Mobilization in Russia for June 15-17, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

A new bill seeks to strip naturalized citizens of their Russian passports for any failure to comply with military registration laws, not just with the initial registration requirements. According to bill author Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] Defense Committee, anyone who fails to inform the draft office of changes in marital status, education, employment or residence, or leaves the country for more than six months without notification, should lose their acquired citizenship. The bill would even extend this penalty to the minor children of these individuals. The Government Legislative Commission has already endorsed the bill, albeit with several reservations.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

Officials in the Omsk region plan to increase payments for recruits signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense, boosting the regional component to 1.1 million rubles [$14,000] for those who enlist between June 11 and Aug. 1 of this year. This marks a significant rise from the 800,000 rubles [$10,100] established in November 2024. When combined with the federal component of 400,000 rubles [$5,070], the total sign-up bonus will amount to 1.5 million rubles [$19,000].

Furthermore, Omsk city authorities have introduced a 20,000-ruble [$250] referral bonus for individuals who bring acquaintances willing to sign a contract with the MoD to the draft office. The incentive program will also reward employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Federal Bailiff Service, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Investigative Committee, Federal Security Service, Russian National Guard and draft office. Those who demonstrate the best recruitment results will each receive 50,000 rubles [$630]. This initiative encourages the recruitment of not only Russian citizens but also foreigners and stateless individuals.

According to BBC News Russian, since the beginning of 2025, at least 26 regions in Russia have increased payments to contract soldiers. Over 37 regions are now offering recruits more than 2 million rubles [$25,400] for signing a contract—not including additional federal and municipal bonuses. The highest regional signing bonus currently stands at 2.6 million rubles [$33,000], offered by the Moscow and Tula regions. Meanwhile, the minimum recommended amount of 400,000 rubles [$5,070] is currently offered by 17 regions, including Ryazan, Karelia and Chechnya. Municipalities are also continuing to raise their own contributions. Notably, as of June 1, the Krasnodar region introduced a flat-rate municipal bonus of 500,000 rubles [$6,340] for all recruits, regardless of city or district.

The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reported that another conscript had contacted them after being detained on the street by police and taken to a draft office. Under threat of being "taken to the Investigative Committee," he was forced to sign a summons for a data check-up and an application for military registration. Later, he was issued a draft notice to report to the Unified Military Recruitment Center.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

According to the Astra Telegram channel, on June 13, an airstrike on the village of Novaya Pogoshch in the Bryansk region, located 2 km [1.24 mi] from the Russia-Ukraine border, killed three servicemen and injured seven others. Two of the dead and six of the wounded were conscript soldiers.

A resident of Saint Petersburg, Pavel, was allegedly unlawfully sent to a combat zone, according to his relatives and attorney. On March 2, 2024, he went to the police to report that his passport had been stolen. A month later, on April 11, unknown individuals used his personal data to sign a contract with the Russian MoD on his behalf through a recruitment office in Saint Petersburg. The military ID used to process the contract was reportedly registered under a different last name. In April 2025, Pavel was detained and placed in the military personnel search center in the village of Kamenka, Leningrad region. From there, his family claims, he was forcibly deployed to the frontline under threat of physical violence, where he served in the 1009th Regiment. According to the Astra news outlet, he is currently back home. The unknown person who allegedly signed the contract on his behalf is reportedly being sought.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Three police officers who, in July 2024, used a stun-gun and strangled Akhmed Dzhabrailov, a veteran of the war with Ukraine, while in custody, have been listed as witnesses in the investigation, according to the Chernovik outlet, which cited the soldier’s family. The outlet also published video footage confirming the officers’ involvement in the abuse. Dzhabrailov died at a police station in Makhachkala on July 9, 2024. After his parents publicly called on the authorities to hold those responsible accountable, law enforcement detained the three officers. They were charged with exceeding official authority and inflicting grievous bodily harm resulting in death by negligence.

The Baza Telegram channel reports that in the city of Makiivka, located in the Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk region, a 31-year-old soldier caught his wife with her 36-year-old lover, who was also serving in the military. He allegedly beat the man and drove him to a field near the settlement of Yasynivka, where he shot him with an assault rifle. Law enforcement later discovered the victim’s body but have not yet detained the suspect. According to Astra, the alleged shooter is 31-year-old Vadim Sakhnyuk, a serviceman with the 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade. The victim was Andrey Mokin, a native of Kazan. It remains unclear when Mokin signed his contract or arrived in Makiivka.

In Kyakhta, during the early hours of June 16, a service member and an alleged draft dodger, 48, taken to his military unit opened fire. A fellow soldier who attempted to start a conversation was shot in both legs. By 11 a.m., the shooter surrendered. According to media reports, he was drunk at the time of his arrest. Military prosecutors filed charges, including attempted murder.

