Mobilization in Russia for June 14-16, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
In the Moscow region, Vladimir Putin met with the participants of the Time of Heroes personnel program, established for veterans of the war against Ukraine. Reportedly, they will be able to work in public administrations and state enterprises upon graduation. The program curators selected 80 individuals out of the over 40,000 that had applied. Among them were Yevgeny Pervyshov, former Krasnodar mayor and member of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia], who allegedly joined the war as a volunteer fighter, but continues to attend parliamentary sessions, and Vladimir Saybel, a manager of the Russian Railways [Russian fully state-owned railway company] from Novosibirsk, who lost an arm and a leg in the war. During the meeting, Putin promised both of them to help find jobs. In addition, captain Aleksandr Surazov was among the meeting participants. In December 2023, Surazov brought a brick from Bataysk to the mother of Roman Rudkov, who was killed in the war, with an inscribed suicide message allegedly left by Rudkov. During the meeting, Putin also said that Time of Heroes participants are not expected to return to the front during the training.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Law enforcement officers raided a night club in Rostov. According to witnesses, Investigative Committee officers together with OMON [riot police] checked the military IDs of male club-goers. Those who failed to produce the document were taken to a nearby police van. One of them said that the officers in the van were conducting checks against an unspecified "database." The 7x7—Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet reported that some were detained and taken to a police station for further investigation.
The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports that the commanders of several conscripts, whose statutory military service would end in just a few months, unexpectedly sent them to the Russian military base in Gyumri, Armenia. Immediately upon landing, the conscripts were told to report to a medical evaluation board and later to sign a blank sheet of paper. The conscripts did as they were told thinking that the request was related to the medical examination. The next day, however, it turned out that they had signed open-ended military contracts. The young men tried to have them annulled, but their commanders replied that the paperwork had already been approved by the military district’s headquarters. It is unclear at this time how many conscripts were taken to Gyumri in this manner. According to the human rights defenders, officials force conscripts to sign such contracts to replenish the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces, while avoiding another wave of mobilization.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Andrey Afanasyev, Sergey Druzhinin, Yury Tsydeneshiev and Aleksandr Samokrutov from Russia’s constituent Republic of Buryatia, Dmitry Shevchenko and Nikolay Balabas from the Vologda region, Sergey Kornienko from the Arkhangelsk region and Yevgeny Zlobin from the Kirov region.
In the Volgograd region, volunteer fighters from the "Stalingrad Battalion" have recorded a video at one of the training grounds of the Ministry of Defense requesting assistance with medicine, painkillers and wipes. Andrey Gimbatov, a State Duma member from the Volgograd region, who oversees the activities of the "Stalingrad Battalion," has stated that those training at the range are not entitled to medication, but that all necessary drugs will be provided upon dispatch to the frontline against receipt.
Servicemen from the Krasnodar region have asked for help in their video appeal. The men claim they were "lured" to Rostov-on-Don for medical examination, despite each having medical issues and other reasons for exemption from military service. From Rostov-on-Don, they were "deceptively transported to the territory of Ukraine" and are currently being prepared to be sent to an assault as part of the 57th Motor Rifle Regiment. There has been no contact with the men for more than three days as their mobile phones have been confiscated. One of the soldiers managed to escape from the training ground and informed the Astra Telegram channel about the situation. According to him, out of 15 individuals who were assigned to the assault troops, two have already been deployed on an assault mission, with one of them killed and the other one wounded. Three other soldiers managed to escape from the training ground, one mobilized soldier was able to transfer to another unit. According to the escapee, the military personnel in the unit are treated like convicts, and those who are not fully healed are sent on assault missions.
According to Astra, injured soldiers on leave from the 26th and 153rd Tank Regiments and the 272nd Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 47th Guards Tank Division, based in Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region, are being sent back to the front lines. The wives of ex-convicts have reported similar practices. A fighter from the Storm-V unit, currently undergoing treatment, stated that a week ago the command issued an order that no one would be granted sick leave anymore.
Two young men, Danil Yachmenev (born in 2002) and Sergey Savanov (born in 2003), were abducted at the Uspenka checkpoint at the entrance to the "DPR." At the beginning of the war, they were mobilized into the army of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, but were released home in the fall of 2022. They did not sign any contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Despite this, in March 2024, they were abducted by men in military uniforms and sent to the 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment. According to their mothers, they ended up in the forward positions in the Robotyne area and have not been heard from since May 2024.
In the Volgograd region, 39-year-old contract soldier Kirill Bormotov has been unable to secure injury compensation for six months—a situation faced by at least 30 other members of the 114th Brigade. Bormotov signed a contract in the fall of 2023 and sustained a shrapnel head injury in January 2024. Despite this, the Ministry of Defense has yet to make the promised payments, and his salary is significantly lower than initially promised: instead of 200,000 rubles [$2,240], he receives 42,000 rubles [$470]. Additionally, he has to cover the costs of travel and the military medical board out of his own pocket. Bormotov has contacted the unified settlement center of the Ministry of Defense without success. Due to his difficult financial situation, he has been forced to borrow money from fellow soldiers.
