Mobilization in Russia for May 22-25, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law establishing a separate quota for state-funded higher education for the children of individuals who participated in combat operations on Russian Federation territory.
Putin also signed a bill into law enabling participants in the war against Ukraine to apply for out-of-court bankruptcy for debts up to 1,000,000 rubles [$12,300]. For this, they must present a certificate confirming their participation in the "special military operation." The procedure is reserved for individuals who lack seizable assets. Furthermore, current legislation forbids seizing any payments they received for participation in combat operations to repay these debts.
Putin also instructed the Government to prepare proposals for extending the preferential mortgage program to families of war participants raising a child under 14. Until now, the program allowed families with children under 7 or with disabilities to obtain a subsidized housing loan at six percent annually.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
In Saint Petersburg, law enforcement officers conducted "targeted preventive raids on martial arts clubs catering to migrants." As a result, eleven Russian citizens of Caucasian descent received draft notices for military registration.
The Union of Fathers of Russia has encouraged Russian men to enlist in the war to "increase the level of income and well-being of their families." In May, the organization launched the "Employment Service for Fathers" project with "verified job offers. To date, contract-based military service has been the sole employment opportunity suggested.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 109,625 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 12,085 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 1,017 soldiers.
From May 23 to 25, Russia and Ukraine conducted a 1,000-for-1,000 POW exchange, representing the largest exchange since the outset of the full-scale war. On the first day of the exchange, 390 Ukrainians returned home, including 270 military personnel and 120 civilians. 270 Russian soldiers and 120 civilians were sent to Russia, including residents of the Kursk region and at least 70 individuals convicted in Ukraine of treason, collaborating with the enemy and terrorism. The latter were participants in the Hochu k Svoim [I Want to Join My People] project and expressed a desire to move to Russia. On the second day, May 24, a 307-for-307 POW exchange took place. On the final day, both sides exchanged 303 individuals. In both cases, all the exchanged were military personnel.
As reported by the independent Russian media outlet Dovod, Russian soldiers are being sent back to the war after returning from captivity — where some of them are subsequently killed. Journalists documented two cases involving residents of the Vladimir region who died in the war with Ukraine after being repatriated from Ukrainian captivity. On Aug. 1, 2024, mobilized soldier Artur Lipatov was killed. He had been taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces in November 2022 and was exchanged in February 2023. Another case involved Yevgeny Vinogradov, a convict from a penal colony in the Vladimir region, who had been sentenced to 15 years for murder. He fought as part of the Wagner Group and was captured in December 2022. According to available information, he was returned to Russia in a prisoner exchange and subsequently sent back to Ukraine, where he died in May 2023.
Aleksandr, a 36-year-old contract soldier from the town of Timashevsk, ended up in a military medical unit in the Kursk region after being wounded, where, according to his wife and lawyer, he has been held against his will, beaten, and extorted. In January 2025, his commander allegedly demanded one million rubles from him, after which he was transferred to an assault unit. In April and May, military police officers allegedly beat him twice, accusing him of stealing iPhones. He was thrown into a pit and chained by hand to a weight for several days. As a result, his fingers were broken and he suffered bruising. Since May 18, he had not been in contact. After media reports appeared, his lawyer said that due to public outcry, Aleksandr was transferred to a "safe place." Investigators are now working with him, and a procedural inquiry is underway. Suspects in the beatings have been brought to the local commandant’s office.
Sergey Serditov, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1430th Motorized Rifle Regiment, who had previously shot and killed Aleksey Serov—a mobilized father of multiple children—during a conflict, was killed on the frontline on May 9 in a UAV attack. The news was shared on social media by one of his friends. Earlier, witnesses to the murder had been sent to assault units, where all of them were killed. One of the battalion’s officers who had helped cover up the killing also died.
Aleksey Vakhrushev, a 22-year-old man with mental disabilities from the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject], fled the frontline after being repeatedly assaulted, doused with diesel fuel, and threatened with being set on fire by fellow soldiers. Vakhrushev had initially been forced to sign a military contract following a fabricated theft charge, and was later subjected to humiliation and beatings within his unit. Although he has been diagnosed with mild intellectual disability—a condition that should disqualify him from military service—the Military Prosecutor's Office claims that Vakhrushev signed the contract voluntarily, and that passing a military medical board prior to signing is not mandatory, therefore no violations were found. According to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel, Vakhrushev has been listed as a deserter since October 2024 and now faces up to seven years in a penal colony.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
On May 21 in the village of Borisovo near Kemerovo, Semyon Rakvinenko, a participant in the war who had lost an arm and did not have a driver’s license, hit an 8-year-old boy riding a scooter. The child sustained a concussion, a traumatic brain injury and a broken collarbone. After returning from the frontline, Rakvinenko got a job at the local draft office. He had previously been fined for speeding. Following the traffic accident, administrative charges were filed against him for driving without a license and insurance. Rakvinenko claims the child suddenly rode out in front of him and that the investigation declared him not guilty.
