Mobilization in Russia for March 5-8, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Vladimir Putin signed a law prohibiting the extradition of foreign nationals and stateless individuals to other countries for criminal prosecution or to serve a sentence if they have signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense, completed contract military service or participated in combat.
Lawmakers introduced a bill in the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] to expand the grounds for the early discharge of military personnel raising a child with a disability. The bill's authors aim to amend Article 51 of the Military Conscription and Military Service Act by establishing the care of such children as a distinct justification for leaving the armed forces. While commanders currently have the authority to approve such discharges on a case-by-case basis, there are no guarantees. Passing this legislation would not automatically release all qualifying service members, as commanders would still retain significant decision-making power. Nevertheless, the proposed law could strengthen the legal position of soldiers when filing formal discharge requests.
Army Recruitment
On March 5, the Rostov region increased the one-time regional payment for signing a contract with the Defense Ministry by 700,000 rubles [$8,880]. Instead of the 2.3 million rubles authorities set in early February, the region will now pay 3 million rubles [$38,000]. Consequently, when factoring in the federal contract payment of 400,000 rubles [$5,070], new recruits will now receive 3.4 million rubles [$43,100].
Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] has published an analysis of the sign-up bonuses Russian regions offer to participants in the war. The outlet notes that almost all regions in the Volga area that reduced their payments (1, 2, 3) for signing contracts with the MoD in late 2025 have since restored them to their previous levels. The main exception is the Ulyanovsk region, where payments were increased only for those serving in the Unmanned Systems Forces. Several other regions have also raised their bonuses. At the same time, these payments are increasing regardless of whether regional budgets can realistically sustain them. The combined planned budget deficit across these regions amounts to about 393 billion rubles [$5 billion]. Although the average regional payment for signing a contract is now at its highest level—around 1.6 million rubles [$20,300]—its rate of growth has slowed. In February 2025, the average payment was 5.4 times higher than a year earlier, whereas in 2026 it has increased only 1.5 times. Currently, in 31 regions the total sign-up bonus—including the federal bonus of 400,000 rubles [$5,070]—exceeds 2.5 million rubles [$31,700]. According to the outlet’s calculations, overall support for war participants is roughly nine times higher than assistance for large families and three times higher than benefits for people with severe disabilities.
In the cities of Kostroma and Voronezh, advertisements recruiting people for contract military service have been printed on utility payment bills. The advertisements emphasize that recruitment is "only" for UAV units.
Rashid Ilyasov, the military commissar of the city of Naberezhnye Chelny, said that in 2025 Russia’s constituent republic of Tatarstan fulfilled its recruitment plan for contract soldiers at 110%. More than 1,400 recruits came from Naberezhnye Chelny alone, and the city is expected to send roughly the same number this year. Earlier, however, the head of the republic reported a slight shortfall in recruitment in the city of Kazan. It is worth noting that in early October 2025 Tatarstan reduced its regional signing bonus to the minimum level—400,000 rubles [$5,070]—but the payment was almost fully restored at the beginning of 2026. Ilyasov’s remarks may therefore indicate that the earlier reduction in payments was linked to the region having already met its recruitment targets.
At the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, third-year students had their regular classes replaced for two weeks with a course on operating drones. According to the Movement of Conscientious Objectors [a human rights organization supporting those who refuse to perform military service], lectures were scheduled to begin at the university on March 9, followed by field training starting March 15 in Konakovo in the Tver region. Students were reportedly threatened with expulsion if they refused to participate in the program. Human rights advocates note that threats of expulsion for refusing to take part in additional classes have no legal basis and that the right to refuse participation in practical training related to military technologies on grounds of conscience is enshrined in the Russian Constitution and confirmed by the Constitutional Court.
At Far Eastern Federal University, the deadline for repeat midterm assessments (retakes) was shortened by nearly a month, and some students received letters notifying them of impending expulsion. According to student-run channels, during a recruitment meeting at one of the university’s institutes, students at risk of expulsion were offered contracts to serve in Unmanned Systems Forces. They were promised reinstatement at the university after completing their service and the cancellation of their academic debts. Earlier reports indicated that the university has a recruitment plan for sending students into contract military service. In February alone, 32 people were expected to be sent into the army.
At the Astrakhan College of Professional Technologies, students were required to attend an "excursion" to a military training center intended to promote the profession of drone operators. According to students, their curator required all male students over the age of 18 to attend the event.
A student at Perm State Medical University with outstanding academic debts said he was unlawfully expelled from his fourth year and, during a meeting with a vice rector, was offered a one-year contract with Unmanned Systems Forces. According to the student, the proposal was dropped after it emerged that his military ID listed him in service fitness category "V" (partially fit for military service), which does not allow him to sign a contract.
A college in Irkutsk has been accused of failing to notify the draft office about the dismissal of students. According to the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor's Office, an employee of the educational institution failed to submit the information about the dismissal of 52 students subject to military registration. The employee was fined 40,000 rubles [$510] for the untimely provision of information for military registration, and three employees of the personnel department were brought to disciplinary liability.
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 202,766 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 18,092 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 2,580 soldiers, 143 of whom were mobilized. The journalists also note that at least 32 female soldiers have been killed in the four years of the full-scale war. Most of them served as military medics, but among the dead were also a commander of a rocket artillery battalion, an unmanned aircraft instructor, a radio operator and a dog handler. One of the women was killed in the rear by convicts recruited to the frontline from penal colonies. At the same time, among the deceased is a woman who had also enlisted in the army from a penal colony. In 2023, Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu [former Russia’s Minister of Defense] stated that about 1,100 female soldiers were participating in the war.
Russia and Ukraine have conducted the second phase of the 500-for-500 POW [prisoner of war] exchange. This time, the sides exchanged 300 servicemen each. The previous day, during the first phase, they exchanged 200 POWs each.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The 1st Western District Military Court sentenced serviceman Ruslan Timofeyev, born in 2005, to 23 years in prison in a case involving desertion and an attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence. According to investigators, in April 2025 Timofeyev fled his military unit in Kamianka and was placed on a wanted list. On April 23 in the town of Kingisepp he was stopped for an ID check by 24-year-old police Lieutenant Dmitry Semyonov. Fearing detention, Timofeyev stabbed him in the neck with a knife and fled. The officer died, and Timofeyev was detained the next day. According to media reports, he had signed a contract with the MoD during his statutory military service.
The Vasileostrovsky District Court in St. Petersburg sentenced local resident Danila Polevoda to two and a half years on probation in a fraud case and ordered him to repay 405,000 rubles [$5,140]. According to investigators, in May 2024 Polevoda, through acquaintances, fictitiously obtained employment at the Fuel and Energy Complex company. He then arranged a suspension of his employment contract, claiming he had signed a contract for military service, and received a sign-up bonus of 405,000 rubles [$5,140]. Investigators also say he brought in two other men who received payments under the same scheme and passed part of the money to the organizers.
In February, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don received criminal cases against at least 16 Ukrainian citizens accused of extremism, justifying terrorism, participation in a terrorist organization, spreading knowingly false information about the Russian army, calling for activities against state security and espionage. Twelve of them are charged in cases linked to the Azov Brigade, another with participation in the Aidar Battalion, while the remaining defendants face charges of justifying terrorism, spreading alleged "fake" information about the army and espionage. The total number of known criminal cases against Ukrainian citizens in this court has already exceeded 500.
In the Moscow region, a 16-year-old was detained after an explosion at a bank branch in the settlement of Putilkovo. According to prosecutors, acting on phone instructions from unidentified individuals, he brought a canister of flammable liquid to the bank, poured it out and set it on fire. No one was injured in the explosion. Witnesses detained the teenager and handed him over to Rosgvardia [Russian National Guard] officers.
