Mobilization in Russia for May 4-6, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Authorities in Makhachkala have intensified roundups of conscription-age men, the "Idite Lesom!" [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports. They are seizing young men on the street and shoving them onto buses even when they carry valid draft deferrals. In one case, they grabbed a fourth‑year full‑time student at the Dagestan University of National Economy who holds a deferral until September 2026, drove him to the draft office, and—claiming they had lost his deferral certificate—handed him a draft notice for June 30. While a local lawyer has helped several conscripts avoid illegal mobilization, draft offices continue to detain others, often dispatching them to military units just two or three days after passing a medical board.
Ullubiy Khanmurzaev, head of the Buynaksk district in Russia’s constituent Republic of Dagestan, announced he would join the war against Ukraine. It was his first public statement in two weeks. He vanished from view after local Telegram channels reported that investigators had searched his home and opened a criminal case on charges of fraud and official forgery, accusing Khanmurzaev of fictitious hiring at municipal agencies and large‑scale theft of public funds.
An acquaintance of 38-year-old Volgograd resident Albert told the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel that on April 24, 2025, the man was forced to sign a contract despite having a disability. According to his sister, Albert has a mental disorder—oligophrenia at the level of debility—that makes him unfit for military service. Several months earlier, during a move to the Saratov region, he lost his disability certificate. At his new location, officials refused to confirm his diagnosis and did not register him with a psychiatrist. On April 23, Albert married his partner, and the very next day, he was sent to the frontline. His relatives have had no information about his condition or whereabouts for several days, as he has stopped responding. The family has submitted an appeal to the Investigative Committee but has yet to receive a response.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
The first known conscript from Russia’s constituent republic of Tatarstan to be killed in the war died back in 2022. The death of 19-year-old Ildar Galiyev was reported that same spring, but the fact that he was a conscript only became publicly known in 2025. Galiyev was conscripted for statutory military service at the end of 2021 and was killed on March 4, 2022, in the village of Lisovi Sorochyntsi in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region.
Russia and Ukraine have completed a 205-for-205 prisoner exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the returned Russian soldiers are currently in Belarus. Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] points out that both young and older servicemen were included in the exchange. Among them, 157 are aged 25 or younger. The youngest is Ivan Kudryashov, 19, a contract private from the 394th Motorized Rifle Regiment. Another is Dmitry Potylitsyn, 20, who signed a contract while still undergoing statutory military service. On the older end, eight of the returned Russian servicemen are aged 55, with Zulfat Amikachev, a 63-year-old from Bashkortostan, being the oldest. Ukraine also reported on the exchange. Among the released Ukrainian soldiers are several defenders of the city of Mariupol.
Viktor Ovchinnikov, a contract soldier from the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade and father of four young daughters, has reportedly faced repeated pressure to deploy to the frontline despite being diagnosed with hepatitis C and holding sole custody of his children. According to Ovchinnikov, his appeals to military command, the prosecutor’s office and the MoD have gone unanswered. He says he signed a military contract immediately after being released from a penal colony, where he had served time for theft. In January 2025, he was wounded in action and subsequently diagnosed with hepatitis C. While on leave, guardianship authorities transferred custody of his daughters to him, as their mother had been stripped of parental rights and is currently incarcerated. The family reportedly has no other relatives able to care for the children. Despite this, Ovchinnikov was reassigned to a military unit in the Novosibirsk region, and his daughters—aged 5, 10, 12 and 14—were placed in a temporary care facility. He continues to be listed for deployment to a combat zone, even though he is scheduled to appear before a military medical board on June 10. An infectious disease specialist has issued an official statement prohibiting his deployment due to his medical condition.
A representative from the charity organization Sibir.Boli-net [Siberia. No More Pain] reported that Yury Fatyushenko, a mobilized soldier who sustained a severe injury on May 2, 2023, has yet to receive a military pension. The government has also failed to provide financial support for his medical treatment, forcing the foundation to raise funds independently to cover his medical expenses.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In the Verkhneuslonsky district of Tatarstan, 37-year-old Albert Nugmanov, a serviceman with the 1st Motorized Rifle Brigade, has been detained on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old schoolgirl. A criminal case has been opened in connection with the incident. According to available reports, Nugmanov has a prior conviction for auto theft.
On May 2, the Kursk Garrison Military Court sent Dmitry Stenkin to a pre-trial detention center. According to the Pepel [Ashes] Telegram channel, he is the soldier detained for the murder of Olesya Larina from the village of Giri in the Kursk region. The court provided no further details about the arrest. The Astra Telegram channel and Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] investigated the suspect's background and spoke with a friend of the Larin family who encountered the killer in their home. They also interviewed local residents about life and sentiment in the border area, where military personnel now outnumber civilians—many of them recently released from penal colonies.
At least four Russian servicemen who were held in Ukrainian captivity have become subjects of criminal cases for going AWOL during the mobilization period, the Vyorstka media outlet has discovered. After returning from captivity, they went home and did not want to immediately return to the frontline. According to the verdicts studied by Vyorstka, the servicemen's names are Denis Kolesov, Dmitry Kislitsyn, Daniil Bakumenko and Murad Askerov. Kolesov and Kislitsyn were mobilized soldiers, while Bakumenko and Askerov served under contract. All four were captured between 2022 and 2023. Kolesov received the lightest sentence—the court gave him three years on probation. Askerov was sentenced to five years on probation. Kislitsyn received six years of actual imprisonment. Bakumenko became a defendant in two separate criminal cases: before the mobilization was announced, he was fined 25,000 rubles [$310] for going AWOL. However, after the penalties were toughened, his second offense resulted in a seven-year prison sentence.
