Mobilization in Russia for March 17-19, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The government introduced a bill in the State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] allowing the deployment of the military abroad to "protect" Russians in the event of their arrest. Specifically, it proposes deploying the Russian Armed Forces "to carry out tasks using weapons outside their intended purpose" to protect Russian citizens facing prosecution by foreign and international courts whose jurisdiction is not based on a treaty with Russia or a UN Security Council resolution. The document states that the bill aims "to protect the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation."
Army Recruitment
Authorities in Mari El [Russia's constituent republic] increased the bonus for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense from 2.1 million to 2.6 million rubles [$30,900]. Last fall, officials reduced the payment to a minimum of 400,000 rubles [$4,760], but in January of this year, they raised it to 2.1 million rubles [$25,000]. Now, contract soldiers from the region, along with the federal component, can receive a total of 3 million rubles [$35,700].
Starting this April, the Irkutsk region will set the regional component at 2.1 million rubles [$25,000], bringing the total sign-up bonus in the region to 2.5 million rubles [$29,700]. Meanwhile, the regional component for defendants, suspects, and convicts will be 1 million rubles [$11,900]. According to statements from members of the Legislative Assembly, the region is struggling significantly to meet the Defense Ministry's recruitment targets because local residents are signing contracts en masse in other regions. Earlier this year, officials raised the regional component from the 1 million rubles set in March 2025 to 2.4 million rubles [$28,600] for contracts signed before Jan. 31. Authorities simultaneously canceled the 200,000-ruble [$2,380] payment for mobilized soldiers who signed contracts with the Defense Ministry, and increased the payment for conscripts signing contracts to 1.5 million rubles [$17,800]—also until Jan. 31.
In addition, a number of military-related payments in the region have been revised downward. The payment to the families of those killed will be reduced from 1,400,000 [$16,660] to 500,000 rubles [$5,950]. Compensation for severe injuries will drop from 600,000 [$7,140] to 120,000 rubles [$1,430], and for minor injuries—from 300,000 [$3,570] to 60,000 rubles [$710]. It will also no longer be possible to receive the Irkutsk regional compensation for injuries if a payment has already been received from another region.
In the city of Chaykovsky in the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject], the municipal payment for helping recruit individuals to sign military contracts has been increased from 100,000 [$1,190] (set in October 2025) to 150,000 rubles [$1,780]. This payment will be granted for recruits from other regions of Russia, as well as for foreign nationals and stateless persons who sign contracts.
The Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University has put up displays advertising service in the Unmanned Systems Forces. The posters include contact details for the university’s military training center, as well as a quote from Putin. In addition, one of the university’s faculties is organizing recruitment meetings between students, representatives of the military training center, and university leadership on the rector’s instructions. The stated topic is "the possibility of contract-based military service in the Unmanned Systems Forces of the RuAF." Announcements about these meetings are being circulated in student group chats. The events are being organized "in fulfillment of an order from MSU Rector V. A. Sadovnichy" and "with the approval of the faculty dean."
Staff from the Cheboksary College of Transport and Construction Technologies took students to a contract military service recruitment center, where they were told about the "career prospects of UAV operators" and the payments available to those who sign a contract.
At Baikal State University in Irkutsk, advertisements for contract-based military service have appeared. Students are being offered additional payments, benefits, and university-specific perks, including an individualized study schedule "without interrupting service," a 100% tuition discount for fee-paying students, and a personal mentor.
At a specialized secondary school in the city of Artyom, in the Primorsky region, a representative of the MoD held a meeting with students during a lesson. He gave a presentation titled "There is such a profession—to defend the motherland" and encouraged the children to join the military. Leaflets promoting contract service have also been placed in the school’s hallways.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Maksim Parilov, a serviceman who was sentenced to 17 years of imprisonment for fatally shooting his commander, signed a new contract with the Ministry of Defense after the verdict and has been wounded in the war. According to investigators, on March 19, 2024, Parilov fired at least 11 shots at his superior. The commander's body was found in a tree line the next morning, and Parilov was arrested at the same time. After the verdict, the soldier was assigned to the assault troops. Recently, he sustained shrapnel wounds to his legs. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation at his military unit in Russia's constituent Republic of Buryatia.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The court has denied a creditor's claim to recover the debt under a microloan agreement from the heirs of a deceased serviceman. The debt was incurred during the serviceman's lifetime, and after his death "during the performance of military service," his relatives inherited his belongings. The creditor attempted to recover the debt from the deceased soldier's mother and his minor son. However, the court noted the application of special legal regulation, which provides for the termination of obligations under credit agreements in the event of the death of a soldier during the performance of military service. Such obligations are not considered part of the assets, and therefore, cannot be transferred to the heirs.
On March 19, the Ryazan Garrison Military Court has sentenced Ilya Kazantsev, a 20-year-old cadet of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, to 11 years in a maximum security penal colony in a case related to the murder of 24-year-old Sergeant Ivan Selin, deputy commander of a platoon. Selin died on June 3, 2025, during a training jump with a parachute. An inspection revealed that the main and the reserve parachute canopies did not deploy because their suspension lines were tied. Cadet Kazantsev was detained in connection with Selin's death and confessed to the crime. According to investigators, the cadet entangled the suspension lines due to personal animosity toward the deputy commander, who had previously used violence against the cadets.
