Mobilization in Russia for June 23-25, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
The 7x7 — Horizontal Russia independent news outlet spoke with residents of the Penza region about the unfolding roundup campaign. According to residents of Spassk, on June 18, the first day of the roundups, Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard] and draft officials detained anyone walking alone on the city's streets. The following day, they began door-to-door searches, in one instance breaking down an apartment door. Authorities asked the occupants who was officially registered at the residence and when those individuals had registered at the draft office. In Penza, authorities brought the detainees to a draft office at 19 Skladskaya Street. There, personnel beat the men and forced them to sign contracts. Officials issued new documents on the spot within two hours to those who lacked them, while simultaneously conducting medical evaluations. Men who were deceived into registering for military service also ended up there. Officers confiscated everyone's phones and documents. The draft office released only those with HIV, AIDS, or tuberculosis. Authorities transported the rest to Rostov almost immediately. Relatives of the detainees contacted the Military Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Penza's internal security department, but received no response.
Sugar factory workers near Penza chased away a recruiter from the facility's checkpoint. After a shift ended, an unidentified individual attempted to force one of the employees to enlist, citing his previous criminal record. A video posted online shows workers shouting profanities and chasing away the plainclothes recruiter, pointing out that he "had no warrant." A police officer silently observed the incident. After the situation attracted media attention, the Penza regional office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that its officer was supposedly looking for a suspect in the rape of a minor, and that people "mistakenly took the lawful actions of police officers for the detention of a citizen to be sent to the special military operation zone."
Authorities forced a Penza man to sign a backdated contract after detaining him in a roundup, reported the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel. His sister said officials detained him last week and compelled him to sign the document. When the family received a copy, they discovered the contract was dated early June. They have had no contact with him since his detention.
According to the Vyorstka media outlet, the flow of new recruits into the Russian military has declined sharply across the country. In Moscow, for example, the number of recruits in the spring of 2026 was down by roughly one-third compared with the same period in 2025. A total of 1,708 contract soldiers were sent from Moscow to the frontline in April and 1,378 in May—around 1,000 fewer than a year earlier and broadly in line with 2024 levels, before the city introduced million-ruble sign-up bonuses.
Recruitment problems have also affected the Rubikon UAV unit. According to a source cited by Vyorstka, the unit initially attracted a large number of applicants, but most were screened out because of stringent selection criteria. The source estimated that only about one-third of applicants now end up signing contracts with Rubikon. More broadly, Moscow's experience is said to reflect a nationwide trend: the pool of people willing to sign military contracts is shrinking, forcing recruiters to look for new personnel in other regions.
Sergey Bliskunov, a resident of the Sverdlovsk region with multiple prior convictions, was sent to war instead of standing trial for the murder of the mother of his six children. In March, Bliskunov arrived at a clinic where his former wife, 38-year-old nurse Viktoriya, worked. He forced open the door to a room where she was with a colleague and stabbed her seven times, killing her at the scene. The killing left six daughters without their mother, the youngest of whom was less than two years old. According to reports, Viktoriya had repeatedly tried to leave her husband and, shortly before the murder, had filed for divorce, taken the children, and moved into a rented apartment. After his arrest, Bliskunov confessed to the murder. Journalists say, however, that his case never reached court: he was transferred from a pre-trial detention center and sent to war instead.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Relatives blocked a military convoy in the Sverdlovsk region. On June 21, a group of detained refuseniks—servicemen who had gone AWOL and were willing to face imprisonment rather than return to the war—were being transported from a distribution center in the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma back to the frontline. Family members gathered at the checkpoint to say goodbye and hand over personal belongings, but they were not given an opportunity to do so. In response, a group of women joined hands and blocked the bus carrying the servicemen. Eventually, some relatives managed to pass along belongings to the soldiers, after which about twenty men were taken away.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Yekaterinburg, another young woman was detained after photographing the graves of Russian servicemen. According to Telegram channels affiliated with law enforcement, she is suspected of working for "foreign handlers" and could face treason charges. A similar case became public the previous week. Following the earlier case, the Federal Security Service (FSB) reportedly decided to increase surveillance at cemeteries in the Sverdlovsk region.
In Podolsk, law enforcement officers detained a 13-year-old sixth-grade student on suspicion of terrorism. According to investigators, the teenager began communicating with a girl via a messaging app and sent her his geolocation to arrange a meeting. He was then contacted by a man who claimed the location data would be used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out strikes and persuaded the boy to set fire to a fuel pump at a gas station instead. The student allegedly carried out the attack at a gas station in Podolsk, destroying one fuel pump. No one was injured.
The FSB reported the detention of a Russian citizen from Mariupol on suspicion of treason, preparing an act of terrorism, and illegally possessing explosives. A court ordered him held in pretrial detention. According to the security service, the man communicated via Telegram with a representative of the Ukrainian intelligence services and, acting on instructions, retrieved an improvised explosive device from a dead drop. He allegedly planned to use it to bomb one of Mariupol’s district court buildings. He was detained near the courthouse.
A district court in Moscow ordered the pretrial detention of Maksim Glushkovsky, who has multiple prior convictions and is charged with conspiring and committing a terrorist act as part of a group. The case against him was initially opened on May 26 on charges of attempted destruction of property, but the following day it was reclassified under the more serious terrorism statute. Glushkovsky was detained on May 29, formally charged, and questioned. The following day, the court ordered him held in pretrial detention. The specific allegations against him have not been disclosed. Based on similar cases, such reclassifications from property destruction to terrorism often involve the arson of railway relay cabinets or cellular communication towers. Three days before his arrest, Glushkovsky was fined 15,000 rubles under three administrative charges of inciting hatred or enmity over posts published on his Telegram channel.
