Mobilization in Russia for June 25-28, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Vladimir Putin signed a law prohibiting the deportation of foreigners who have performed contract military service with the Ministry of Defense and participated in combat. The new rules forbid authorities from denying them entry, declaring their stay undesirable, subjecting them to readmission procedures, or shortening their permitted period of stay. They also prevent officials from denying them work patents, work permits, temporary residence permits or permanent residency, and prohibit the cancellation of previously issued documents. The law applies retroactively to decisions issued since Feb. 24, 2022, regarding participants in combat. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed legislation prohibiting the extradition of foreigners who signed contracts with the MoD to other countries for criminal prosecution, and preventing courts from ordering their expulsion as an administrative punishment.
Army Recruitment
The Movement of Conscientious Objectors, a human rights organization supporting those who refuse to perform military service, reported a case of alleged coercion to sign a MoD contract in the Amur region. According to human rights advocates, police officers detained an unmarried local man with a history of alcohol abuse on June 18, held him in an undisclosed location for several days, and forced him to sign a contract by June 24. He already appears on the roster of a military unit located thousands of kilometers away. Relatives claim that the head of the rural administration, who reportedly receives 200,000 rubles [$2,630] for each recruit, may have turned him in.
Yury Zaitsev, head of Mari El [Russia's constituent republic], signed a decree introducing a 100,000-ruble [$1,310] sign-up bonus for joining the mobilization reserve (BARS Special Combat Army Reserve), which is tasked with defending critical infrastructure facilities in the republic against UAV attacks. During their service, volunteers retain their primary jobs and average salaries. Previously, authorities in the Leningrad region announced 250,000-ruble [$3,280] sign-up bonuses for joining the mobilization reserve.
Authorities in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject] have begun recruiting reservists into BARS volunteer units tasked with countering UAVs. According to the regional enlistment office, members of the mobile fire teams responsible for protecting critical infrastructure within the region will receive monthly payments of 75,000 rubles [$980], while retaining their jobs and average salaries. Unemployed participants will receive 100,000 rubles [$1,310] per month. The units are open to men up to 52-62 years of age, depending on military rank. After selection, reservists will be required to attend two 15-day training exercises each year, as well as additional special training periods lasting up to six months.
Military investigators from the Novosibirsk Garrison office of Russia's Investigative Committee conducted a roundup at a poultry farm in the town of Ob, where they checked the documents of 20 migrants. Six of them, who had previously obtained Russian citizenship, were taken to draft offices to be registered for military service.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
BBC News Russian, together with Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and a team of volunteers, has identified the names of 229,254 Russian servicemen killed since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including 19,215 mobilized personnel, based on publicly available information. Over the past week alone, the list has grown by another 1,574 names.
Russia and Ukraine carried out a 160-for-160 POW exchange with the mediation of the United Arab Emirates. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that all of the released Ukrainian servicemen had been held in captivity since 2022 and that some had fought in the battles for Mariupol and the Azovstal Steel Factory. The Nash Vykhod [Our Way Out] Telegram channel published the full list of the returned Russian servicemen. Most were between 40 and 44 years old and had spent no more than a year in captivity. Nearly all of the Russian prisoners of war (93%) who returned to Russia had signed contracts with the MoD while serving prison sentences.
The following day, Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova announced that a separate 7-for-7 exchange of civilian detainees had taken place in Belarus. Five of the released Russians were residents of the Kursk region. According to Governor of the Kursk region Aleksandr Khinshtein, Ukraine has returned a total of 171 residents of the region since the start of the war, while the fate of another 320 remains unknown. Ukraine, in turn, received civilians who had been captured by Russian forces in 2022 during the occupation of Mariupol and parts of the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk regions.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Pyatigorsk Garrison Military Court sentenced a resident of the Stavropol region to five years in a penal colony for going AWOL. The defendant's name was not disclosed. According to investigators, the serviceman left his duty station on Oct. 22, 2025, and "spent his time as he pleased" until he was detained by police on Dec. 22.
