Mobilization in Russia for March 18-20, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] has approved in its first reading a bill that would grant military authorities up to one year to enforce a conscription decision. According to the bill, "A decision to call up an individual for statutory military service, if not enforced during the conscription campaign when it was issued, can be enforced within one year from the date of adoption."

Lawmakers have also introduced a bill in the State Duma that would create a pathway for demobilization of fathers with three or more children. The changes would allow mobilized soldiers who welcome a third or subsequent child to request a discharge after one year of service. Contract soldiers in similar circumstances could choose not to renew their contract, even during a period of mobilization. This is the second bill this year addressing early discharge for fathers of large families, following an earlier initiative that applied to servicemen who welcomed a fourth or subsequent child.

Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that obliges Ukrainian citizens who remain in Russia without "legal grounds" to either leave the country or "resolve their legal status" by Sept. 10. The decree also requires foreigners residing in the annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to undergo examinations by June 10 to confirm they do not use drugs or carry HIV. A lawyer who spoke with The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] described the measure as a way to pressure Ukrainians who have not yet obtained Russian passports.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

On March 18, residents of the Chelyabinsk region received mass SMS messages promoting contract military service. The advertisement offered a sign-up bonus of 2.1 million rubles [$25,100] and a starting salary of 210,000 rubles [$2,510]. The contact number listed in the message belonged to a contract military service recruitment facility in the city of Kurgan. However, the draft office in Kurgan claimed to be unaware of the campaign. The Ministry of Public Security of the Chelyabinsk region later confirmed that the SMS campaign had been organized at the request of the Kurgan region, with Chelyabinsk included to expand the outreach.

The authorities of Karelia [Russia’s constituent republic] plan to allocate 905.6 million rubles [$10.84 million] for sign-up bonuses to citizens signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense. In the region, contract soldiers receive a one-time payment of 400,000 rubles [$4,790] upon enlistment. This funding should be sufficient for more than 2,200 new recruits. The allocated amount is comparable to the region’s spending on resettling residents from unsafe housing (937 million rubles [$11.22 million]) and exceeds the region’s education budget. Additionally, Governor Artur Parfenchikov intends to use the republic’s reserve fund—budgeted for a 400 million ruble [$4.79 million] replenishment—to support participants in the war.

Andrey Shvaryov, the former deputy head of Penal Colony No. 37 in the town of Chusovoy, Perm region [Russia’s federal subject], who was previously sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony for abuse of power and bribery, has signed a contract and headed to the war. In December 2024, he was found guilty of extorting 4 million rubles [$47,900] from an inmate under the threat of punishment. This marks his second deployment—he resigned from the penal colony in the summer of 2023 and was arrested in April 2024 in Donetsk on bribery charges.

Roman Shirokov, one of the suspects accused of acting as an intermediary in the murder of Perm businessman Alexander Lukov, has been sent to war from a pre-trial detention center. In October 2023, a hired assassin shot and killed Lukov. Authorities later arrested the suspected mastermind behind the murder—Lukov’s former business partner Ruslan Shardakov—along with two alleged intermediaries, father and son Andrey and Roman Shirokov. The assassin remains at large.

A 43-year-old resident of Chita who fatally beat his wife has been sent to war. Criminal proceedings against him were suspended after he signed a military contract. According to investigators, he killed his wife in early December 2024 in a fit of jealousy.

Police in Tyumen have placed returning war veterans under surveillance, according to Aleksandr Smirnov, head of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Summarizing the results of 2024, he emphasized that special attention is being given to convicted criminals who were pardoned after serving in the war. As of late last year, 458 former soldiers were under police monitoring, 52 of whom have committed crimes. However, Smirnov did not specify the nature of the offenses. Previously, his deputy, Yevgeny Kozlov, reported that between May 2023 and October 2024, a total of 378 individuals returned to the region from the war and committed 128 crimes, including 65 thefts.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war. Ukraine returned 175 Russian servicemen, who are currently in Belarus.

In exchange, Ukraine received 175 servicemen from the Armed Forces, Navy, National Guard, Territorial Defense Forces and Border Service, including defenders of the Azovstal Steel Factory. In addition, an extra 22 soldiers returned through measures separate from the exchange. Among them were severely wounded soldiers and servicemen who, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "were persecuted by Russia for fabricated crimes."

In 2024, the average time for delivering wounded soldiers to qualified military surgeons has increased to 14.5 hours, with a median time of 7 hours. This finding comes from an analysis of the MoD’s Military Medical Journal by the Vyorstka media outlet. During the 2022-2023 period, the average time for wounded Russian soldiers to reach surgeons was 4.5 hours. Among nearly 200 severely wounded soldiers studied in the 2024 research, only 12 percent received surgical assistance within the recommended two-hour window. The study also found that limb injuries remain the most common type of injury in war, affecting 58 percent of injured soldiers. According to MoD doctors, head wounds (11 percent) and chest wounds (9 percent) are the second most prevalent injuries.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

In Nizhny Novgorod, a man who had returned on leave from the war fired a signal pistol inside an apartment and threatened his wife with violence. His wife reported the incident to the police, and patrol officers subsequently detained him. The pistol was confiscated, and the man was placed in a special detention center with a report filed against him for petty hooliganism. It was noted that the detainee was heavily intoxicated.

