Mobilization in Russia for Jun. 27-28, 2023 CIT Volunteer Summary
Prigozhin’s Armed Rebellion: Consequences
Governor of the Pskov region Mikhail Vedernikov has confirmed that the crew of the Kamov Ka-52 (Hokum B) attack helicopter shot down by Wagner Group mercenaries had been killed, namely Lieutenant Colonel Aleksey Vorozhtsov (commander of the 3rd Squadron of the 15th Army Aviation Brigade of the Russian Air and Space Force) and Lieutenant Denis Oleynikov. Meanwhile, the Government of the Ivanovo region has confirmed that the crew of the Ilyushin Il-22 aircraft also shot down during the rebellion had also been killed. The official release did not disclose the death toll, however an unofficial public page on Ivanovo on the VKontakte social network has listed the names of eight killed persons. The information about the death of ten people has not been confirmed, as two crew members survived since they were not involved in the last flight.
Families of Wagner Group mercenaries are complaining that they no longer get paid after the rebellion. Interruptions in salary payments also happened before but this time they have received messages saying that the "payment is on hold yet," while the employees in charge of the payments do not answer phone calls or messages from the families.
A source responsible for recruitment at the Wagner Group confirmed that the Group’s base would remain in the Krasnodar region and that the Group resumed enrolling mercenaries. He also refuted the claims about the Wagnerites’ future relocation to Belarus. The Wagner Center in the city of Omsk also continues to operate and recruit fighters, having reportedly moved to another location. On the contrary, the owner of the Angel fitness center in the city of Perm claimed to have suspended fitness testing of Wagner candidates, admitting, however, that the center would continue to provide physical training for men "aspiring to join the special military operation."
In view of the 110 billion rubles in insurance payments Putin claimed to have allocated to the Wagner Group, it can be suggested that 22,000 to 37,000 mercenaries were killed or injured in the war against Ukraine. This evaluation, made by Ilya Shumanov of Transparency International, is based on the current cash benefits — 5 million rubles [$58,400] payable to the families of Russian soldiers deceased in Ukraine and 3 million rubles [$35,000] payable to those who received injuries.
During the short-lived rebellion, five civilians in the Voronezh region, including a two-year-old child, were hit by an airstrike, the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the news] Telegram channel found out. The reporters spoke to one of the victims who revealed that no one from the authorities had contacted him since the strike began, or offered any help.
The State Council of Ingushetia has appealed to Putin to release the prisoners of the "Ingush case", just as the participants of the Yevgeny Prigozhin’s [owner of the Wagner Group] rebellion were released from responsibility. The Sota media outlet reminds that on Dec. 15, 2021, seven defendants received prison sentences ranging from 7 to 9 and a half years for charges related to organizing violence against law enforcement and creating an extremist organization. Protests in the republic were sparked by the transfer of part of Ingushetia's territory to Chechnya [Russia’s constituent republics] under pressure from Ramzan Kadyrov. Vladimir Putin has not yet responded to the appeal.
Statements by Authorities and Legislation
The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel has calculated that since the beginning of the military actions, the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] has considered over 60 military bills, of which only 15 were eventually signed by the president. However, not a single bill on deferments and exemptions from military service has even been considered in the first reading.
The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation announced the creation of 328 "extraterritorial" polling stations for regional elections in Sept. 2023, which will also be held in four "new territories."
The law on the phased increase of conscription age can be adopted by the end of the spring session of the State Duma, said Andrey Kartapolov, the head of the State Duma's Defense Committee.
The New People party [political party in Russia] submitted a bill to the government canceling the punishment for "discrediting" mercenaries outside the frontlines.
The State Duma has passed in the first reading a bill on mandatory involvement of schoolchildren in "publicly beneficial labor." In the current version of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" it is stated that schoolchildren are prohibited from engaging in labor not provided for by the educational program. The amendments propose to cancel this provision.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
According to a statement from the press service of the military commissariat [enlistment office] of the Tyumen region, residents of the region will be called up for scheduled military exercises again. This is likely to occur in August of this year.
In Saint Petersburg, the Rosseti Lenenergo electric services company is offering city residents to take up employment with the organization and sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, promising an additional half a million rubles. In Novosibirsk, posters expressing gratitude to participants in the war with Ukraine on behalf of Russians have been put up.
Mobilized Soldiers and Volunteer Fighters
The list of mobilized soldiers who were killed in the war in Ukraine has been supplemented by Yegor Klyuchnikov, Sergey Goncharenko, and Robert Ringe from the Samara region, Azamat Maremkulov from Russia’s constituent republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, Vladimir Petrov from the Tambov region, and Magomed Magomedov from Russia’s constituent republic Dagestan.
Governor of the Pskov region Mikhail Vedernikov reported a minimum of 14 soldiers who were killed during the fighting in early June in the Shebekinsky district of the Belgorod region. Presumably, two mobilized soldiers from the Tver region were also killed at the same time. The governor also mentioned that out of the ten captured soldiers, three have already been exchanged.
The Astra Telegram channel released a video filmed in mid-June in the area near Yahidne village (in the vicinity of Bakhmut), in which a mobilized soldier from the 1486th Regiment complains about the command, which is using soldiers as "cannon fodder." Astra also published a conversation between soldiers of the regiment and one of the commanders. In it, they demand an explanation for the purpose of sending them to positions where they are killed under shelling, and why the commanders do not go with them.
The Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the news] Telegram channel published a recording of a conversation between the commander and the mobilized soldiers from the 34th brigade. The soldiers are once again complaining about being sent to storm positions without artillery support, while the commander accuses them of publishing their complaints (we wrote about this in our previous summaries).
Relatives of the mobilized soldiers from the Russian 247th Air Assault Regiment recorded an appeal to president Putin. They explained that the soldiers of the regiment, having lost all their belongings during the flood after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, were relocated to a new location where they were involved in active combat, suffered heavy losses, and were defeated. Governor of the Stavropol region Vladimir Vladimirov responded to the appeal. He confirmed the presence of casualties and wounded and urged not to rely on unconfirmed information.
The so-called authorities of the self-proclaimed DPR initially defined the status of the mobilized individuals on their territories as volunteers, and later concluded that the status of their mobilized personnel is not defined within the legal framework of the Russian Federation. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, since the citizens were called up in the so-called DPR, they must act according to the "legislation" of the self-proclaimed DPR, which sets the maximum age for military service at 55 years.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings, and Incidents
Criminal cases for draft evasion have been initiated against two residents of Chelyabinsk and Chebarkul. According to investigators, the suspects did not report to the military enlistment office after receiving the draft notice for compulsory military service-related activities.
The military commissar of Ozyorsk town [Chelyabinsk region] Vladimir Pichugin was detained red-handed while accepting a bribe, supposedly for distributing the conscripts to military units based on their preferences. Meanwhile, the Novosibirsk Garrison Military Court sentenced retired lieutenant colonel Vladimir Obukhov to five years in prison for embezzlement of aviation property worth a total of 7.2 million rubles [$84,700] and forging documents to cover up the theft.
The Second Western District Military Court sentenced 27-year-old Yaroslav Vladyko, a native of Ukraine living in Moscow, to 10 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of preparing for treason and participating in extremist activities, allegedly connected to his attempt to join the Pravyy Sektor organization [Right Sector, right-wing to far-right Ukrainian nationalist organization].
The ex-wife of a former mercenary of the Wagner Group from Nizhnevartovsk [Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, federal subject of Russia] appealed to the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin for protection from her ex-husband. The man threatens to kill her and says that he has already killed people and now he is not afraid of anything, because his connections will ensure that he is "let off the hook."
Valeria Zotova, a 19-year-old resident of Yaroslavl, was sentenced to six years in a penal colony for attempting to set fire to an aid collection point for mobilized people in the "DPR". The girl's mother, Olga Zotova, was also charged with incitement to extremism and terrorism. BBC News Russian and Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] tell more about their story.
The Court sentenced a student from Krasnoyarsk to two years in a penal colony for "calls for terrorism." According to investigators, the young man created a Telegram group, where he allegedly posted information about "the need to commit arson, explosions, and sabotage at the government facilities, as well as against members of law enforcement agencies."
The Prosecutor's Office appealed the sentence of Vitaliy Koltsov, a father of many children, in the case of the arson attack on a prisoner van. Earlier, the Court sentenced Koltsov to six years in a general regime penal colony, while the Prosecutor's Office demanded 19.5 years in a strict regime penal colony.
Mediazona told a story of former military psychologist Timofey Rudenko, who speaks out against the war.
Assistance
Ads were spotted in an Irkutsk pretrial detention center urging employees to donate money for UAVs and other military equipment. In Khabarovsk, scraps of padding polyester were collected for the needs of the armed forces: it will be used to make pillows for the sick and wounded.
In the Vladimir region, two specialized departments were launched at local hospitals for servicemen who fought in Ukraine. The Primorsky region authorities will provide fighters and their families with the right to free legal assistance.
Children
The Ministry of Education has sent materials to Russia's regions for organizing "Our Heroes" events for children and youth. Among the "heroes" are separatist warlords Arsen Pavlov [call sign "Motorola"] and Vladimir Zhoga as well as propaganda pundit Daria Dugina. In Russia's constituent Republic of Udmurtia, schoolchildren and college students will learn how to make UAVs.
Russian authorities have placed 1,184 Ukrainian children under "interim custody", which is three times more than they publicly stated. This follows from the report on the activities of the government of the Rostov region for 2022, discovered by Vazhnyye Istorii [iStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet]. Also, using open sources, the outlet identified 290 children in 23 regions of the Russian Federation.
Miscellaneous
54% of Russian citizens would prefer to have peace negotiations over the second wave of mobilization, according to the mid-June Russian Field poll. Another 35% chose to "continue the military operation," 10% were unsure, and 1% refused to respond. However, 64% would approve of the new assault on Kyiv and 23% would not approve of such a decision by the president. At the same time, Russians are also ready to support ending the conflict immediately. If Vladimir Putin signs a peace treaty tomorrow, 72% of the respondents would approve of this decision, while 20% would not.
BBC News Russian has published a piece on Russians hiding in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia from the prosecution by Russian authorities.
Residents of Surgut have demanded that the authorities shall disclose the bomb shelter locations and the city’s food reserves. Previously, the administration replied to them that it was a state secret. Meanwhile in Cheboksary, a ceremonial groundbreaking was held for a memorial to participants of the war with Ukraine.