In Makhachkala, a war participant attempted suicide. Witnesses reported that the man stopped in the doorway of a Sberbank [Russia's largest bank] office, took out a knife and started stabbing himself in the neck. He asked bystanders to call his son and shouted in fear that "the Ukrainians would take him prisoner." He was taken to a hospital.

In the Rostov region, at the 8 km [4.97 mi] mark of the M-4 "Don" highway, a military KAMAZ truck entered the opposite lane and hit a Lada Vesta passenger car driven by a man born in 1976. As a result, the driver of the car was injured and hospitalized.

On June 14, in the village of Yusva, Perm region, Andrey Isypov, an ex-convict and a war participant, stabbed his wife to death out of jealousy. Isypov serves at the 234th Air Assault Regiment. He signed a contract with the military in April 2025 but went on medical leave by May 1.

Aleksandr Zakharov, a 27-year-old soldier from the Kurgan region serving in the 36th Motorized Rifle Regiment, is suspected of murdering a 92-year-old woman in the Russian-occupied town of Kreminna in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. On June 11, her body was discovered with stab wounds to the neck and temple. Zakharov has been detained and is currently held in a detention center in Luhansk. A criminal case has been initiated for murder.

In the Leningrad region, soldiers who had gone AWOL were detained in Saint Petersburg and the town of Vyborg. One of them, a 25-year-old resident of the city of Murino, had left his military unit in mid-January and was wanted since late March. The second, a 33-year-old man, had been wanted since early March. Both detainees were taken to police stations for further transfer to the Military Prosecutor's Office.

In Volgograd, the FSB has detained two brothers, participants in the war, on suspicion of drug production. One man is 29 years old, and the other is 31. They were deployed to the war from a penal colony, where they were serving time for organizing a drug laboratory. In August 2023, they were released from the colony to serve in the Storm-Z unit in exchange for a pardon. In February 2024, they returned from the war and settled in Volgograd. According to law enforcement, the brothers were caught in the act. During a search, specialized equipment and chemical reagents, including nearly half a kilogram of mephedrone, were discovered and seized.

Vitaly Kravtsov, a 25-year-old war participant from Saint Petersburg who uses a wheelchair, killed a neighbor's dog and assaulted its owner. Residents of the building where Kravtsov lives complain that he and his live-in partner have been terrorizing neighbors for several months. Police have not responded to residents' complaints. Kravtsov and his girlfriend remain at large.

Pavel Krivulin, a 28-year-old resident of the village of Sheregesh who was on leave recovering from injuries sustained in the war with Ukraine, brutally killed his dog. While intoxicated at home, he stabbed the animal multiple times in the neck. Krivulin then wrapped the body in a bag and threw it in a dumpster. He recorded and posted a video of the murder online. Animal rights activists contacted the police, demanding the perpetrator be held accountable. According to their information, Krivulin was detained and allegedly taken to a military unit in Yurga. An investigation is currently underway to determine whether to file criminal charges for animal cruelty.

In the Luhansk region, a local gang that included military personnel kidnapped two men and drove them to an unknown location. In 2022, in the occupied village of Chernukhino, five men, two of whom were servicemen from the 7th Motorized Rifle Brigade (Dmitry Kovalev from Zorinsk and Igor Sidorenko from Makiivka), kidnapped Yuri Lonsky and Konstantin Kosygin. They forced the men into a vehicle at gunpoint and took them to Popasna, where they were held hostage. The whereabouts of the kidnapped men remain unknown. Criminal proceedings for kidnapping involving violence and weapons against two individuals were initiated only at the end of May 2025.

Maksim Rimarchuk, a serviceman previously convicted three times for car theft—most recently in 2023—escaped from his unit in Nizhny Novgorod in June 2024. On June 11, 2025, he stole two vehicles from a tourist camp in the Kemerovo region. One of the vehicles was later found in a ditch two kilometers from the theft site. Rimarchuk was detained in Yurga, but no criminal case was initiated. He was handed over to the military commandant's office.

Roman Cherkasov, the commander of a motorized rifle company from Chechnya, was stripped of his rank and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony for 18 counts of bribery and abuse of power. From April to December 2023, in Chechnya, the Zaporizhzhia region and Sevastopol, the lieutenant took money from subordinates for granting leave. The exact amount of bribes received by Cherkasov has not been disclosed, but the court confiscated 1.8 million rubles [$22,800] in favor of the state.