In the Kursk region, military investigative authorities are probing a case involving banditry, brutal murder and looting. The suspects are Russian soldiers who participated in combat operations as assault troops. According to investigators, a group of five soldiers killed a fellow soldier by first shooting him several times in the legs and then in the head, after which they burned the body in the basement of a destroyed house. The defendants claim they executed the fellow soldier because he attempted to desert. They also deny the looting charges, saying they took "some small items" from destroyed houses for everyday needs. One of the accused, Mikhail Osipov, had previously been convicted of murder in the "DPR," but the conviction was expunged after he was awarded for participating in the war. Another defendant, Aleksandr Lisunov, pleaded guilty to concealing the crime and was convicted in a special procedure.
The Saratov Regional Court has sentenced 37-year-old Rail Khairov, a former Wagner Group mercenary, to 23 years in a maximum security penal colony for the brutal murder of a muezzin. Khairov was found guilty of murder for financial gain, armed robbery resulting in grievous bodily harm, and the deliberate destruction of property by arson. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence. In 2019, Khairov was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for murder and property destruction. However, in 2022, he was recruited from prison into the Wagner Group, deployed to the frontlines, and later pardoned by a decree from Putin. In April 2024, Khairov murdered 46-year-old Ibragim Isyanyaev—a muezzin and father of several children—and stole 300,000 rubles [$3,770] from him. After the crime, Khairov attempted to hide the body, then traveled to the "DPR" to enlist as a volunteer fighter on the frontlines. He was arrested in Donetsk.
A court in Ulyanovsk has sentenced 24-year-old Vladislav Lisov to eight years in a maximum security penal colony for using forged documents and desertion. According to prosecutors, Lisov failed to report for military service, obtained a fake Russian passport, and fled to the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia. In November 2024, he and another Russian citizen, Pavel Koptsev, were detained by local law enforcement and handed over to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
37-year-old Anna Osipova from Saint Petersburg was detained on suspicion of setting a police station on fire. A terrorism case was initiated against her, and the court remanded her to a pre-trial detention center. According to investigators, in the early hours of May 24, 2025, the woman set fire to a police station on the instructions of scammers. As Osipova stated, in mid-May, unknown individuals contacted her, claiming that her Gosuslugi public services portal account had been hacked, loans had been taken out in her name, and the funds had been transferred "to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine." The callers then instructed her to burn the police station "to avoid criminal liability."
The FSB reported the detention in Kaliningrad of a 24-year-old Russian citizen. According to the intelligence services, he was plotting a bomb attack on the route of the military parade on May 9. The young man, born in 2000, was allegedly acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services. He was tasked with gathering information about the parade rehearsal. On May 5, the detainee sent photographs of locations with gatherings of people and equipment, for which he received $150 in cryptocurrency. Subsequently, according to the man, he was supposed to retrieve a bomb from a cache, for which he was promised $205,000. A case has been initiated against the detainee for assisting terrorist and sabotage activities.
In Saint Petersburg, a court sentenced 22-year-old Yury Petrash to 10 years in a maximum security penal colony on terrorism charges. Petrash was arrested in February 2025 after setting fire to the door of the city’s FSB headquarters. During questioning, he claimed he had been duped by fraudsters who stole his money and promised to return it if he helped "test the vigilance of FSB officers."
37-year-old Ruslan Sidiki was sentenced to 29 years in a maximum security penal colony for allegedly detonating explosives on railway tracks to derail a freight train and carrying out a drone attack on the Dyagilevo military airfield. His sentence was handed down on five charges, including training for terrorist activities, terrorism, illegal manufacture of explosives, and possession and transportation of explosive devices. Prosecutors had sought a 30-year term. Sidiki was detained in November 2023 at Vnukovo Airport. Investigators say he was trained by Ukrainian intelligence services in Turkey and Latvia in 2023 before orchestrating the attacks. Sidiki confessed to carrying out the train derailment and drone attack. He said his goal was to disable Russia’s military infrastructure. However, he denied receiving any formal training or being involved in planning additional attacks. He admitted to carrying out the train derailment and drone attack, saying his goal was to disable Russia’s military infrastructure. However, he denied receiving training or planning additional attacks. He also declared himself a prisoner of war and described being tortured after his arrest. Sidiki, who holds Italian citizenship, hopes to be exchanged in a prisoner swap. Mediazona published his final statement.
Assistance
Authorities in the Samara region have mandated that private companies hire veterans returning from the war. Under a new law passed by the regional parliament, companies with more than 100 employees will be required to allocate one percent of their workforce to demobilized soldiers. The legislation will remain in effect through the end of 2029. A similar quota was previously introduced in the Moscow region, but over the course of a year, only 300 veterans sought employment under the program. As a result, the law was relaxed: now, companies with more than 200 employees are only required to hire one returning soldier.
Children
A French television channel aired footage of children marching in the occupied city of Mariupol. During a school ceremony marking the end of the academic year, students stood as the Russian national anthem played and paraded with a large Russian tricolor flag. Military personnel attended the event and handed out diplomas to students. One student said he dreams of becoming an FSB agent to catch terrorists.
Longreads
The Arctida Telegram channel explores how the war in Ukraine has impacted the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic.