Mobilization in Russia for May 12-14, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] unanimously passed amendments to the citizenship and defense laws in their second and third readings, which allow the president to send military personnel abroad "to protect" Russians in the event of their arrest. Lawmakers took a total of two minutes to pass the legislation, without any questions, discussion or amendments. The document proposes involving the Russian Armed Forces "in carrying out tasks using weapons outside their intended purpose" to protect Russian citizens facing prosecution based on decisions by foreign and international courts whose jurisdiction is not based on a treaty with Russia or a UN Security Council resolution. Existing legislation already gives authorities the right to "take measures" to protect citizens if foreign or international bodies make decisions contrary to Russia's interests. According to lawyers and human rights defenders, the new law is largely symbolic and aims to exert pressure on "unfriendly countries."
Lawmakers also passed a bill in its second and third readings that introduces amendments to the law "On the Basics of the Crime Prevention System" aimed at "preventing and suppressing evasion of the duty to defend the Fatherland" and "countering the distortion of historical truth." The measure will allow the Ministry of Internal Affairs to establish preventive supervision over individuals convicted of rehabilitating Nazism, insulting veterans and evading the draft. Law enforcement officers will also have the authority to conduct "preventive conversations" with these individuals regarding military registration, conscription and draft evasion. Officers can also issue them warnings against violating the law, place them on a special registry and maintain this supervision. Lawyers note that the bill represents part of a broader trend toward strengthening control over military obligations.
In addition, lawmakers simultaneously passed a bill through all three readings expanding debt relief measures for war participants and their families. Currently, the exemption applies only to debts up to 10 million rubles [$136,100] that entered enforcement proceedings before Dec. 1, 2024, provided the individual enlists after that date. The new legislation authorizes debt cancellation of the same amount for individuals who enlist on or after May 1, provided that enforcement proceedings for their debts began before May 2026. The new rules also preserve this debt cancellation option for spouses of war participants.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has prepared a new draft order "On the Organization of Prosecutorial Oversight over Compliance with Legislation on Military Registration and Conscription," which establishes oversight of efforts to locate citizens evading registration, coordination between draft offices and the Interior Ministry, the transfer of information by employers and educational institutions, as well as the reservation of persons liable for military service during wartime and mobilization. Prosecutors will pay particular attention to the functioning of the Unified Military Register and the Draft Register, as well as to keeping records on persons liable for military service up to date. In addition, prosecutors will review how medical examination commissions are formed, whether assigned fitness categories correspond to a citizen’s actual health condition, and will provide a "principled assessment" of the legality of decisions on conscription, deferments, exemptions from service, and declarations that citizens "failed to complete military service without lawful grounds." In practice, the proposal amounts to tighter oversight of Russia’s electronic military registration system.
Army Recruitment
In Saint Petersburg, advertisements have appeared offering jobs in the city’s transport sector "with subsequent contract signing." Applicants are first formally employed by the metro system before signing a contract with the MoD and being sent to the war against Ukraine. The ads are being displayed in public transport and on the pages of organizations involved in transportation, parking and traffic management in Saint Petersburg. They also list the promised payments: a sign-up bonus of 4.5 million rubles [$61,200] and monthly pay starting from 210,000 rubles [$2,860]. The contact numbers differ depending on which organization posted the advertisement. According to recruiters, the metro system retains the contract soldier’s job during military service and continues paying 10% of their salary.
In the Leningrad region, additional mobile air defense fire teams are to be formed by June 1 to protect critical infrastructure from aerial threats. The authorities said the move was prompted by an increase in UAV attacks. The new units are to be staffed from among reservists. Earlier, Governor of the Leningrad region Aleksandr Drozdenko called on residents—particularly war veterans and those with combat experience—to more actively sign three-year reserve service contracts. As journalists previously reported, reservists are being offered contracts with payments of up to 30,000 rubles [$410] per month during training periods and up to 3,000 rubles [$41] outside of them.
The number of convicts in Russia has fallen by 39.3% during the war, according to a statement by Federal Penitentiary Service chief Arkady Gostev. He said that while 465,000 people were being held in pre-trial detention centers and correctional facilities at the end of 2021, that number has now dropped to 282,000, including 85,000 in pre-trial detention centers. Earlier, Vazhnyye Istorii [Istories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] estimated the number of people held in pre-trial detention centers at 81,000. Gostev confirmed that, recently, the opportunity to sign a contract with the MoD and go to war either before trial or from a penal colony has had "a certain impact" on the decline in the prison population.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
A court in Izhevsk dismissed the criminal case against 51-year-old anesthesiologist-resuscitator Konstantin Morozov, who had been charged with negligent homicide resulting from the improper performance of his professional duties. The criminal case reached court in late July 2025, but was suspended as early as August after the doctor signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and went to fight in Ukraine. In April 2026, he was awarded the medal For Life Saving. The victims’ civil lawsuit was dismissed without consideration.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In the village of Ust-Isha in the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], 22-year-old war participant Yevgeny Ashikhmin, who had returned home on leave, and a 40-year-old man named Vitaly brutally murdered 15-year-old Anton Zyablitsky. The crime took place on April 17 during a drinking session. According to reports, the motive was that the teenager had insulted one of the accused man’s close relatives. The victim was first beaten and then stabbed 52 times. After the murder, the men attempted to conceal the crime and planned to dispose of the body near a river, but a passerby intervened and called the police. The 22-year-old suspect is currently under the supervision of the Military Prosecutor’s Office, while the 40-year-old man, in whose house the murder took place, is being treated as a witness.
