Mobilization in Russia for March 22-24, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law that allows companies responsible for guarding critical infrastructure to use military-grade small arms to protect these sites from drones.
Army Recruitment
In Krasnoyarsk, officials have for the first time publicly acknowledged sending a student to the war. The Krasnoyarsk College of Transport and Service and the Sverdlovsk district administration stated that student Maksim Kovalyov signed a contract and "decided to serve in the Unmanned Systems Forces," receiving a "small gift" in the process. The college had previously published regular advertisements for contract military service, held meetings with military personnel and involved students in sending aid to the frontline.
The Serditaya Chuvashia [Angry Chuvashia] Telegram channel published a photograph of a bulletin board at the Cheboksary College of Economics and Technology that is covered with recruitment ads for the Unmanned Systems Forces.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
The independent outlet Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal], which maintains a named list of servicemen from the Irkutsk region and Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic] killed in Ukraine, reports that the number of deaths from the Irkutsk region alone has already exceeded the total losses of the Russian army during the First Chechen War. According to the outlet, 5,100 residents of the region have been killed in Ukraine, compared with 5,042 Russian federal troops killed in Chechnya [Russia's constituent republic] between 1994 and 1996. In Buryatia, the project’s tally puts the death toll at 4,521.
Activists from the project Not Our War: Bashkiriya [Chuzhaya voina Bashkiriya], which tracked residents of the republic killed in the war against Ukraine, have announced its closure due to pressure on the relatives of team members. In a statement, they said intelligence services attempted to identify activists based abroad, while pressure on their relatives in Russia "crossed all acceptable boundaries." Previously, participants reported attempts at deanonymization, including phone calls, invitations to meetings and money transfers disguised as aid. The project had been operating since fall 2022, and by the time it shut down, activists had identified 9,056 fallen natives of Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic]. According to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], at least 8,892 people from the republic have been killed in the war. By both estimates, Bashkortostan ranks first among Russian regions in terms of war dead.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In Yekaterinburg, a court has begun hearing the criminal case against 38-year-old serviceman Denis Gopparov, who is charged with desertion, murder, robbery and theft. According to investigators, he previously served under the surname Polovnikov. In February 2024, after receiving treatment at a military hospital, he failed to return to his unit and changed his name. He was detained in August but escaped again before being sent to the frontline. In spring 2025, he met a 44-year-old widow of a serviceman killed in the war and learned that she had received 12 million rubles [$146,300] in compensation. He also gained access to her banking app. Gopparov asked her for 1 million rubles [$12,200] to buy a new car. After she refused, on May 8, he took her to a field, killed her, buried the body and transferred 1 million rubles from her account to himself and his wife. He was detained a few days later and pleaded guilty.
​​The Maykop Garrison Military Court sentenced Aleksey Komlev, a 35-year-old war veteran, to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of going AWOL, illegal production and distribution of drugs, attempted drug distribution and drug possession. According to investigators, in July 2024 the soldier received orders to report to his unit but instead traveled to Adygea [Russia's constituent republic], where he, along with his niece and her friend, began distributing drugs through dead drops. All three were detained in October; some of the drugs remained unsold at the time of their arrest. Komlev pleaded guilty to the charges and testified against his accomplices, while the court took into account his war participation and state awards as mitigating factors. Komlev had multiple prior convictions, including for theft and drug possession. He had been pardoned and fought in the war as part of the Wagner Group.
The Abakan Garrison Military Court sentenced a serviceman to seven years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of going AWOL and two counts of desertion. On Oct. 16, 2024, the soldier left his medical unit without authorization and traveled home to Khakassia [Russia's constituent republic], where he lived for nearly two months before being detained on Dec. 13 of the same year. On March 8, 2025, he again left his unit and remained at large for more than 10 months. On Jan. 11, 2026, he was apprehended again by the commandant's office.
Law enforcement officers in Tolyatti detained a man suspected of committing an act of terror, and a court ordered him held in a pre-trial detention center. According to investigators, on the night of March 20, the man set fire to a police display vehicle parked outside the city's Interior Ministry office.
​​The Federal Security Service (FSB) has reported the detention of a foreign national, born in 1994, in Moscow, suspected of supplying explosive insoles to the Russian army. According to the agency, the detainee was involved in smuggling a package containing 504 explosive insoles from Poland through Belarus. Law enforcement officers stated that each insole contained an explosive with a yield equivalent to 1.5 grams of TNT, designed to detonate when connected to a power source. Disguised as "humanitarian aid," the insoles were planned to be delivered to military units.
The FSB also stated that it had prevented an attempt by "Ukrainian intelligence services" to acquire fiber-optic drones from a Moscow-based company. Allegedly, the UAVs were intended to be equipped with explosive devices for attacks on "designated targets" in Moscow. According to the FSB, the Ukrainian intelligence services used hacked Telegram accounts, Avito [the largest Russian classified advertisements website] and the Yandex Go application to contact company representatives regarding the purchase of UAVs and their transportation.
