Mobilization in Russia for March 24-26, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The government has adopted a resolution allowing conscripts to obtain exemptions from military service or a draft deferment without appearing in person at draft offices. Under the new rules, if the Unified Military Register contains sufficient information to make a decision, it can be issued without the individual attending a draft board session. Previously, deferments without visiting the draft office were granted only to certain categories of citizens—for example, those with two or more children, full-time students or individuals holding an academic degree.
Army Recruitment
According to Marat Urmansov, the military commissar of Saint Petersburg, the city is expected to send around 3,000 conscripts into military service during the spring deployment, which begins on April 1. Under legislation that came into force this year, the draft process, including medical examinations, professional screening and draft board proceedings, now takes place throughout the entire calendar year. The period that previously covered all stages of conscription will now be used solely for sending recruits to military units.
In the Kemerovo region, the payment offered to mobilized personnel for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense has been reduced by nearly four times. As of March 17, mobilized soldiers who sign contracts will receive 400,000 rubles [$4,940], down from the previous 1.5 million rubles [$18,500].
At the Chuvash Pedagogical College, advertisements promoting contract military service have been installed. At the same time, students were given a lecture on UAV units, similar to those held at other educational institutions across Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic].
Valery Filippov, a 70-year-old member of the Chelyabinsk Regional Legislative Assembly and the head of the Uvelka cereals production company, has signed a six-month volunteer contract and deployed to the war against Ukraine. At the same time, Filippov has chosen to retain his parliamentary mandate. Notably, even the Russian army's volunteer units do not sign contracts with individuals over the age of 65. Filippov’s assets are estimated at around 300 million rubles [$3.70 million], and he was previously listed by Forbes as one of the richest regional parliament members.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In the city of Artyom in the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], a 23-year-old serviceman, Dmitry Karpeev, has been detained on suspicion of raping a 21-year-old woman.
In the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], a criminal case has been opened against a Barnaul-based businessman and his employees on fraud charges. According to investigators, since 2023 they had posed as legal consultants offering assistance to relatives of servicemen missing in the war against Ukraine, proposing contracts to help locate the missing and obtain compensation. They promised court representation and coordination with government agencies but, in practice, limited their work to sending template requests, after which they ceased communication once payment was received. Their "services" cost up to 75,000 rubles [$930], and the total damage in the case, involving five victims, is estimated at 280,000 rubles [$3,460].
A court in Ufa has sentenced 43-year-old Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic] State Assembly member from United Russia [Putin’s ruling party], Aleksey Lokotchenko, to 10 years in prison in a case involving mediation in bribery and attempted fraud. In January 2024, Lokotchenko volunteered for the war. According to the prosecution, in October 2024 he offered an acquaintance, for 10 million rubles [$123,400], to arrange a sham contract with the Ministry of Defense in order to suspend criminal proceedings against her. Lokotchenko also demanded 200,000 rubles [$2,470], allegedly to pass on to a military commissar in exchange for a military ID, but he never intended to transfer the money. An intermediary was initially detained while receiving 5 million rubles [$61,700], after which Lokotchenko himself was detained. He partially admitted guilt.
A 15-year-old has been detained for setting fire to an ATM. Authorities say the minor was likely acting under the influence of scammers. No injuries were reported.
A court in the Moscow region has placed a 19-year-old resident of Khimki under house arrest on suspicion of setting fire to an electrical transformer station. He has been charged with attempted arson. According to investigators, on March 4, the young man set fire to a transformer station in the village of Vinogradovo, near Dolgoprudny, but the flames quickly died out without causing damage. The suspect said he had acted on instructions from unidentified individuals, who told him that a power of attorney had allegedly been issued in his name through the Gosuslugi public services portal, enabling another person to finance the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To avoid criminal prosecution, they persuaded him to carry out the arson.
Four minors have been detained in Moscow on charges of committing an act of terror, intentional destruction of property and hooliganism. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the teenagers carried out arson attacks on transportation infrastructure, communications facilities and elements of the banking system after interacting in Telegram dating groups.
A 21-year-old Novorossiysk resident has been placed in a pre-trial detention center in a case involving the preparation of a terrorist attack. According to investigators, after he transferred 1.59 million rubles [$19,600] to scammers, he was contacted on Telegram by a person who introduced himself as a law enforcement officer. Under the threat of criminal prosecution for financing the AFU, he persuaded the young man to prepare an arson attack at a training facility of the Krasnodar University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The man did not end up carrying out the plan, as he was detained.
Officers of the FSB detained a 53-year-old resident of the Saratov region, accused of preparing a terrorist attack. According to investigators, the man, acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services, was supposed to attack a military airfield using two drones. He was allegedly promised 1.5 million rubles [$18,500] for this. The man retrieved explosives, munitions, detonators, two quadcopters and instructions for assembling bombs and launching the drones from a stash, but was later detained.
A Moscow court has sent 43-year-old Pavel Gulikov, the former director of the 7S Trans logistics company, to a pre-trial detention center after a series of revolving-door (carousel) arrests. He is charged with participation in a terrorist organization. According to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, his home was searched in November 2025, after which he was arrested for 15 days on charges of petty hooliganism, followed by another 15-day arrest in January 2026 for disobeying police. Gulikov was subsequently subjected to additional rounds of administrative detention in courts across the Moscow region before being placed in a pre-trial detention center on March 24, this time on criminal charges. Prior to his arrest, Gulikov had worked in logistics, served as an election observer in 2020, and after the start of the war posted critical remarks about the authorities on social media and filed for bankruptcy due to debts. The specific charges against him have not been disclosed.
