Mobilization in Russia for March 19-22, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The Russian government submitted a bill to the State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] that would establish voluntary post-release probation for ex-convicts returning from the war against Ukraine. The government previously endorsed the Justice Ministry's initiative, which offers social reintegration, psychological and medical care, and help securing employment and education after military service. The legislation keeps probation voluntary, rejecting the Interior Ministry's proposal to make it mandatory for up to three years.

Lawmakers also introduced a bill in parliament that would give the Ministry of Defense access to data from the Unified State Register of Civil Status Records. The legislation would grant the ministry the right to receive electronic information about military personnel, civilian employees of the Russian Armed Forces, former service members and their families. The bill's authors said the new measure aims to streamline social support for troops and their relatives, as well as simplify military record-keeping.

Army Recruitment

Bauman Moscow State Technical University requires its students to visit the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Competence Center as part of their pre-graduation internship. Otherwise, the internship will not count and students will be unable to receive their diplomas, according to a letter from the university administration obtained by the Vyorstka media outlet. The visit is mandatory for all male students regardless of their thesis topics and consists of a single two-hour session in March. According to one student, officials also invited students to recruitment meetings for service in the Unmanned Systems Forces.

At Yaroslavl State University, students are being required to attend meetings with representatives of the Unmanned Systems Forces "for the purpose of recruiting them into contract military service." According to a student, group leaders were sent instructions requiring them to ensure full attendance, along with a schedule of the meetings. The university’s website also states that students can sign a "special contract" with the MoD for one year to serve in UAV units.

Sergey Lysenko, director of the Siberian Geophysical College, personally urged a student to sign a contract to serve in UAV units. According to the student, Lysenko said the college had been assigned a quota for the number of students to be sent to the drone forces, and that regional authorities had been ordered to form a student battalion. In addition to promising benefits and "fatherly care" upon returning from service, he offered to arrange early completion of final state exams, ensure all coursework was credited, and issue the student’s diploma as early as May. He also reportedly warned that if the student refused to sign a contract, they would face academic debts in the following semester, be expelled and then be subject to regular conscription. According to readers, the director has held similar meetings with several other students at the college.

Reservists in Russia are continuing to receive electronic draft notices en masse, summoning them "to undergo procedures related to military training exercises." Lawyers note that while such notices do require recipients to appear at a draft office, failure to do so without a valid reason carries only an administrative fine of between 10,000 rubles [$120] and 30,000 rubles [$360]. However, additional restrictions may follow, including a ban on registering as an individual entrepreneur or purchasing real estate, suspension of a driver’s license and denial of access to credit. At the same time, under the law, reservists cannot be sent to training immediately, as the process requires prior screening and a medical examination. There is no criminal liability for failing to appear for training, but such liability may arise during the training period itself, since participants are granted the legal status of servicemen for its duration.

According to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] project, such draft notices are being sent out en masse across multiple regions, and in-person visits to draft offices often result in being sent to training as early as the next day. Reservists are not always informed about the duration of the training, and pressure may be applied to push them into signing contracts. They are often promised a "short period of service" or "rear-area duties." Human rights advocates say there have been cases where individuals were coerced into signing contracts and subsequently deployed to fight in Ukraine.

Residents of the Belgorod region have reported receiving mass mailings of draft notices for a "military service register data check-up." According to them, when visiting draft offices, men are encouraged to sign contracts with the MoD.

According to Timofey Vaskhin, a lawyer for the human rights organization Shkola Prizyvnika [Conscript School], in March, there has been a rise in cases of Russian men being barred from leaving the country after receiving electronic draft notices. Human rights activists have documented at least ten such cases, and several more have been reported in open media sources, including denials at border control in Moscow and other cities. In some cases, the ban appears on the Gosuslugi public services portal, and in others, men are informed about the ban only when crossing the border. However, the system is inconsistent, as cases of successful departures have also been documented, even with an issued draft notice or restrictions. Sometimes, the bans can be challenged through complaints. The first recorded travel ban occurred in September 2025, and the restrictions were implemented in March 2026. Lawyers suggest that this indicates a gradual launch and fine-tuning of the electronic Unified Military Register system. In the event of a ban, traveling to Belarus and crossing borders from there is still possible.

