Mobilization in Russia for Mar. 16–17, 2023 CIT volunteer summary
The issue of draft notices for military service register check-ups has begun in Mari El [Russia’s constituent republic]. Authorities of the republic have officially announced it, adding that "this is happening on a scheduled basis" before the reservist training. The training in the republic will be held from Mar. 17 to Apr. 26. As we reported in yesterday’s summary, the Mari El authorities referred to the presidential decree regarding military training this year. Allegedly, the operational headquarters of the republic has made a military training plan based on the decree, and in accordance with it, the draft offices are sending draft notices.
Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] Committee on Defense, said that draft offices are sending draft notices to the people they are ready to make an offer for contract service. “There will be no mobilization this year. <...> There is recruitment for contract service. Exclusively voluntary,” the member of Duma said.
Headquarters, which will be promoting contract service in the army, are being created in the district administrations of Saint Petersburg. The headquarters will prepare and spread information about the service among employees of both private and public organizations. Each district has a target number of recruited contract soldiers.
In Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan, men who are in reserve are summoned to military commissariats, where they are offered enlistment contracts and join the war. A local military commissar, referring to Putin's decree on increasing the number of contract servicemen, states that the Ministry of Defense offers contracts to reservists up to 60 years old to fill newly formed units with them.
The military commissariat of the town of Alapayevsk and the Alapayevsky district, Sverdlovsk region, posted an announcement about the recruitment of "reservists for military service under a contract to participate in the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, in Donetsk and Luhansk regions."
The Novosibirsk Mayor's Office decided to share the messages of the Russian Ministry of Defense. In particular, the Mayor's Office posted that the Ministry of Defense offers a reward of 500,000 rubles for the destruction of Leopard, Abrams or Challenger tanks, 300,000 for the destruction of HIMARS and Tochka-U launchers, 200,000 for a helicopter, 100,000 for a tank (without specifying the type). In addition, city officials have published at least four advertising messages about enlistment under a contract.
Community activist from Novosibirsk Valery Kotelnikov was summoned to a military commissariat during public hearings on the construction of a green zone in the Krasnoobsk townsite. According to Kotelnikov, in September 2022, he was already summoned to a military commissariat for a registration data check-up.
High school students from Yekaterinburg received draft notices calling to report to the military commissariat, allegedly for a data check-up, despite having been registered with the office just recently. Meanwhile, Saint Petersburg State University started to check the personal details of employees liable for military registration.
Mobilized soldiers from Kaliningrad, who witnessed their fellow servicemen committing suicide and protested against being sent to suicidal assaults, were disbanded after having voiced their discontent with the command. According to a former member of the regiment, he and other soldiers were reassigned to different military units. In the unit where they had been initially stationed, only six men remained in service from the entire platoon. Of the original 1004th Regiment, very few troops are still in the ranks: many were wounded or killed.
In early March, draftees from the Tyumen battalion named “Rosomakha” [Wolverine] appealed to the authorities. The men revealed that soldiers from their company were being assigned to the army of the “Donetsk People’s Republic.” Their motorized rifle battalion was turned into a tank one, which sparked rage among service members. When asked by the 72.RU media outlet to comment on these allegations, government officials of the Tyumen region and the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region [federal subject of Russia] preferred to emphasize their efforts in securing additional supplies and equipment for the military. The matters of greater concern, according to the regional officials, fall within the competence of the Ministry of Defense.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, soldiers called up in September–October 2022 as part of the “partial” mobilization went on their first leaves. In particular, draftees Adam Dhzegutanov and Bislan Khachukov from Karachaevo-Cherkessia [Russian constituent republic] have arrived home to spend their leave there.
The Ministry of Defense also published a video about an episode of the “special military operation” where draftee artillerists saved two infantry platoons by providing fire support from the Giatsint guns. In addition, a video emerged where Ural region draftees greet their loved ones.
Krasnoyarsk region commissioner Mark Denisov stated that about 10 thousand residents of Krasnoyarsk have left for the “special military operation” since Feb. 2022. This is the first official statement on the number of “special military operation” participants from the region.
BBC News Russian, together with Mediazona [Russian independent media outlet], managed to establish the names of 17,375 Russian soldiers who were killed in the war in Ukraine based on open sources. Among them were 1,583 mobilized soldiers, 46% of whom were killed during the period from Jan. 1.
The names of the following mobilized soldiers who were killed in the in Ukraine became known: Sergey Petrichenko from the Volgograd region, Ivan Malykhin from the Kursk region, Sergey Artemenko from Voronezh, Maksim Mazin from the Saratov region, Dmitry Borozdin from the Perm region, Yevgeny Malkov from Yaroslavl, Dmitry Pravdin from the Kursk region, Nikolay Chorchukov from the Sakha [Russia’s constituent republic] and Mikhail Pozdnyakov from the Irkutsk region.
Governor of the Sverdlovsk region Yevgeny Kuyvashev has reported on the results of conscript recruitment for 2022. The plan to conscript 6991 people was carried out in full. Currently, Kuyvashev is preparing the region and relevant agencies for the spring conscription campaign.
The Novosibirsk garrison military court sentenced Corporal Chingis Davaalay, who had killed a man in a camp for mobilized soldiers, to seven years in prison. In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered the serviceman to pay 2 mln RUB [~26,000 USD] to the wife and children of the killed soldier. Meanwhile, a mobilized soldier from the Moscow region has lodged a statement with the police against his girlfriend, who did not wait for his return from the "special military operation" and took away his combat-related compensations.
Head of Buryatia [Russia’s constituent republic] Aleksey Tsydenov reported on the transfer of the next batch of cargo for Russian servicemen participating in the "special military operation". It includes drones, tactical sights, and components. Meanwhile, the volunteers of the production service base of Chernomortransneft company from Novorossiysk make heating stoves for tents and dugouts. In addition, all the things necessary for equipping dugouts: shovels, picks, nails, crowbars, hammers, and even boards are sent to the front.
In yesterday's summary, we reported that teachers at the Irkutsk National Research Technical University are made to donate part of their salaries to the needs of the "special military operation." The press service of the university claims that the donations are voluntary, and the information that the funds are withheld from the salaries of teachers is fake.
The Mediazona [an independent Russian media outlet] reported a story of Yegor Balazeykin, a high school student, who was arrested for trying to set fire to a military commissariat in the Leningrad region.
Based on open data and information from the public procurement platform, the Vyorstka media outlet calculated that children from 16 Russian regions will be sent to military, patriotic, and historical training this spring and summer. Meanwhile, the authorities of the Vladimir region have allocated 6 million rubles to send a thousand schoolchildren aged 15 to 17 to a five-day military training camp. According to the public procurement platform, the event is organized by the Avangard patriotic youth education center.
Despite the fact that the concert dedicated to the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow has been canceled, events dedicated to the anniversary took place on Mar. 17 in various regions. In particular, thematic classes were held in schools. After the "open lessons," children were asked to take pictures with Russian flags and to draw posters about "the reunification of Crimea and Russia." On Mar. 18, some events are planned throughout the country, including flash mobs, lectures, concerts, car rallies, etc.
In the "Center for Assistance to Children Left Without Parental Care" in Angarsk, Irkutsk region, a "Corner of heroes — participants of the special military operation" was opened. A banner was hung in the hall with the photographs of six graduates who went to war in Ukraine. Two of them are already killed.