Mobilization in Russia for May 24-26, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

Vladimir Putin signed several bills into law:

• a bill that gives him the ability to send military personnel abroad to "protect" Russians if they are arrested (more on the bill here);
• a bill that introduces preventive oversight by the Interior Ministry over people convicted of rehabilitating Nazism, insulting veterans or evading military service (more on the bill here);
• a bill that extends the practice of writing off war participants' debts of up to 10 million rubles [$139,700] to those who enlist on or after May 1. Enforcement proceedings for these debts must have been initiated before May 2026 (more on the bill here).

Army Recruitment

The St. Petersburg Academy of Management of the Urban Environment, Urban Planning and Publishing required students to attend a meeting about serving in "unmanned forces to protect Russia's nuclear shield." According to one student, the administration is running this kind of recruitment drive for the first time: it made attendance for male students mandatory, with written sign-in, while attendance for women was "voluntary." In the announcement, officials say the service would take place outside the "special military operation" zone and would count as regular conscription service. Those who signed up were also promised a one-time bonus, housing and meals.

Russians have increasingly been receiving mobilization orders at draft offices after being summoned either through electronic draft notices or under the pretext of a "data check-up," according to search-query statistics. Google began recording a spike in searches for the keyword "mobilization order" at the end of March, with the number of searches peaking in early April. Yandex Wordstat recorded nearly a fourfold increase in such queries during the winter and early spring: in April, there were around 40,000 searches, compared with fewer than 10,000 in January. Human rights advocates report that, alongside the issuance of mobilization orders, reservists are also being encouraged to join reserve forces or sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense.

In Saratov, military investigators, enlistment office officials and police conducted a raid during which they checked more than 110 people. Of those, 20 individuals who had obtained Russian citizenship were issued draft notices. Law enforcement officials emphasized that Russian-born citizens were not checked during the raid.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Anatoly Moiseyev, a 40-year-old father of four from the Altai region, was summoned back to a military unit in Tula and accused of desertion after being demobilized, despite raising four children on his own, including a son with cerebral palsy. Moiseyev was mobilized in 2022, and shortly afterward his wife left the family. He ultimately secured demobilization through the courts. However, in early May, Moiseyev received a call from the draft office accusing him of desertion. When he arrived at the military unit with his children to clarify the situation, he was detained and threatened with either being sent to the frontline or facing criminal charges, while officials suggested that his children be placed in an orphanage.

In the Leningrad region, police are searching for a 41-year-old serviceman, Andrey Kiyko, also known as the "Sosnovsky Maniac." From 2004 to 2007, he attacked young women, strangled them and raped them. Fifteen women were his victims; he killed three of them, while 12 survived. In 2008, Kiyko was sentenced to 22 years in a penal colony for two counts of murder, eight counts of rape and sexual assault, and 11 counts of robbery; the sentence was later increased to 25 years. In 2024, he was recruited from a penal colony to serve on the frontline, and in 2025 he was wounded, after which he was sent to a hospital in Rostov and then to a hospital in Kronstadt. While there, he twice tried to sue the MoD over payments and benefits for war participants but was unsuccessful. Early last fall, he escaped from the hospital. Police only recently placed him on the wanted list, and until now the escape had not been publicly disclosed.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

From January to March 2026, Russian authorities placed 73,969 people on wanted lists for evading investigators and the courts—the highest figure since 2012, when more than 81,000 people were listed as wanted, according to Interior Ministry statistics analyzed by the Mozhem Ob’yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel. The increase in wanted persons has accelerated since the early years of the war. Compared with 2023 alone, the number of people wanted rose by 65 percent, from 47,656 to nearly 73,969, even as the country’s overall crime rate and number of convictions have been declining. Sources cited by the outlet linked the increase to the war: specifically, the growing number of draft dodgers and deserters, whom police are tasked with locating, as well as staffing shortages caused by Interior Ministry employees leaving for the frontline.

Mikhail Filichev, the prosecutor of Buryatia [Russia’s constituent republic], said there had been a sharp increase in cases involving treason, terrorism and sabotage. In the first four months of 2026, courts in the republic heard nearly as many such cases as during all of 2025.

A military garrison court in Chita sentenced a 34-year-old former serviceman to 12 years in a penal colony on charges of sexual violence, going AWOL and theft. Last August, the man grabbed a 17-year-old girl in the stairwell of an apartment building in Chita,  but she fought him off and neighbors responded to the noise, helping to prevent the attack. The assailant attempted to flee but was detained shortly afterward. He had prior convictions and later served in the war before returning to Chita.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced Roman Serhienko, a native of the Luhansk region, to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of participation in a terrorist organization and terrorist training. Serhienko was detained in April 2022. Although details of the case have not been disclosed, the charges are typical of cases brought against Ukrainian prisoners of war with ties to the Azov and Aidar battalions. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office had previously charged Serhienko in absentia with high treason, alleging that after the occupation of Rubizhne he voluntarily enlisted in the Russian army.

Assistance

Authorities in Tatarstan have drafted legislation that would fine employers who fail to meet quotas for hiring war veterans. The bill calls for fines ranging from 20,000 rubles [$280] to 30,000 rubles [$420] for officials, from 30,000 rubles [$420] to 50,000 rubles [$700] for sole proprietors and up to 100,000 rubles [$1,400] for businesses. If passed, the law would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. A 1 percent hiring quota for war veterans has been in effect in Tatarstan since April 15, 2026. Similar fines have already been introduced in the Kursk, Novgorod and Vologda regions.

In Saint Petersburg, authorities have proposed providing unemployed war participants with payments of up to 350,000 rubles [$4,890] to start their own businesses. The payments would be available to former contract soldiers of the MoD who are officially recognized as unemployed, and the assistance would be provided regardless of family income.

In the Novgorod region, individuals sentenced to forced labor have been involved in assisting the army and participating in patriotic projects. According to the regional branch of the Federal Penitentiary Service, they installed windows in the building of the future Center for Patriotic Education and sewed anti-thermal blankets for war participants.

Longreads

Journalists from the 7x7-Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet identified 97 war participants who completed the Time of Heroes personnel program and subsequently became government officials, analyzing how participation in the war is becoming a new channel for social and career advancement.