In Vladimir, in a case related to an attempt on mercenary activity, officers of the FSB detained a citizen of Estonia born in 1995. A court ordered him held in a pre-trial detention center. According to investigators, the foreigner planned to go to war in Ukraine and, for money, take part in combat operations against the Russian army. To accomplish this, the FSB claims, he made contact with "Ukrainian handlers" who were supposed to help him join the AFU. He failed to do so, because law enforcement officers detained him.
In the Kamchatka region [Russia's federal subject], a local resident, Marianna Alina, was sentenced to a fine of 40,000 rubles [$530] in a case concerning the failure to report a crime of a terrorist nature or sabotage. According to the charges, this past December two residents of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky set fire to two cell towers in the city. One of them told Alina about the arson and showed her the correspondence with a stranger who had allegedly ordered it. Alina did not report this to the police, which is why she was charged with a criminal offense.
The Novosibirsk regional court sentenced a 15-year-old to five years in a penal colony in a case concerning sabotage. According to law enforcement officers, in January 2026 the minor set fire to a cell tower in the village of Gorny.
In Udmurtia [Russia's constituent republic], two teenagers with the surnames Budilov and Khlyupin were sentenced to six years and nine months and six years and three months in a penal colony, respectively, under the article on sabotage. According to investigators, the young men had agreed to set fire to a mobile-communications base station for money, one that served a unit guarding a local building of an enterprise of the military-industrial complex. After the arson, Budilov and Khlyupin allegedly sent their "handlers" a video of the crime they had committed. At the time of the arson, they were minors.
Vasily Fedyukin, 46, from Kaluga was sentenced to eight years in prison under the article on preparing an act of terror. According to law enforcement officers, Fedyukin was unhappy with the conduct of the "special military operation" and therefore decided to set fire to a cell tower, believing this would have an effect on the country's leadership. In January 2026, the man prepared an incendiary mixture and drove to the tower in his car, but he was unable to carry out the arson because his car was blocked by local residents, who then called the police.
A resident of Ryazan, Artur Zimalong, 20, has been sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony in a case involving a terrorist attack causing significant damage. According to law enforcement, the young man received an offer to set fire to a diesel locomotive in exchange for money. In June 2025, he purchased gasoline and set fire to a locomotive at the Ryazan-1 station, filming the incident. The damage caused by his actions was estimated at 11 million rubles [$147,000].
The Irkutsk City Court has sentenced 32-year-old local resident Dmitry Rupenko to 15 years in prison on charges of high treason and aiding sabotage. Rupenko was detained in September 2024 near the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. According to investigators, acting "at the direction of an unidentified handler," he had suggested the plant as a target for Ukrainian drone strikes. At the time of his arrest, he was using a quadcopter to film railroad tracks near the facility. Rupenko maintains that he was merely filming scenic views for a promotional project for his new job. An independent linguist retained by the defense noted that the "Ukrainian handler" appeared to be simulating the Ukrainian language in their correspondence with Rupenko. Furthermore, a psychiatrist testified to irregularities in the evaluation of the man's health status, noting that he has been diagnosed with epilepsy, ulcerative colitis, and an unhealed hole in his larynx following an unsuccessful tracheostomy in 2017. Since being transferred to an Irkutsk pre-trial detention center a month after his arrest, Rupenko has repeatedly complained about the conditions of his confinement and a lack of necessary medical care.
The Central District Military Court has sentenced a 20-year-old resident of Ulyanovsk to 15 years in prison on charges of high treason and aiding terrorist activities. The man was detained in June 2025. According to law enforcement, acting "on instructions from the intelligence services of Ukraine," he "collected and forwarded information about an enterprise" where drones are manufactured.
From Feb. 24, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2025, at least 8,221 Ukrainian civilians were unlawfully detained in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia, representatives of Ukrainian public organizations have established. In one out of four cases, these individuals continue to be held in Russian prisons. Human rights defenders believe that the confirmed cases are only a small fraction of the total number of detainees, and that the actual figure could reach up to 17,000.
The Pervy Otdel [Department One] human rights project conducted a study of criminal proceedings under statutes covering high treason, espionage, confidential cooperation with foreigners and aiding the enemy during the first three months of 2026. Analysts found that in the first quarter of 2026, courts handed down nearly as many convictions as in the same period a year earlier, but the number of new cases increased: 143 new cases compared with 125 the previous year. At the same time, case processing times dropped significantly. Courts resolved 26% of incoming cases in the first quarter of 2025; by the same period in 2026, that share had risen to 43%. In total, counting cases filed in earlier periods, courts handed down at least 107 convictions on espionage-related charges in the first quarter. March of this year set a record for the entire observation period, with courts issuing 48 verdicts in a single month—an average of two convictions per working day. More than half of those convicted faced additional terrorism and sabotage charges on top of high treason and espionage. More than half of them received sentences of at least 15 years. Researchers also noted the closed nature of proceedings under these statutes. Courts withheld personal data from nearly 70% of case records.
Children and Militarization
Russia’s Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov announced that the share of basic military training in school classes on the subject "Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland" will increase from 20% to 50%. He said the curriculum will include study of UAV and military field exercises. Starting next school year, schools will also introduce a new subject: "Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia." A total of 83 "heroes" have already been selected for these classes. Among them are participants in the war against Ukraine. Documentary films about the heroes will be made for students.
Miscellaneous
In Yekaterinburg, the draft office has ordered a company to hand over a truck to the military within eight hours in the event of mobilization. According to the documents, the vehicle will be used by the Russian army and must be accompanied by drivers "from among sergeants and enlisted reservists no older than 50."