Mobilization in Russia for June 4-7, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
In the city of Novosibirsk, police officers detained a local resident twice within a week and attempted to pressure him into signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense. According to his wife, the first detention took place on June 3, when he opened a bottle of beer on the street while walking home. He was taken to a police station, where officials reportedly tried to persuade him to sign a military contract before transporting him to a military recruitment center and subjecting him to a medical evaluation. While the man was in custody, a local police officer tried to convince his wife to hand over her husband's passport, but she refused. The man was released the following evening without signing a contract. However, on the morning of June 5, he was detained again by plainclothes officers and taken back to a police station. After the case attracted widespread public attention, he was released once more.
The MoD has changed its approach to recruiting students from Russian universities and colleges into the Unmanned Systems Forces. Instead of relying on representatives from draft offices, the ministry is now using active servicemen to promote military service through live video links from the frontline. On June 5, for example, the ministry arranged a meeting between students of the Pashkovsky Agricultural College and one of its graduates who is serving as a UAV operator. During the broadcast, the serviceman spoke about service conditions, pay and bonuses, while assuring students that UAV operators receive training from experienced instructors. Similar video calls from the frontline were also organized for students at the Ural State University of Physical Culture and the Ust-Kut Institute of Water Transport.
Authorities in the Uinsky Municipal District of the Perm region have deleted a social media post advertising military contract service for women. Earlier, the announcement invited women to sign contracts with the MoD for positions as UAV operators or Category B drivers. Two residents of the Zabaykalsky region who, together with two minors, were involved in the killing of an elderly person have signed military contracts and gone to fight in Ukraine. In the early hours of April 8, 2025, a group of four intoxicated individuals assaulted a 63-year-old man, who later died in hospital from a traumatic brain injury. One of the adult suspects signed a military contract after the conclusion of the investigation, before the trial began. In February 2026, the second adult defendant, a 24-year-old resident of the village of Zurun, was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony, while the two teenagers from the village of Bada received sentences of eight and a half and nine years in juvenile correctional facilities. After the verdict was announced, the second man also signed a military contract and departed for the frontline.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 225,019 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 19,037 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 1,480 soldiers.
With the mediation of the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Ukraine have conducted another prisoner of war (POW) exchange, swapping 185 prisoners each. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, one civilian has also returned home. Among the freed Ukrainians are defenders of the city of Mariupol and the Azovstal Steel Factory, as well as servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, National Guard, and border service who had been held captive since 2022. The Nash Vykhod [Our Way Out] Telegram channel published a complete list of exchanged Russian servicemen after the swap. 51 percent of those exchanged had criminal records and signed contracts with the MoD while in detention or facing criminal charges. Only three of the exchanged servicemen had been in captivity for more than two years. 83 percent were captured less than a year ago.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Kaluga Garrison Military Court has sentenced Corporal Yevgeny Rogachev to 10 years in a penal colony for going AWOL, making death threats and committing robbery. According to investigators, after leaving his military unit, Rogachev "spent time as he pleased" and abused alcohol. On one occasion, while drunk, he made death threats against three teenagers. In court, Rogachev pleaded guilty and claimed the teenagers had allegedly spoken rudely to him. The court considered his participation in the war against Ukraine as a mitigating factor. Rogachev had previously been convicted but was later pardoned by presidential decree and is considered to have no criminal record.
The Nalchik Garrison Military Court has sentenced Alim Khuranov to five years in a penal colony on charges of going AWOL. According to investigators, in February 2026 he failed to report to his unit in Ingushetia [Russia’s constituent republic] on time and was absent from duty for more than a month before voluntarily returning to his unit on March 31.
A contract soldier identified as Said Khizriyev received the same sentence after also being found guilty of going AWOL. He allegedly failed to return to his unit after leave and did not report until January, when he turned himself in to a military investigation department.
The Sverdlovsk Regional Court upheld the arrest of Stanislav Razorvin, 38, a resident of Yekaterinburg, and his wife Olga RazĐľrvina, 25, on charges of sabotage committed by a group in conspiracy.
The 2nd Western District Military Court has sentenced Maksim Isayev, 25, a Saint Petersburg resident, to 18 years in prison on charges of attempted high treason and attempting to join a terrorist organization. According to investigators, in May 2023 Isayev decided to join the Freedom of Russia Legion to fight on Ukraine’s side. To that end, he purchased a mine probe, packed his belongings and documents, took €150 in cash and traveled to a border settlement in the Belgorod region, from which he planned to cross into Ukraine. He was detained by border guards. The Shebekino District Court of the Belgorod region had previously fined him 70,000 rubles [$950] on charges of attempted illegal border crossing.
The same court has sentenced Aleksey Nikolenko, a 24-year-old resident of Tula, to 20 years in prison for plotting an attack on a local police station. The charges against him include membership in a terrorist organization, preparing an act of terror, and illegal storage of explosive devices. According to investigators, in February 2025, Nikolenko contacted an unidentified individual via Telegram who offered him entry into a "terrorist community." He subsequently rented an apartment, bought bomb-making components, and began conducting surveillance on a Tula police station by photographing the building and police vehicles. On March 27, 2025, security forces raided his apartment and recovered an improvised explosive device). Nikolenko was initially detained on a minor charge of petty hooliganism just one day before official federal charges were filed.
The "Kherson Regional Court," established by the Russian occupation authorities, has sentenced 38-year-old Anatoly Marchuk, a resident of occupied Skadovsk, to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on espionage charges. According to investigators, from March to June 2022, Marchuk collected information regarding the movement and deployment locations of Russian service members and military hardware in Skadovsk, which he then transmitted to Ukrainian intelligence. Authorities alleged that the obtained data could be used to launch strikes against Russian military facilities. It has not been reported exactly when Marchuk was detained, but the prosecutor's office announced in April 2026 that his case had been forwarded to court.
According to human rights advocates, the number of criminal cases opened under state treason statutes (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation) increased by 20% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, law enforcement officers have opened more than 1,500 cases on charges of treason, espionage, cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state and assistance to the enemy, according to legal experts’ estimates. Courts have already handed down at least 1,006 guilty verdicts in these cases. By comparison, between 1997 and Feb. 24, 2022, only 196 such verdicts were issued.
Children and Militarization
Speaking at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Elvira Fomina, director of the Alabuga Polytech College, said students at the institution can earn up to 500,000 rubles [$6,810] per month and claimed that 100% of graduates secure employment. The T-invariant outlet noted that the remarks appeared to be part of a coordinated publicity campaign: within an hour of Fomina’s statement, pro-war bloggers and military correspondents had begun publishing reports about it. Earlier, the college announced that students involved in assembling attack drones like Shahed-136 (Geran-2) loitering munition could earn up to 350,000 rubles [$4,760].
Longreads
The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet examines why natives of Russia’s non-Russian ethnic regions are exchanged in prisoner swaps less frequently than ethnic Russians. According to its analysis, residents of Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as the Krasnodar, Perm and Rostov regions, were among those most frequently returned in exchanges. Natives of Russia’s constituent republics of Chuvashia, Udmurtia, Kalmykia and the Sakhalin region were returned less often.