The Irkutsk Regional Court is hearing the case of 35-year-old programmer Vadim Nekrashchuk, who is accused of treason. According to investigators, he photographed a military base checkpoint and transmitted the geolocation to a representative of Ukrainian intelligence. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charges and stated that after his detention on March 6, 2025, he was held for two days at FSB offices while hooded and handcuffed, after which he agreed to enter a state witness protection program and spent more than three months in a safe house with no communication, no ability to go outside and no access to electronic devices. He said that during this period, approximately 150,000 rubles [$1,850] were stolen from his cryptocurrency wallet. The Military Prosecutor's Office confirmed the theft but declined to open a criminal case.
The Southern District Military Court has sentenced Ilya Mezentsev, a resident of Kislovodsk, to 12 years in prison on charges of public calls for terrorism and participation in a terrorist organization. According to investigators, in 2023 he began corresponding with representatives of the Freedom of Russia Legion and received assignments from them. In June of that year, he photographed railway tracks between Kislovodsk and the settlement of Podkumok and sent the images along with geolocation data to the unit. He then printed and posted flyers around Kislovodsk bearing the organization's insignia and a QR code linking to its Telegram channel.
The Second Western District Military Court sentenced Vadim Alekseevsky, a 41-year-old Kyiv native and resident of the Moscow region, to 12 years in prison on charges of participating in a terrorist organization. According to investigators, he corresponded with a representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion, filled out a questionnaire and agreed to carry out assignments. He then photographed energy facilities in Domodedovo in 2023 and transmitted the data to his handlers. In April 2025, he attempted to fly out of Vnukovo Airport to Istanbul to join the Legion, but authorities detained him. Before transferring him to a pre-trial detention center, authorities twice placed him under administrative arrest on petty hooliganism charges; he denied the charges.
The Memorial Human Rights Defense Center reports that Russian authorities have virtually stopped opening new cases under the charge of "confidential cooperation," while increasingly reclassifying previously opened cases under the more severe charge of high treason. According to Memorial, since mid-2025, officials have reclassified at least 13 cases without changing the underlying facts, leading to a sharp increase in prison sentences. Statistics show a decline in new cases under the "confidential cooperation" charge—from 61 in 2024 to 39 in 2025, and only two since the start of 2026. Activists view this as evidence of an emerging practice of replacing "treason-lite" charges with the more serious offense. They believe that law enforcement agencies and courts have received an unspoken directive to apply treason charges in order to ensure harsher punishments. While the average sentence for "confidential cooperation" is four years and four months, it rises to 12 years and nine months for high treason.
In Moscow, the number of juvenile crimes had grown by more than 150% by the end of 2025, according to Oleg Baranov, head of Moscow's Interior Ministry directorate. He said perpetrators are increasingly involving teenagers, including those from affluent families, in crimes remotely. So far in 2026, authorities have opened criminal cases against four minors for attempted arson and attempted murder. The Interior Ministry links the rise in juvenile delinquency partly to external influence and notes an increase in the share of serious crimes.
A Vladimir region resident was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of participating in a sabotage group. Law enforcement say the man sent information about military and civilian facilities to an SBU officer and was preparing to attack them using drones. He allegedly purchased several drones and obtained explosives. He was detained on March 15, 2025.
Children and Militarization
The Vyorstka media outlet and the Ne Norma [Not a norm] Telegram channel report that at least 1,017 schools in 77 regions have involved students in producing military supplies during shop classes. The work includes making camouflage nets, trench candles, elements of military gear, clothing, medical supplies and other items—at least 57 categories in total. An analysis of school social media posts on VKontakte suggests the scale of the practice is growing: at least 253 such reports were published in the 2022-2023 academic year, compared with 475 in 2024-2025. Bashkortostan, the Krasnodar region, Tatarstan and the Rostov and Moscow regions had the highest number of schools involved, while such reports were far less common in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In many cases, students work on military supplies during mandatory class time and cannot refuse, as the subject is part of the school curriculum. Teachers openly speak of "explanatory conversations" and pressure on students, including those who express objections. Materials are often purchased by parents or collected through donations, while schools also receive funding and equipment through government procurement contracts and grants.
Assistance
In the Primorsky region, the regional parliament has introduced hiring quotas for war veterans: 2% for organizations with more than 150 employees and 1% for smaller companies.
In 2025, the authorities of Russia's constituent Republic of Chuvashia had spent 10.7 billion rubles [$132 million] to support participants in the invasion and their families. For comparison, the budget deficit for the year amounted to 18.56 billion rubles [$229 million]. According to Sergey Artamonov, the head of the government, there are more than 50 types of assistance programs in effect in Chuvashia, 37 of which were introduced at the republican level.
Miscellaneous
According to reports, the United Russia party is planning to nominate Lyudmila Bolilaya, a nurse and veteran of the war in Ukraine, to the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia]. In 2025, she was awarded the title of Hero of Russia, becoming the first female participant in the "special military operation" to receive such an award. The 40-year-old Bolilaya from the Saratov region went to war in the spring of 2023 after signing a contract with the MoD. She is expected to run for a State Duma seat from the Moscow region, although this has not yet been officially confirmed.
Longreads
The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet has reported that police have detained men under the influence of alcohol and tricked them into signing contracts with the MoD for deployment to the war. The outlet has also published an article about Russian soldiers deserting from the frontline.
Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] reported on a software developer who, while serving his statutory military service, was deployed to the war, later deserted and managed to flee Russia.
The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet highlighted cases from Tatarstan in which multiple men from the same family have been killed in the war in Ukraine.
The Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] media outlet has published a report on how schools in the Caucasus are being used to train students, who are still too young for deployment, in drone operation and the use of combat weapons. The article highlights intensified efforts to channel these students into military academies and law enforcement agencies.