The Nalchik Garrison Military Court has rejected a petition by the contract soldier Andrey Chumakov to force a military hospital to issue him a certificate of being wounded in action. A hospital in the city of Luhansk diagnosed him with a mine blast injury and a mild concussion, but refused to issue him a WIA certificate because, according to the hospital’s spokesman, Chumakov’s diagnosis had not been finalized and the concussion had not been diagnosed within three days of the injury, although the delay was caused by the impossibility of a timely evacuation from the combat zone. Lacking a certificate, the serviceman is ineligible for the 3 million ruble [$33,600] payout for his injury.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The body of an 18-year-old soldier from Rostov-on-Don with a gunshot wound was found on June 14 at a Ministry of Defense training ground in the Volgograd region. According to the V1 news outlet, the body is of Zaid Rabadanov who voluntarily signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and was assigned to the Stalingrad Battalion. He would turn 19 in the fall of 2024. According to reporters, this is the second death at the training ground this week. On June 13, a 26-year-old soldier from Volzhsky was reported dead, allegedly from mechanical asphyxia.
The government of Ingushetia [Russia’s constituent republic] referred the case of Rashid Dudarov, a resident of the republic who was killed while participating in the war, to the Military Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee after his relatives petitioned the Military Investigative Department. Authorities tried to label the soldier's death a suicide until the opposition blogger Khasan Khalitov published a video of Dudarov’s body after autopsy showing signs of battery and strangulation. The video was sent in by Dudarov’s comrade, who claimed that Dudarov had been killed and hanged for refusing to participate in an assault mission. In addition, money was missing from Dudarov’s bank card, and there had been an attempt by military personnel to stage his suicide.
In the Krasnodar region, a former mercenary of the Wagner Group attacked a 12-year-old child, stabbing him in the chest. The crime occurred in the village of Taman on the night of June 14. The 31-year-old man broke into a house and attacked fifth-grader Matvey, who was visiting his aunt. According to the woman, she heard strange noises coming from the boy's room during the night. When she turned on the light, she saw an unknown man stabbing her nephew. The attacker fled immediately after being discovered but was later detained. He had previously been convicted of theft and murder. In 2023, the man was recruited from prison by the Wagner Group, where he served for three months. The prisoner was charged with attempted murder of a minor and trespassing, though the motive for the crime is still unknown. The boy's trachea was damaged and he is in stable but serious condition.
The First Western District Military Court in Saint Petersburg sentenced soldier Andrey Matveyev to 20 years in a maximum security penal colony for complicity in murder. On Sept. 16, 2023, Matveyev and his friend Sergey Sashkov, while intoxicated, went to demand a divorce from Sashkov's wife and attacked a man who was staying at her house — presumably her lover. As a result of the beating, the man died, after which Matveyev and Sashkov set fire to the house to cover their tracks. They also assaulted a witness to the attack. The accused admitted their guilt but noted that they did not remember the events of that day well. Matveyev was sentenced to 20 years, and Sashkov to 17 years in a maximum security penal colony.
Garrison courts in the Southern Military District continue to hear criminal cases against servicemen accused of going AWOL:
- Contract soldier Arkadiy Tomilov from the Stavropol region was sentenced to six years in a penal colony: he left his unit in February 2023, but returned on his own to the military investigation department after 10 months;
- Contract soldier Vitaliy Yanchenko from Adygea [Russia’s constituent republic] was sentenced to six years in a maximum security penal colony. He explained his escape by fearing for his life and health after being wounded;
- The Maykop Garrison Military Court sentenced contract soldier Ilya Batsaev to six years in a penal colony for two escapes from his unit. The first time he fled in May 2023 and returned on his own after a month and a half, but left his duty station again after a week and returned on October 22;
- Contract soldier Eduard Litvinko from the Rostov region received six years in a general regime colony for two escapes. In March 2023, he left his duty station, and was detained in April. The second time he fled on June 15 during a military medical board examination, but was again caught;
- The Grozny Garrison Military Court sentenced mobilized soldier Ivan Karasaev to five years in a penal colony for failing to report to his unit after a medical examination.
A criminal case for "attempted participation in a terrorist organization" was initiated against 56-year-old Konstantin P. from Saint Petersburg. Law enforcement officers believe that in 2023, he allegedly contacted a handler of the "Freedom of Russia Legion" via email, intending to join the group later. In April 2024, according to a source from Astra, the man-made anti-war inscriptions on two churches and on the wall of the Polytechnic University. A criminal case was initiated against him for vandalism, destruction or damage to objects of cultural heritage, and attempted participation in a terrorist organization.
Vyacheslav Gorodetsky, the editor-in-chief of Arktichesky Obozrevatel [Arctic Observer] independent media outlet, reported that on June 11, the newsroom was searched. According to him, six people stormed into the office, threatening him with "physical force and firearms" because he was allegedly collecting information about the mobilized and fallen soldiers. The journalist was taken to the office of the Federal Security Service (FSB) for questioning. He was later released without charge.
Children and Educational System
In the Khabarovsk region [Russia’s federal subject], Pacific National University opened an exhibition titled "Ordinary Nazism." The artifacts, brought from Ukraine, are purportedly meant to convince visitors of the existence of Nazism in Ukraine. Organizers explained that the exhibition was created due to a "decline in interest in the Special Military Operation."
Longreads
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty published a detailed article about Ruslan Sidiki, a 35-year-old anarchist from Ryazan. According to investigators, Sidiki blew up railway tracks under a freight train and organized a drone attack on a military airfield. He was detained at Vnukovo Airport at the end of November 2023.