Contract soldier Farid Khakimov was sentenced by an appellate court to seven and a half years in a general-regime penal colony on charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm. In early 2025, while on leave in Novocherkassk after being wounded, Khakimov fired several shots at an acquaintance with a pistol during a birthday celebration. The victim sustained multiple injuries. Initially, Khakimov had been sentenced to eight and a half years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms, but the charges were reduced on appeal. Khakimov had a prior conviction. On Oct. 7, 2022, he reportedly joined the Wagner Group and received a pardon with his criminal record expunged. On July 9, 2024, he signed a one-year contract with the MoD.
In the Lipetsk region, a man who shot and killed a military police officer has been detained. A criminal case has been opened against him for attempting to take the life of a law enforcement officer. According to local Telegram channels, the shooter was the father of a serviceman who had fled his unit.
A 45-year-old serviceman from the 1453rd Regiment, Aleksandr Yudin, is suspected of sexually harassing a 17-year-old schoolgirl during a flight. He has been handed over to the military commandant’s office.
In Kabardino-Balkaria [Russia’s constituent republic], a court has ordered a retrial in the case of contract soldier Nikolay Khozumov, who was charged with fraud and evasion of military duties by feigning illness. Investigators allege that, as part of a criminal group, Khozumov deliberately triggered landmines on multiple occasions to receive compensation for injuries. In total, he was paid 13 million rubles [$154,700]. A lower court had sentenced him to 10 years in a penal colony, but the verdict was overturned on appeal because he was not allowed to choose his own defense attorney.
Yury Korolyov, the founder of the My Vmeste [We Are Together] fund that assists families of war participants, has been charged with 11 counts of large-scale fraud, four counts of large-scale theft, as well as extortion and organizing a criminal enterprise. The businessman has been held in a pre-trial detention center since October. According to investigators, he was one of the organizers of a fraud ring that defrauded servicemen at Sheremetyevo Airport. Some of the fraudsters would approach servicemen and ask for money, claiming their wallets and tickets had been stolen. Others would buy servicemen drinks, then steal their bank card information and drain their accounts. Additionally, taxi drivers involved in the scheme would initially quote servicemen a fair fare, only for the amount to increase tenfold later. If the servicemen refused to pay, the drivers threatened them with violence. In total, 40 individuals are implicated in the case, with at least 23 arrested, including five police officers.
In the Perm region [Russia's federal subject], authorities have opened a criminal fraud case against Vasily Chervyak, an activist with the Volunteer Fighters of the Donbas fund and a former mercenary of the Wagner Group. According to investigators, in 2024 and 2025, Chervyak and his accomplice, businessman Artyom Vasilyev, persuaded predominantly rural individuals who led marginalized lives and suffered from alcohol dependency or mental illness to sign contracts with the MoD. For one million rubles, they were promised service in non-combat units, while the contracts were signed in neighboring regions where larger sign-up bonuses were higher. Some of the contract soldiers allowed the defendants to copy their bank cards, which were then repeatedly used to steal funds. In the end, all those who signed up were sent to assault units. Some of them were killed or went missing in action. A total of 19 victims have been identified.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Ian Sergienko, a 22-year-old fighter of the Azov Brigade to 28 years in a maximum security penal colony for participating in a terrorist community and receiving terrorist training. According to the prosecution, Sergienko, a native of the city of Mariupol, joined Azov in October 2021 and served as a radio operator in an artillery platoon. He was taken prisoner in the spring of 2022. In March 2024, he was sentenced to 27 years in a maximum security penal colony for murdering civilians.
The same court sentenced 28-year-old Azov Brigade serviceman Dmytro Sentiabrev to 18 years in a penal colony on similar charges. According to the court, in the fall of 2020, Sentiabrev voluntarily joined Azov and took part in combat operations in the Donetsk region. In May 2022, he was taken prisoner.
In Moscow, police detained a 15-year-old teenager who, "on instructions from scammers from Ukraine," set fire to an ATM. After the arson, the teenager was hospitalized with burns to the head and shrapnel wounds. Law enforcement officers opened a criminal case on charges of hooliganism and deliberate damage to property.
In Tyumen, a local woman born in 1991 was detained on suspicion of setting fire to a mobile communications distribution cabinet on March 17. The woman allegedly agreed to carry out the arson for 30,000 rubles [$360].
Two teenagers from Nizhny Novgorod, aged 16 and 17, were sentenced to six years and six years and three months, respectively, in a penal colony in a case involving an act of terror. Investigators concluded that in May 2025, acting on instructions from an unknown person on Telegram, they set fire to three cellular network operator stations in one of the city’s districts in exchange for a financial reward.
