar region, where he had gone to provide testimony. Unknown individuals forcibly placed him in an unmarked vehicle while he was unconscious following an epileptic seizure. His mother witnessed the incident and was restrained as her son was taken away. The next day, Yudakov called from the village of Perevalne in Russian-annexed Crimea, but his whereabouts soon became unknown. Fellow soldiers later reported that he had been returned to the frontline. Yudakov's mother reported the incident to the police but was told that her son was "taken according to the law."
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In the village of Pokrovo-MarfinĐľ in the Tambov region, a participant in the war against Ukraine brutally murdered a 40-year-old local woman. According to a local resident, a 37-year-old soldier had returned on leave from the frontline. He stabbed the woman in front of her 9-year-old daughter and then beat the girl. Neighbors and relatives fear that the murderer may evade responsibility due to his status as a serviceman, while local media have not reported that he has returned from the war.
The appellate court has upheld the sentence for Sergey Starkov, a 45-year-old serviceman previously convicted to five years and six months in a penal colony for armed robbery targeting a resident of the Krasnodar region. Investigative records state that on Nov. 20, 2024—six months after enlisting—Starkov allegedly brandished a knife to threaten a woman, inflicted multiple blows, attempted to strangle her and stole her mobile phone. Starkov had earlier been released from a penal colony and deployed to the war in Ukraine, despite having an outstanding sentence for rape and robbery. In light of the partially unserved term for those prior convictions, he has now been sentenced to seven years and six months in a penal colony. The court also ordered that his military rank be revoked.
A court in Krasnoyarsk sentenced Private Yegor Vorobyov to ten years in a maximum security penal colony for going AWOL and attempting to murder a fellow villager. According to investigators, in February 2025, the 28-year-old serviceman armed himself with a utility knife and sought out a neighbor with whom he had an ongoing conflict. During the confrontation, Vorobyov attempted to stab the man in the neck but instead inflicted wounds to the victim’s thigh and shoulder.
The Novosibirsk Garrison Military Court sentenced serviceman Aleksandr Yermakov to three years in a penal colony on probation on charges of causing grievous bodily harm. Yermakov, while intoxicated, assaulted a person.
A military court in Rostov-on-Don has fined Warrant Officer Seferbeg Gadzhiev 2.5 million rubles [$31,100] in a case involving "fake news" about the army. According to investigators, Gadzhiev "engaged in defeatist talk" last September—frightening fellow officers with stories about Ukrainian army successes and Russian failures.
The Interior Ministry reported 1,347 acts of terror committed in the first half of 2025 in its latest report—a figure that already exceeds the total for 2024, which had been a record year. That year, the ministry recorded 1,191 terrorist attacks. Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, terrorism statistics have been rising—law enforcement now categorizes arson attacks on railway facilities and military commissariats as terrorist attacks.
The Interior Ministry has also stopped publishing statistics on crime-related deaths. The ministry's "Brief Description of the State of Crime" report for January-June 2025 contained no such data, nor did the January-May report. The last available data was published in the January-April 2025 report. At that time, according to the Interior Ministry, 7,100 people died from crimes—1.3% fewer than in the same period the previous year.
Investigators have opened a criminal case for an act of terror against a 27-year-old man who attempted to set fire to a Sberbank branch in Pushkin, Leningrad region. The detained man was acting on instructions from phone scammers who had previously stolen more than one million rubles [$12,500] from him.
The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on terrorism charges against two 16-year-old teenagers from the village of Atamanovka in the Chita district, who were detained in connection with a forest arson investigation. According to investigators, one of the teens began corresponding in June with an "unidentified individual, presumably located in Ukraine." Natalya Sekretova, a volunteer involved in firefighting efforts, stated that the teenagers had indeed communicated with unknown individuals who encouraged them to distribute drugs and start forest fires. However, the teens reportedly shared this information with other volunteers in an effort to prevent the arson attempts. According to them, the police were aware of the situation.
The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced five young men accused of attempting to set fire to equipment at a military base in Balashikha, Moscow region. The convicted are 21-year-old Anton Khripko, 23-year-old Sergey Korkhov, 22-year-old Ilya Korkach, 23-year-old Ivan Silin and 17-year-old Leon Silashin. Khripko was sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony on charges of involving a minor in a crime, organizing a terrorist group and plotting a terrorist attack. Silashin received a four-year sentence. The sentences for the other defendants have not been disclosed. According to investigators, in the fall of 2021, the five joined a Telegram chat where they discussed politics, personal views and "partisan activity." One participant in the chat turned out to be an agent of the Federal Security Service (FSB). The FSB claims that in 2023, the group was planning to dig a tunnel near the base to plant explosives targeting military vehicles.