A court in the Moscow region has sentenced Mikhail Babinin, a war participant, to seven years in a maximum security penal colony for several episodes of theft and burglary, as well as desertion. After receiving medical treatment, Babinin did not return to his military unit and went into hiding in the Moscow region. The man stole jewelry from his relative and robbed several shops before he was caught.
The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced 23-year-old Uzbek citizen Bobur Allayer ugli Ziedullayev to 16 years in prison on charges of a terrorist attack. According to law enforcement, Ziedullaev posted a job listing online with his contact information, after which someone contacted him via a messenger app and offered 10,000 rubles [$140] to set railroad equipment on fire. Ziedullayev accepted the offer and, arriving by scooter to a relay cabinet on the line between Moscow 3 and Malenkoskaya stations in January 2025, set it on fire. The damage to the Russian Railways [Russian fully state-owned railway company] was estimated at over 458,000 rubles [$6,230]. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on the man's detention at the end of January. Ziedullayev insisted in court that he had set the relay cabinet on fire "for the purpose of stealing nonferrous metals."
In Samara, a court has ordered two underage residents of Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent republic], accused of a terrorist attack, to be held in custody. According to law enforcement, the teenagers set fire to a transformer cabinet on a railway at the direction of a "handler" they had allegedly met on the Telegram messaging app. They were promised 20,000 rubles [$270] for carrying out the task.
Aleksey Miloserdov, a 46-year-old resident of the Tambov region, has been sentenced to 22 years in a penal colony on charges of treason, preparing a terrorist attack, undergoing terrorism training, and storing explosives and explosive devices. In a video released by the Federal Security Service (FSB), the man states that he had visited pro-Ukrainian online resources and that in 2024, a representative of Ukrainian intelligence services contacted him and proposed that he carry out bombings at two courthouses in Tambov. Miloserdov allegedly then traveled to the Moscow region, where he picked up explosive devices and attempted to plant them near one of the courthouses before being detained by FSB officers. Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] found that the man had previously worked at the Ministry of Defense and the Military Prosecutor’s Office.
Eduard Voronov, a 53-year-old resident of the Chelyabinsk region, has been sentenced to 22 years and 2 months in a penal colony in a case involving preparing an act of terror, undergoing terrorism training, participation in a terrorist community and a terrorist organization, possession of explosive devices and treason. According to the court, in February 2025, Voronov located an application form for the Freedom of Russia Legion, filled it out, submitted it, and later received an offer—allegedly from a representative of the unit—to take part in a terrorist attack in Moscow. Because Voronov had been under administrative supervision following prior prison terms in other criminal cases, he had to lie to his Federal Penitentiary Service inspector, telling him that he was going to Moscow for work. There, in March of the same year, on instructions from a handler, he retrieved an explosive device at coordinates provided to him and then surveilled an administrative building. He was detained shortly afterward.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
In occupied Crimea, the FSB detained two local residents accused of treason. Russian authorities alleged that the men had independently established contact with Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence and border service, providing information about military facilities, including the coordinates of S-400 air defense systems and personnel details of the "territorial defense of Crimea." Investigators claimed the information could have been used for acts of sabotage and for missile and artillery strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
A regional court in Sakhalin sentenced a 48-year-old local man to 17 years in a maximum security penal colony on treason charges. According to prosecutors, the man began corresponding with what officials described as Ukrainian intelligence services in the winter of 2023, and later, "under instructions from his handlers," gathered information about facilities in one of Sakhalin’s municipal districts. Prosecutors did not specify which buildings or sites were involved.
The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don handed down at least 30 verdicts in April in criminal cases involving Ukrainian citizens, according to data compiled by the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center—the highest monthly total on record. Cases against another 18 Ukrainians have recently been sent to the court. Most of the defendants are charged with participation in a terrorist organization over alleged service in the Azov Brigade, while another faces similar charges tied to service in the Aidar Battalion. Three defendants are accused of plotting attacks against the Russian-installed head of the Kherson region; two others face charges of preparing and planning terrorist attacks, and one defendant is accused of justifying terrorism.
Children and Militarization
Government spending on military-patriotic events aimed at recruiting children into Young Army, a pro-Kremlin youth organization, hit a five-year high in 2025, reaching 818.9 million rubles [$11.14 million]. In comparison, spending stood at 270 million rubles [$3.67 million] annually in both 2024 and 2023, 302.2 million rubles [$4.11 million] in 2022, and 197.7 million rubles [$2.69 million] in 2021. In addition, during those same years, Young Army received subsidies from the Ministry of Defense ranging from 143 million rubles [$1.95 million] to 257 million rubles [$3.50 million]. Before the war, the organization reported more than 1 million members, while its website now puts membership at more than 2 million.
Miscellaneous
In Tatarstan, participants in the war against Ukraine will be recruited to assist with police patrols. The republic is establishing a volunteer organization called Duslar to assist police in patrolling communities.
Longreads
The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] reports on how Russia is recruiting African nationals to fight in the war against Ukraine.