The Investigative Committee reported that they had detained a 16-year-old in Ufa who was allegedly planning a suicide bombing at a church during Easter celebrations. He has been charged with making public calls for terrorism, publicly justifying terrorism, aiding terrorist activities, and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization. The Federal Security Service (FSB) claims that the teenager had been recruited via Telegram by an unidentified individual in Kyiv.
Law enforcement officers detained five residents of the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region and placed them in a pre-trial detention center on suspicion of organizing an explosion that killed Vladimir Leontyev, the head of the local "council of deputies." The detainees, who include both Ukrainian and Russian citizens, are facing criminal charges of an act of terror. According to the FSB, one of the suspects contacted Ukrainian intelligence services and used a drone to receive components for assembling an explosive device.
In the Kemerovo region, authorities detained a 17-year-old resident of the town of Belovo on charges of financing terrorism. According to investigators, in November and December 2025, the teenager made paid reactions to posts by what Russia designates a "terrorist and banned" organization on a messaging platform. The reference appears to be paid reactions known as Telegram Stars. Local media reported that the teenager had "liked" posts in a Telegram channel associated with a military unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He has been placed under house arrest.
The Southern District Military Court has sentenced three underage residents of Melitopol to prison terms of seven, seven and a half, and eight and a half years. They were convicted on charges of participating in a terrorist community, undergoing training for terrorism, attempting an act of terror, and the illegal trafficking and manufacture of explosives. According to investigators, in January 2023, the youths, "acting in the interests of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)," monitored the movements of local officials cooperating with Russian authorities, whom they allegedly intended to kill, and stored explosives in a cache. In March 2023, one of them was reportedly tasked with blowing up a railway infrastructure facility.
In the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], two suspects have been charged with high treason and providing assistance to the enemy in connection with a car‑bombing plot. Investigators said that in April 2025, cases had already been opened against them for preparing an act of terror, attempted murder and intentional destruction of property. The defendants—a Russian citizen and a Belarusian citizen—allegedly contacted a representative of the SBU via Telegram, from whom they received explosive components. They were also reportedly instructed to gather information on a senior law enforcement official. Authorities noted that in April 2025, an explosion occurred in an apartment in Khanty‑Mansiysk where the men were assembling the bomb. The blast destroyed two apartments and injured five residents, including the suspects themselves. At the time, reports indicated their intended target was a participant in a volunteer battalion affiliated with Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
The "Supreme Court of Crimea" has sentenced a local resident to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony in a treason case. According to investigators, the Crimean resident contacted a representative of Ukrainian intelligence services via social media, who instructed him to collect information about the deployment of weapons, equipment, and defensive structures. Consequently, the accused transmitted information about a "defensive facility" in the village of Foros. In September 2025, Foros was attacked by Ukrainian drones—at the time, it was reported that a guesthouse housing "very important guests" had been struck. The man was later detained by the FSB.
The "Supreme Court of the LPR" has sentenced a man to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony in a treason case. According to investigators, in 2014, the convicted individual agreed to cooperate with the Security Service of Ukraine and, for payment, carried out intelligence tasks and provided "other assistance to Ukraine." In particular, he collected and transmitted via messenger information about FSB officers and data on facilities, forces, and assets of the Russian army in the occupied territories of the Luhansk region.
A regional court in the Krasnodar region sentenced Igor Lominoga, a 62-year-old lieutenant colonel in Ukraine’s Ministry of Emergency Situations who served in Mariupol, to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony on treason charges. Prosecutors say that between November 2023 and February 2024 he cooperated with the SBU, received equipment and planned to use it to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism on Russian territory. Lominoga was detained in June 2024 and initially charged with secretly cooperating with a foreign state or organization. A verdict in the case was first issued in November 2024, but it was sent back to court in December 2025 on the same charges. During the second trial, the charges appear to have been upgraded to treason. The fact that Lominoga was charged with treason rather than espionage suggests he may have held Russian citizenship at the time of his detention.
A regional court in the Vladimir region sentenced Aleksandr Germizin, secretary of the local branch of the Rassvet party, to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason and financing extremism. Prosecutors say that in 2022 and 2023 he made donations via cryptocurrency wallets to one of organizations designated in Russia as extremist and "pro-Ukrainian terrorist" groups. Germizin had previously been sentenced to two years in prison for justifying terrorism online and was due for release in October 2026.
An appellate court increased the sentence of Ukrainian citizen Igor Borisenko to 18 years. He had been sentenced in January to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of attempted sabotage and manufacturing and transporting explosive devices. According to the FSB, in September 2024 Borisenko placed improvised explosive devices on diesel fuel tank cars belonging to two freight trains near the Zelezino station outside Kstovo. The devices did not detonate.
The Krasnoyarsk region Federal Penitentiary Service has seen a 42% increase in the number of inmates convicted of terrorism and extremism, and a 33% increase in the number convicted of treason and espionage.
Children and Militarization
In a kindergarten in the settlement of Veidelevka in the Belgorod region, children were taught how to operate drones. An instructor and a student in military uniform showed them how to pilot a drone using a controller and VR goggles.