A court in Chita has sentenced local resident Andrey Bobkov to 14 years in a penal colony on charges including high treason, public incitement to extremism, participation in a terrorist organization and aiding terrorism. The details of the charges remain unclear. Previously, another defendant in the same case, Maksim Ivannikov, was sentenced after reportedly being tortured during his arrest.
The Moscow City Court has sentenced 38-year-old Valeria Egorova and her husband, 42-year-old Pavel Korotich, to 17 years in a general security penal colony and 15 years in a maximum security penal colony, respectively, on charges of treason. According to the prosecution, in May 2023, Valeria contacted a representative of Ukrainian intelligence and, following his instructions, photographed and filmed "building facades, fences, identification plates," as well as employees of the Russian MoD facilities. This activity reportedly continued until February 2024. In return, she received the equivalent of $240 in cryptocurrency. Korotich allegedly monitored the surroundings during the filming.
In the Krasnodar region, the FSB reported the detention of two Russians and one citizen of a Central Asian country, who were allegedly preparing terrorist attacks on Russian territory. They were supposedly working for Ukraine for a reward of $200-250. They have been charged with committing an act of terror and attempted sabotage.
The military court in Yekaterinburg has started the proceedings in the case of 52-year-old Chelyabinsk resident Anton Novosad, accused of treason, justification of terrorism and calls for extremist activity. According to investigators, between October 2022 and May 12, 2023, Novosad "established contact with a representative of Ukraine and, using the bank accounts of individuals misled by representatives of a foreign state and unaware of his criminal activity," made five transfers totaling 15,000 rubles [$190]. Novosad’s defense insists that he donated money for humanitarian activities to a person he met online.
The Lefortovo District Court in Moscow has received a motion to arrest Vadim Arturovich Saltykovsky, a 60-year-old Moscow resident, on charges of state treason. According to Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet], Saltykovsky worked in the early 2000s in the Office of Presidential Affairs and the Presidential Administration, where he was responsible for foreign policy on the Commonwealth of Independent States. He was also connected to the Nikcolo M consulting firm.
Children and Militarization
Nikolay Vizichkanich, a veteran from the city of Ussuriysk with seven prior convictions and currently under investigation for allegedly reloading a weapon in public, became an organizer of Zarnitsa, a Soviet-era military game revived for schoolchildren, in the Primorsky region [Russia’s federal subject]. Local media report that Vizichkanich trains students in basic combat medicine and participates in what authorities describe as the "patriotic education" of youth.
Assistance
Officials in the Magadan region have expanded combat-related compensation policies to include members of Russia’s domestic security services and private military contractors. Families of Rosgvardiya troops, FSB officers and Investigative Committee personnel wounded or killed in the war will now be eligible for payouts of 500,000 rubles [$6,220] for injuries and 1 million rubles [$12,400] for deaths. The same compensation will apply to those linked to so-called "supporting organizations"—a category that likely includes mercenaries from the Wagner Group and the Storm-Z units. The government has also expanded the list of combat zones qualifying for these payments to include Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions, in addition to territories occupied by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Miscellaneous
As uncovered by the Vyorstka media outlet, an instructional manual has been developed for participants in the war, outlining how to "communicate the truth" about the "special military operation" and how to "emotionally share their heroic deeds" during public appearances. The manual also includes scripted answers to questions about combat operations, life in the trenches, traitors within the Russian army, "enemies" and residents of the occupied territories. For questions such as "Have you had to kill?" and "How many people have you killed?" the recommended response is to frame it as a "painful necessity" and to add that "if we don’t win, the enemy will destroy us, our wives and our children." If asked about civilians, soldiers are instructed to respond that the local population "expresses gratitude for protection and support" and sees the Russian army as "defenders who bring safety and stability."
Longreads
Vazhnyye Istorii has reported that Russian army commanders are systematically designating missing and even deceased soldiers as having gone AWOL. The investigation details how and why this practice occurs.
The 7x7-Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet published a study on the activities of the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund, which provides social assistance to war participants.
Lyudi Baikala released a piece on the work of pro-war bloggers.
The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] published an article on how children in the occupied territories are being "re-educated" through Russian military propaganda in schools.