The Arkhangelsk Regional Court sentenced a 37-year-old man to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason. According to investigators, a resident of Arkhangelsk "engaged in communication" with representatives of Ukrainian intelligence in 2024. In May and July of 2024, during conversations via a messenger app, he transmitted information about the location and movement of anti-aircraft missile battalions in the Arkhangelsk region, including their geographic coordinates, which he had obtained using publicly available online mapping services.
A Moscow court sentenced Igor Kulzhenkov, a resident of the Tambov region, to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on treason charges. The FSB says Kulzhenkov, born in 1979, began communicating via Telegram in September 2024 with a representative of Ukrainian intelligence services and passed along information about unspecified Defense Ministry facilities. He was detained in March 2025 in Tambov; earlier, he had been held for 15 days on a charge of petty hooliganism. The FSB says he was aware the information could be used against Russia’s security.
The FSB posted fake Telegram ads offering "easy money" in exchange for acts of sabotage, describing the operation as a "social experiment." Agency spokesperson Elena Dokuchayeva said the experiment took place in November 2025 in the Sverdlovsk region. In the first stage, users were directed to an anonymous bot and told the work would be illegal. They were then given specific tasks, including courier deliveries and acts of sabotage, with promised payments ranging from 50,000 rubles [$610] to 3 million rubles [$36,600]. Ten people reached the final stage, and their information was passed to police "for appropriate measures." What happened to them afterward is unclear.
Children and Militarization
The Vyorstka media outlet reports that kindergartens have begun hosting meetings in which children are told about service in recently created drone units. Since the units were formed, such events have been held in at least three kindergartens.
The Donetsk Secondary School in the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic [the "LPR"] reported holding a lesson for students in grades 5-9 titled "The Role of Orthodoxy in the Special Military Operation." A priest and at least one OMON [riot police] officer were invited to the school.
Assistance
The Defenders of the Fatherland Fund, headed by Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivilyova, a cousin of Putin, spent 42 billion rubles [$512 million] in a single year—three times more than the 14 billion rubles [$171 million] originally planned. This is nearly equal to the amount allocated for the fund over three years (2025-2027). According to the published financial report, the largest share of spending—28 billion rubles [$341 million]—went toward additional payments to veterans who became disabled as a result of the war in Ukraine. In November 2024, Putin introduced a supplementary payment of 1 million rubles [$12,200] for those who acquired a disability due to injuries, which is distributed through the fund. As a result, 28,000 people received disability payments over the past year. Administrative expenses, including salaries for 2,200 employees, totaled 7.65 billion rubles [$93.25 million]—about half of the originally planned annual budget. A further 5.3 billion rubles [$64.60 million] was spent on rehabilitation equipment and housing repairs for veterans.
Authorities in the Kemerovo region plan to spend 7.8 billion rubles [$95.08 million] on war-related support. In 2025, 6.4 billion rubles [$78.01 million] were allocated for these purposes. Of this, 3.7 billion rubles [$45.10 million] is earmarked for signing bonuses for contract soldiers (down from 6.3 billion rubles [$76.79 million] a year earlier). Another 20 million rubles [$243,800] is planned for recruitment efforts, compared to 23.5 million rubles [$286,500] spent in 2025. Funding for a program aimed at training future managers for government bodies and local companies from among war veterans will be reduced to 5.9 million rubles [$71,900], down from 9 million rubles [$109,700] last year. At the same time, 3.8 billion rubles [$46.32 million] will be allocated for "targeted social assistance" to the families of servicemen—a new spending category. An additional 217 million rubles [$2.65 million] is designated under a separate line for "additional social support."
Miscellaneous
The company ASK, associated with billionaire Oleg Deripaska, has been identified as one of the sponsors of a fund that pays Russian soldiers for capturing or destroying Ukrainian military equipment. In the summer of 2023, the MoD reported that a serviceman from Buryatia received a certificate worth 1 million rubles [$12,200] from the Care of Siberia foundation for destroying a Leopard 2 tank. According to an investigation by Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet], in 2024 ASK transferred at least 90 million rubles [$1.10 million] to the Care of Siberia foundation.
Longreads
The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet has published the story of a mobilized man from Russia’s Orel region who spent three and a half years on the frontline before being demobilized after losing a leg. He said that training prior to deployment was virtually non‑existent and that within weeks of arriving at the front, his unit suffered heavy losses. The outlet also released a video documenting the stories of Russian deserters who fled the army to Kazakhstan.
The 7x7-Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet has published guidance for students on how to maintain their draft deferrals, resist pressure from authorities and protect their rights.