In St. Petersburg, Rosgvardia officers detained a 14-year-old suspected of setting fire to a gas station in the settlement of Metallostroy. A criminal case has been opened against him on charges of a terrorist attack. According to law enforcement, unidentified individuals pressured the teenager into carrying out the arson through phone instructions. The fire spread across the entire station but was extinguished after about 20 minutes. No one was injured. After setting the fire, the boy tried to flee but was caught by a passerby. Authorities in St. Petersburg had earlier introduced a temporary ban on the sale of fuel to minors to "reduce risks associated with the use of flammable materials for destructive purposes."
The Central District Military Court sentenced Polina Yevtushenko, a resident of Tolyatti, to 14 years in a penal colony in a case involving preparation for treason, public calls for extremist activity, incitement to terrorism, inducement to terrorist activity, insulting the memory of defenders of the fatherland and spreading knowingly false information about the Russian army. Prosecutors had sought an 18-year sentence. Yevtushenko, 27, was detained in July 2023 outside a kindergarten where she had brought her five-year-old daughter. According to investigators, the criminal case stemmed from antiwar posts she published online and from correspondence with a Samara resident, Nikolay Komarov, whom she met on social media. Komarov repeatedly questioned her about the war, mobilization and her views on Russian authorities and Ukraine, secretly recording their conversations. He later handed the recordings over to the Federal Security Service (FSB). Prosecutors say Yevtushenko tried to persuade Komarov to commit treason and urged him to join the Freedom of Russia Legion. An independent linguistic expert, Nikiforova, said the recordings contained no such calls or persuasion, describing them instead as attempts by Komarov to provoke her. Authorities also cited her post with instructions for Russian soldiers on how to surrender, as well as older posts, reposts and comments on the VKontakte social network and Instagram.
The First Western District Military Court has sentenced Artyom Shcherbakov, born in 2001, to 15 years of imprisonment in a case involving participation in the activities of a terrorist organization, attempted terrorist attack, aiding terrorist activities and treason. According to investigators, he tried to poison "humanitarian aid" intended for the Española Battalion using a highly toxic chemical substance provided by Ukrainian intelligence. Shcherbakov entered into a plea deal with investigators and testified against alleged accomplices Rinat Ilyin and Nikita Krasilnikov, whose cases are currently being considered in the same court. They did not plead guilty to the charges. All three were detained in March 2024 and allegedly belonged toa Saint Petersburg cell of the Russian Volunteer Corps. According to prosecutors, they also carried out assignments to guide Ukrainian UAVs by filming transport infrastructure, fuel and energy complex facilities and the defense industry in Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Another person was detained together with them, but nothing is known about his subsequent fate.
FSB officers have detained an 18-year-old female resident of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region on suspicion of treason. According to investigators, she passed information via Telegram to a representative of the Ukrainian intelligence services about the locations of Russian army units and administrative buildings in the "Volnovakha municipal district." She also allegedly collected and transmitted data about local residents and members of youth organizations. After her detention, she pleaded guilty on camera.
A court in Krasnodar has sentenced a 48‑year‑old man to 14 years in prison on high treason charges. Investigators said that in September 2024, while in the city of Odesa, he transferred money to a serviceman of the Azov Brigade—an act law enforcement interpreted as financial support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The court noted that the man had previously lived in Sweden. He was detained by the FSB in the Krasnodar region, where he had traveled for work. His name has not been disclosed.
The "Berdiansk District Court," established by Russian authorities, has sentenced 70‑year‑old Azovske village resident Mykola Tinkov to 10 years in prison for providing assistance to the enemy. According to investigators, in March 2025, Tinkov transferred 3,015 hryvnias [$81] to the Ukrainian military using a Ukrainian bank mobile application. The court noted that Tinkov is a Ukrainian citizen and does not hold a Russian passport. For that reason, the charge was classified as providing assistance to the enemy by a foreign citizen.
Longreads
The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet has discovered how advertising agencies, through job postings on HeadHunter, are hiring recruiters to find people for contract military service and deployment to the war.