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 204,626 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 18,226 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 1,320 soldiers, 56 of whom were mobilized. The majority of the newly identified dead were killed at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. Many of them had previously been listed as missing in action, but journalists matched these records with open data from government databases to confirm their deaths. According to the BBC, the total number of pro-Russian forces killed during the entire period of the full-scale war is estimated to range from 335,809 to 478,224 servicemen.

In the Penza region, relatives of a 54-year-old resident of the village of Krasnoye say that the head of the Usolsky village council, Sergey Kalmykov, tricked him into signing a military contract. According to them, in August 2025 the official offered to help the man—who has no close relatives and struggles with alcohol—restore his passport, persuaded him to sign documents and provide a blood sample, after which it emerged that the documents were for a military contract. Later, the relatives allege, Kalmykov bought the man alcohol, waited until he became intoxicated, called the police and arranged for his detention. In a video, the man says he did not agree to enlist and believed he was completing paperwork. The next day, he was sent directly from the police station to a military unit, and three weeks later he was reported missing in action. According to local residents, more than 120 people have filed complaints with authorities, claiming Kalmykov has systematically pressured men into signing contracts.

In Petrozavodsk, relatives say that Yegor Sabynich, a father of four, was tricked into signing a contract with the MoD to take part in the war after being detained while intoxicated. According to his wife, on the night of March 14, he was stopped near a dormitory while drunk and taken in for what was presented as an identity check. In reality, he underwent a medical examination and was then taken to a draft office, where he signed documents while in an impaired state. Although he did not have a military ID, the paperwork was processed "in 15 minutes." Sabynich was then sent to a military collection point near Saint Petersburg and from there to a training range, after which he stopped responding to calls. His wife filed complaints with the Military Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee, but, she says, the draft office has refused to respond.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

A 60-year-old Russian serviceman from the Kaliningrad region who is currently deployed has become the subject of a criminal case involving the alleged abuse of his own granddaughter, reportedly committed in 2017. He signed a military contract in 2025, and in March 2026 a criminal case was opened against him on charges of sexual violence. He remains deployed.

In Bryansk, Roman Malyarenko, a 31-year-old serviceman of the 13th Tank Regiment, has been hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the leg he received during an attack on police officers. On March 11, Malyarenko's common-law wife called local police officers due to beatings by him. Two police officers arrived and tried to calm Malyarenko, but he threatened to kill them and charged at one of them with a knife. He was ultimately neutralized by being shot with a pistol. Malyarenko is a Kherson resident who lived in Ukraine until at least 2020. There he had been previously convicted of theft.

The Southern District Military Court has upheld the sentence of contract soldier Mikhail Kolesnikov from the Krasnodar region, who received seven and a half years in a maximum security penal colony for desertion. According to the court, in July 2023, Kolesnikov left his unit’s temporary deployment point. He evaded the police through illegal earnings until he was detained by law enforcement officers in March 2025. In court, Kolesnikov stated that he left the service because the MoD failed to pay him and supplied his unit with unusable body armor and munitions.

In the Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject], the number of cases related to the search for deserters increased nearly sevenfold over the year, according to regional police chief Vyacheslav Yegovtsev. He stated that there were about 400 such cases in 2024, while in 2025, there were already 2,500. Yegovtsev complained that the region lacks video surveillance systems with facial recognition technology, which helped locate about 5,000 wanted individuals across the country over the year. The regional authorities plan to install 50 cameras, which will cost about 15 million rubles [$179,300].

In Rostov-on-Don a protest was held calling for mobilized soldiers to be brought home, after which a district court fined one of its participants, Yury Bogachyov, 20,000 rubles [$240] for organizing a public event without official approval. According to the court, on Feb. 26 Bogachyov went to the Fallen Warriors memorial, where he handed a companion a sign reading "We are waiting for the return of mobilized soldiers" and documented the action with photos and video. According to open-source reports, several people took part in the protest, taking turns standing with similar signs by the eternal flame.