In annexed Crimea, Serhii Solomko, a former commander of a Ukrainian Interior Ministry special forces battalion, has been arrested. In 2014, he participated in suppressing the Maidan protests, later swore allegiance to Russia and continued serving in Russia’s Interior Ministry and Navy. In the fall of 2024, he was detained on charges of attempting to purchase explosives online and pleaded guilty. Later, investigators added a charge of "confidential" cooperation with foreigners, but the court found grounds to reclassify the case to a more serious charge, likely treason. According to investigators, Solomko had contacts with foreigners whose actions could harm Russia’s security. He is also wanted in Ukraine for treason and desertion.

In Moscow, officers from Rosgvardia detained an 18-year-old man who attempted to set fire to a military recruiting center in the Krasnoselsky district. The fire was extinguished with a fire extinguisher. The young man told authorities he had fallen victim to a scam. According to his statement, the fraudsters threatened to imprison him and his family.

A court in Nizhny Novgorod has dropped criminal charges against 23-year-old university student Yekaterina Terpelova in a hooliganism case. According to police, in early November 2024, Terpelova received a phone call from scammers posing as mobile service providers. They coerced her into taking out loans totaling one million rubles [$12,700] and transferring the funds to an unknown account. On Nov. 12, acting on instructions from the fraudsters, she allegedly threw bottles with burning mixture at the administration building and police station in Nizhny Novgorod, though the bottles failed to ignite. Terpelova was arrested in Lipetsk and later transferred to Nizhny Novgorod. Initially charged with an attempted terrorist attack, her case was later reclassified as hooliganism before reaching court. According to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], she was potentially facing compulsory medical measures.

In the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region, FSB officers detained a man accused of preparing a terrorist attack. According to law enforcement, in August 2024, Ukrainian intelligence services allegedly recruited the Russian citizen to plant an explosive device in a vehicle belonging to an official from the administration of the Hornostaivka municipal district in the Kherson region. He now faces charges of attempted act of terror and illegal possession of explosives.

In the Chelyabinsk region, 20-year-old student Yevgeny Vladytsky from the town of Kasli was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sabotage. According to the prosecution, in May 2024, Vladytsky was contacted by a "foreign handler" who instructed him to set fire to a communications station in Chelyabinsk. In the early hours of May 25, he carried out the arson and received 21,000 rubles [$270] in payment. Vladytsky was promptly arrested and sent to a pre-trial detention center. The case also involved a 53-year-old acquaintance of Vladytsky, identified by the last name Gazirov, who died during the investigation. Speaking to Mediazona, Vladytsky's godmother said he had simply "decided to make some money."

In Crimea, Russian law enforcement officers detained a resident of Kerch born in 2003 and opened a case of treason against him.  acting on instructions from his "handlers," the young man photographed the locations of Russian air defense systems, documented the positions of Russian military units and other Ministry of Defense facilities in Crimea, and passed this information to a representative of Ukrainian intelligence.

Children

In Zheleznogorsk-Ilimsky, Irkutsk region, a memorial alley titled "We Freeze, Gazing at the Heavens" was opened at a kindergarten, dedicated to those who were killed in the war with Ukraine. As the national anthem played, two kindergartners dressed in uniforms of the Young Army [a pro-Kremlin youth organization], accompanied by a war veteran, raised the Russian flag.

At a hospital in Novosibirsk, local municipal deputy and war veteran Ruslan Kolnik, along with other "special military operation veterans," visited children suffering from oncologic diseases and reportedly presented them with gifts.

Vladimir Putin has ordered a national drone piloting championship for children, lowering the minimum participant age from 10 to 7 years old.

Assistance

Russian citizens have become less responsive to fundraising campaigns by pro-war activists on Telegram. According to reports, volunteers and activists raised approximately 11.8 billion rubles [$150 million] for soldiers in 2024—three and a half times less than the 39.1 billion rubles [$496 million] collected in 2023. At the same time, the number of fundraising announcements decreased only slightly, from 13,700 to 13,100. As noted by the Vyorstka media outlet, organizers are now resorting to various tactics to persuade people to donate.

In the remote village of Beryozovo in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], where residents have been waiting for a promised road for over a decade, authorities plan to erect a monument to the "participants of the special military operation" at a cost of 5 million rubles [$63,400]. The monument is expected to depict a soldier in full combat gear holding an assault rifle.

Longreads

Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has published an  investigation into why some Russian military deserters prefer prison over returning to the front—and how they attempt to shorten their sentences.

The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet examines how candidates are selected for the Time of Heroes personnel program in the Volga region.

The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking] Telegram channel tells the story of a Russian deserter who managed to flee both the combat zone and Russia.

SOTAVision reports on a man who first killed his daughter and was later deployed to the front directly from a pre-trial detention center after signing a contract with the MoD.

Mediazona highlights the cases of young Russians with no political or military background who are lured by the promise of "easy money" into acts of sabotage—and end up sentenced to decades behind bars.