The Abakan Garrison Military Court has sentenced a Russian serviceman to three years in a penal colony on probation in a case of abuse of authority with violence. According to the court, "dissatisfied with a subordinate's performance of duties, <...> he grabbed him by the throat, pulled him closer and struck him twice in the face with his fist." Judicial practice shows that punishments not involving imprisonment are standard in cases of violence by commanders against subordinates, notes the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel.

In the Novosibirsk region, the Transport Prosecutor's Office has submitted to the court a criminal case of sabotage on the railway involving a 17-year-old resident of Novosibirsk. According to prosecutors, in December 2024, the accused, acting on online instructions in exchange for a reward, set fire to a railway signaling, centralization and blocking device.

Two teenagers from Chita, aged 16 and 17, have been sentenced to six and a half years and six years in a penal colony, respectively, on charges of sabotage. Their names have not been disclosed. According to investigators, the boys set fire to a cell tower on the outskirts of Chita at the instruction of an unnamed handler from Ukraine, who promised them 30,000 rubles [$360] in return.

The First Western District Military Court has begun hearing the case of Ilya Kholopov, a resident of the Novgorod region, who is accused of intended treason and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization. According to the prosecution, the young man visited the website of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), filled out an application and was awaiting an invitation to join the group and fight in Ukraine. However, after not receiving a response, in March 2024, Kholopov purchased a ticket to Saint Petersburg, from where he planned to travel through Moscow toward the border. On March 4, 2024, he was arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Saint Petersburg. Kholopov partially admitted his guilt, stating that he did intend to travel toward Ukraine, join the RDK and take part in military actions. However, he later changed his mind and planned to cancel his tickets but did not have time to do so.

In Moscow, a man was arrested on charges of participating in a terrorist organization. According to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, on March 2, Ivan Shadrin attempted to fly abroad from Vnukovo Airport. There, after being interrogated by law enforcement officers, he allegedly admitted to maintaining contact with a "terrorist organization." Shadrin was initially arrested for 15 days on charges of petty hooliganism due to the use of obscene language. After serving his sentence, he was transferred to a pre-trial detention center in connection with the criminal case.

The FSB announced the arrest of a female resident of annexed Crimea on charges of treason. According to the intelligence services, the detainee was collecting data on the location of Russian Armed Forces military facilities on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence.

The Khabarovsk Regional Court sentenced a resident of the village of Zavety Ilyicha to 13 years in a maximum-security penal colony on charges of treason. The man, a retired lieutenant colonel, was stripped of his rank. According to investigators, the convicted man was an opponent of the "special military operation." In 2022, he transferred money to a close female relative living in Ukraine. IUnder his instructions, she allegedly donated money to a Ukrainian fund that purchased weapons, ammunition, uniforms and gear for Ukrainian military units.

A court in Rostov convicted 33-year-old Ukrainian citizen Hryhorii Sinchenko on 47 counts, including six acts of sabotage, as well as espionage and participation in a terrorist organization. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Sinchenko has been pursued by authorities since 2016. After Crimea’s annexation, he dropped out of Simferopol University and was accused of detonating tobacco kiosks, allegedly as part of an extortion scheme targeting local businesses. He denied involvement but spent nearly a year in detention, during which he was tortured, leading to a lung rupture. In 2017, he was exchanged in a prisoner swap by Ukrainian authorities; however, after a few months of freedom, he returned to Donetsk—according to investigators, on an assignment from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). In 2019, Sinchenko was arrested again and charged with multiple detonations targeting power lines, bridges and vehicles belonging to Donetsk police officers who had previously pursued him. Investigators claimed he lived in a sewer pipe, moved around the city only at dawn and assembled bombs by himself. Six months after his arrest, Sinchenko escaped from a detention facility in Donetsk but was later recaptured. Photos of a wanted notice from the self-proclaimed Donetsk Ministry of Internal Affairs showed marks on his face resembling electric shock torture wounds. In court, Sinchenko stated that all his confessions had been extracted under torture. Despite the charges, no one was physically harmed by the acts attributed to Sinchenko. Mediazona has documented his story in detail.

Assistance

Alfiya Kogogina, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Small and Medium Enterprises, announced that on March 17, the "SVOy Business" project was launched. In this initiative, entrepreneurs will share their business experience with war veterans and their families (SVO stands for the special military operation in Russian — CIT).

Russian Post [Russia’s national postal operator] has expressed its readiness to hire war veterans as part of the regional personnel project "Heroes of Tuva."

In Saint Petersburg, the customs department confiscated military vehicles and gear that were planned to be sent to the war zone, believing that they had been smuggled into Russia.

Children and Educational System

In Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic], a "military-themed game with the conditions our soldiers are in today" was organized for schoolchildren during the region leader’s birthday celebration. Meanwhile, in Makhachkala, schoolchildren took part in events marking the anniversary of Crimea's annexation.

Miscellaneous

The administration of Cherepovets published a photo of mayoral candidates, blurring the face of one of them. It remains unclear whose face was obscured, but among the candidates for mayor is 39-year-old Ilya Shubin, whom Cherepovets authorities describe as an "active military serviceman" and a participant in the war against Ukraine.

Longreads

The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet explores life in Bashkortostan during the war.

Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has published a report on the role of the state startup incubator in military procurement.

In the fall of 2023, anti-war activist Rafail Shepelev disappeared in Georgia. He was later found in a Russian pre-trial detention center. The Pervy Otdel [First Department] human rights project has uncovered how the FSB abducted the activist in Georgia.