A court in the Lipetsk region placed a 63-year-old resident of the village of Shcherbinino in a pre-trial detention center after he shot a military police officer with a hunting rifle on March 19. He had previously been charged with attempting to take the life of a law enforcement officer. The man opened fire on officers who had arrived "in connection with the performance of their official duties." According to local Telegram channels, the shooter was the father of a serviceman who had fled his military unit.

A 28-year-old contract soldier from the Russian constituent Republic of Dagestan, Akhmed Omarov, has been arrested on charges of kidnapping and extortion committed as part of a group using violence and weapons. According to investigators, on Nov. 19, 2025, Omarov and accomplices abducted a man identified as Murtazaliyev and extorted money from him. Omarov was detained in December and placed in a pre-trial detention center.

In the Astrakhan region, law enforcement officers detained and placed in a pre-trial detention center two men suspected of large-scale fraud and kidnapping. According to investigators, in 2025 they devised a scheme to steal payments from individuals who had signed contracts with the MoD, gained access to the bank cards of three such individuals and stole more than 6 million rubles [$71,700].

Aleksey Burmistrov, a 43-year-old resident of Neftekamsk in the Russian constituent Republic of Bashkortostan, is set to stand trial on fraud charges. Investigators say Burmistrov, who heads the local Union of Airborne Forces Veterans, persuaded acquaintances between July 2022 and August 2023 to sign contracts with the MoD in other regions, promising to cover their housing and food expenses. He then took their bank cards and withdrew part of the payments, stealing more than 650,000 rubles [$7,770] from four men.

A court in Voronezh ordered the pretrial detention of a 23-year-old man and his 29-year-old wife on charges of carrying out and attempting terrorist attacks. Investigators say that overnight from March 18 to March 19 they set fire to two cellular base stations in Voronezh and the village of Yamnoye. Damage from the arson was estimated at 1.6 million rubles [$19,100].

A 34-year-old businessman from Saransk was detained and placed in pretrial detention on treason charges. According to investigators, between August and October 2025 he registered more than 1,000 SIM cards and set up 10 virtual base stations. Access to the SIM boxes was provided, for cryptocurrency payments, to handlers from Ukrainian intelligence. Authorities say the devices were used for remote fraud as well as for planning and carrying out sabotage in Russia. According to an FSB video, the man was detained in 2025.

In the occupied parts of the Donetsk region, law enforcement officers detained a 52-year-old resident of Mariupol. He was placed in pretrial detention on charges of attempted terrorism and illegal trafficking of explosives. The FSB says the man made contact via Telegram with a representative of Ukrainian intelligence services and, acting on instructions, located a cache of hexogen that was allegedly intended for use in an explosion near the city administration building.

The Second Western District Military Court sentenced two teenagers from Ryazan—a schoolboy and a schoolgirl—to 8.5 years and 3.5 years in a penal colony for minors, respectively. They were convicted of an act of terror, an attempted act of terror and incitement to commit an act of terror. According to investigators, the male defendant contacted a Freedom of Russia Legion representative online. Following instructions, he and a seventh-grade student set fire to a communication tower on Oct. 15, 2024, filming the incident and receiving about 10,000 rubles [$120] in payment. On Oct. 23, they attempted to set fire to three electric locomotives at a depot but failed. Authorities estimated the damage from their actions at more than 230,000 rubles [$2,750]. The defendants partially pleaded guilty, saying they acted for money. The boy’s sentence was determined with consideration of a prior conviction.

Children and Militarization

In Birobidzhan, ninth-grade cadet students were taken to a presentation of the book Wagner. Project K: Through Hell to Freedom, which is dedicated to convicts released from penal colonies to fight in the war against Ukraine.

In Saratov, schoolchildren and university students were made to visit the "Museum of the History of the Special Military Operation" for the opening of an exhibition honoring female participants from the region who have taken part in the war.

Miscellaneous

In Tomsk, Governor Vladimir Mazur announced the creation of a "people’s volunteer squad" composed of former participants in the war against Ukraine.

Anatoly Sysoev, a war veteran, has joined the newly updated composition of Russia’s Central Election Commission.