In Moscow, the 2nd Western District Military Court has overturned the sentence of a serviceman who was facing five and a half years in a penal colony for going AWOL. An appellate court had previously released him from punishment due to an award he received. The case has been sent to the Naro-Fominsk Garrison Military Court in the Moscow region for a new hearing. The defense will now seek to have the case dismissed.
Anvar Khusiyanov, a 62-year-old former military commissar from Nizhny Novgorod, has been sentenced to five years in a penal colony for accepting bribes from conscripts. According to the prosecution, between 2021 and 2024, he received nine bribes ranging from 100,000 rubles [$1,230] to 150,000 rubles [$1,840] in exchange for granting exemption from military service. Khusiyanov pleaded guilty and, in his final statement, requested to be sent to fight in the war in Ukraine.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have detained a resident of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject] on charges of preparing a terrorist attack on the Sverdlovsk Railway. According to investigators, the detainee had communicated with representatives of a "Ukrainian paramilitary group" via a messenger app. His "handler" allegedly instructed him to install an explosive device on a section of the railway. However, law enforcement officers apprehended him before he had the opportunity to carry out the attack. A criminal case has been initiated against him for preparing a terrorist act committed in a group, and the suspect is currently in custody.
The FSB has also detained a student from the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject] on charges of high treason. According to the regional government, the young man provided a representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense with information about the region’s critical transportation infrastructure and law enforcement facilities in exchange for money. The suspect has been taken into custody.
The Tomsk regional court has sentenced student Seymur Israfilov to six years and three months in a penal colony on charges of high treason and dissemination of malicious software. According to the court, Israfilov organized hacker attacks on Tomsk’s "information resources" in exchange for payment from a foreign organization. The FSB reported his detention in the fall of 2023. At the time of his arrest, he was 18 years old. The FSB considered him a member of the Ukrainian hacker group Cyber Anarchy Squad, which had claimed responsibility for several attacks on Russian resources.
A court in Samara has sentenced a man to 10 years of imprisonment on charges of attempted high treason and preparation for participation in a terrorist organization. According to prosecutors, the man had communicated with a member of a "Ukrainian paramilitary group" that has been designated as a terrorist organization and intended to join the group to fight against the Russian army. The court did not disclose the defendant’s name or age, and it remains unclear when exactly he was detained.
Olha Cherniavskaya, a Ukrainian citizen, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of espionage. The verdict was handed down in December 2024 and has now been upheld by an appellate court. Cherniavskaya, who was born in Ukraine and worked as a store manager in the city of Zaporizhzhia until 2022, is the mother of an AFU serviceman. Human rights advocates suggest that her connection to her son may have been a pretext for her persecution. According to the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center, Cherniavskaya showed signs of torture—bruises, burns and continuous bleeding—after several interrogations in May 2023, before being transferred to a cell. Her whereabouts were unknown for over a year, and the criminal case against her was only initiated in August 2024.
Assistance
In Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, the first municipal business laboratory called SVĐže delo has opened. The initiative is designed to help returning military personnel and their families learn the basics of entrepreneurship and start their own businesses. The program is limited to just 13 participants.
In the Primorsky region, deputies of the Legislative Assembly have drafted legislation proposing mandatory quotas for hiring combat veterans. According to the draft law, businesses with more than 100 employees must reserve at least 5% of their positions for veterans. For companies with 35 to 100 employees, the requirement is at least 3%.
In the Leningrad region, businesses will receive one million rubles [$12,000] for hiring war veterans with disabilities. These funds can be used either for financial assistance to war veterans or to support the company's working capital, according to the region's governor Aleksandr Drozdenko. To qualify for this subsidy, employers must sign an employment contract with a war veteran for at least two years and pay them no less than 75% of the average salary.
Children
Vyorstka reported on how Victory Day celebrations were held in Russia and the occupied regions of Ukraine, featuring performances by preschoolers. According to their tally, such events took place in over 20 regions of Russia.
As part of the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, the "Luchik" kindergarten in the Pskov region declared martial law, according to the report. The children took part in military-style exercises and were then treated to porridge from a field kitchen.
Miscellaneous
Following a review of financial statements, Voyrstka reports that the Chechenavto plant—manufacturer of LADA and GAZelle vehicles—has seen a significant increase in revenue since beginning production of so-called "Jihad-mobiles." While the exact number of these vehicles produced remains undisclosed, Vyorstka uncovered a state contract between Chechenavto and the Ministry of Industry and Trade valued at 1.5 billion rubles [$18.40 million], covering the delivery of over 350 vehicles.
Longreads
Meduza [international Russian-language online media outlet] has published an investigation into how Russian soldiers are paying bribes to avoid frontline deployment.
Meduza also summarized a report from Ukrainska Pravda detailing the conditions in which Ukrainian prisoners are being held in Russian penal facilities.