A court in the Moscow region sentenced Leonid Karmanov, the former president of the patriotic organization Kremlin, to six years in a penal colony on fraud charges. His co-defendants—Eduard Muradyan, a former aide to a senator and State Duma lawmaker, and lawyer Vyacheslav Pichuyev—were each sentenced to four and a half years in a penal colony. According to investigators, the defendants convinced people facing criminal prosecution that, in exchange for money, they could arrange a fictitious contract with the MoD that would allow them to avoid criminal liability without being sent to the frontline. Earlier in the same case, a court sentenced Colonel Andrey Arefyev to six years in prison. To make the scheme appear credible, he allegedly posed as a GRU [Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces] general, using a fake identification card and military uniform. After his conviction, Arefyev signed a contract with the MoD and went to the war.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced 28-year-old Ukrainian prisoner of war Volodymyr Makarenko to 22 years in prison, 49-year-old Sevastopol resident Dmytro Papenko to 25 years and 34-year-old Donetsk resident Hryhorii Synchenko to 29 years on charges of preparing an act of terror. Synchenko was also convicted of inducing others to engage in terrorist activity. According to investigators, while being held at Pretrial Detention Center No. 5 in Rostov-on-Don in the summer of 2024, the three men were preparing to seize and set fire to the detention facility. Investigators allege that after taking control of the facility, they planned to demand an end to the war against Ukraine, the release of Ukrainian prisoners and the transfer of occupied territories to Ukraine. All three had previously been convicted in separate criminal cases. Papenko was sentenced to 21 years on charges including treason, undergoing training for terrorist activities and preparing an act of terror. Makarenko received an 18-year sentence in a case related to the Ukrainian Aidar battalion on charges of undergoing training for terrorist activities, participation in a terrorist organization and the violent seizure of power. Synchenko had previously been sentenced to 26 years in prison in a case involving 47 criminal counts, including six acts of sabotage, as well as espionage and participation in a terrorist organization.
Residents of the Tomsk region have been detained in a criminal case concerning high treason for "transferring data on Russian army service members, including those killed during the special military operation, to Ukrainian intelligence services and organizations." The exact number of individuals involved in the case has not been specified. According to investigators, they were offered from 20,000 rubles [$260] for 100 photographs from cemeteries and up to 100,000 rubles [$1,310] for 400 pictures. Previously, two young women (1, 2) were detained in Yekaterinburg while photographing the graves of Russian soldiers, though the initiation of criminal proceedings was not officially reported at the time.
A 17-year-old from Russia’s constituent Republic of Dagestan has been detained on charges of preparing to murder schoolchildren. According to law enforcement authorities, the detainee administered Telegram channels with a total audience of "over 200,000 subscribers," of which "around 5,000 were active participants." His activities were allegedly "coordinated by Ukrainian intelligence services" and "aimed at recruiting Russian teenagers to commit armed attacks on educational institutions, terrorist attacks on transport facilities and hoax bomb threats." In addition, during interrogation, the youth claimed responsibility for organizing arson attacks in the US and Europe. According to the anti-fascist project Antifaru, the detainee founded the neo-Nazi group ETERSSA, which had previously claimed responsibility for threats and attacks on schools in various countries.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Ilya Saprunov, a resident of Kropotkin in the Krasnodar region, to eight years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of preparing an act of terror. According to investigators, Saprunov agreed via online messages to set fire to three railway relay cabinets. On Oct. 9 he headed to the site but was detained.
A court in the Novosibirsk region sentenced a 15-year-old resident of Toguchin, identified as Platon Tsaruk, to five years in a juvenile penal colony on charges of sabotage. According to investigators, in January 2026 the teenager set fire to a meter at a cellular tower.
Longreads
The Sibir.Realii, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reports that draft officers and Russian National Guard troops in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk regions have been detaining men and forcing them to sign military contracts—a practice previously documented in the Penza region.
The outlet also reported on three conscripts who were pressured into signing contracts: one went missing, one died by suicide and one was killed under unclear circumstances.