mobilization briefs
May 11

Mobilization in Russia for May 9-10, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

In Sri Lanka, the police have announced that at least eight citizens, who previously served in the country’s armed forces, have been killed in the war in Ukraine. According to available information, the Russian Armed Forces recruited at least 60 Sri Lankan nationals, while the Armed Forces of Ukraine recruited 21. Local officials indicate that recruiters were luring many former service members with highly-paid jobs, but later pressured them into signing military service contracts. This week, law enforcement arrested a retired major-general of the Sri Lankan Army, as well as a former sergeant, accusing them of illegally ensnaring local veterans into an armed conflict abroad.

In Krasnoyarsk, law enforcement officers conducted a raid on migrants. They detained 20 individuals in one of the city’s bakeries. One of them, who had recently been granted Russian citizenship, was forcibly added to the military rolls, while three foreigners are facing deportation from the country for violating migration rules.

Yury Shvytkin, a member of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] from the Krasnodar region and a member of the Defense Committee, have announced that he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and was deployed to the frontline. On May 7, photos emerged of Shvytkin delivering a speech to military personnel.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Mirkhat Urazaliev from Russia's constituent Republic of Kalmykia, Igor Maslov from the Lipetsk region, Grigory Lytkin from Russia’s constituent Republic of Tatarstan, Artyom Ulanov from Russia’s constituent Republic of Mari El, Aleksey Degovtsov from the Belgorod region, Aleksey Makhmutov, Anatoly Karputin and Ivan Bobrov from Russia’s constituent Republic of Buryatia, as well as Konstantin Kharavinkin from the Irkutsk region.

Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 52,789 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 6,323 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has been updated with the names of 632 soldiers, 13 of whom were mobilized. Former convicts remain the group with the largest number of casualties, with 10,587 names identified, followed by volunteer fighters, who have lost 7,277 people.

Ukrainian journalist Yurii Butusov has posted a video recording reportedly filmed on the Troitsky training ground in the Sakhalin region in Russia. The video shows eight servicemen being punished, allegedly after getting caught drinking alcohol. Soldiers who "broke the rules" are being forced into a pit. One of them is shown being insulted, beaten with a baton, and forced to kneel down by a man wearing a Wagner Group badge on his jacket. Apparently, the soldiers belong to the 1472th Regiment.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel revealed some of the names of service members shot dead on May 4 near the village of Oleksandrivka by 57-year-old Sergeant Yury Galushko. In particular, among the six victims was reported the chief of staff of the battalion, 36-year-old Major Dmitry Kuchaev from Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic]. Other men killed by Galushko were identified as 56-year-old Mikhail Pavlyuchenko from Vladimir, 25-year-old Ildar Semyonov from the Kaluga region, and 45-year-old Vahan Aslanyan from Armenia. Military authorities have not yet officially notified the families of the victims, but some families have received the news through fellow officers who served alongside their loved ones.

According to the Astra Telegram channel, on May 4, the body of a 17-year-old local female resident Anastasia was discovered in the occupied town of Rovenky, Luhansk region. She was raped and then killed. Andrey Kurbasov, a 33-year-old native of the Vladimir region, was detained on suspicion of committing the crime and confessed to the deed. Astra journalists found out that Kurbasov was a serviceman who signed a contract while in a penal colony. He had been incarcerated in 2016 for drug possession and murder of a woman, for which he received a sentence of nine and half years. Prior to this, Kurbasov had also been convicted of other offenses.

A court in Kabardino-Balkaria [Russia’s constituent republic] has imposed the minimum punishment of six months of imprisonment on a local resident Zaur Tekuev for drug acquisition. Tekuev had been previously convicted and was recruited for the war from a penal colony. When issuing the new sentence, the court considered Tekuev's participation in combat as a mitigating factor.

In the town of Solnechnogorsk, Moscow region, 48-year-old Dmitry Nazarov, a previously convicted participant of the war, set fire to the apartment of his former lover, where four people were present at the time. The residents managed to extinguish the fire and called the police, but Nazarov was detained only on the third attempt. According to information from the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, Nazarov had previously been convicted of counterfeiting, contempt of court, inflicting grievous bodily harm, property damage and murder. For the latter crime, he was sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony, but he enlisted in the war after serving less than half of the term.

In the city of Volgograd, Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have detained an 18-year-old college student, two eighth graders and one ninth grader on suspicion of arson of a cell tower. Additionally, a 27-year-old taxi driver and a 37-year-old unemployed man have been detained. Criminal proceedings for sabotage have been initiated against the three adult detainees and the 16-year-old ninth grader. They could face up to 20 years in prison. The youngest detainees have not reached the age of criminal responsibility.

The prosecution has requested a 26-year sentence in a penal colony for Ilya Baburin, a 24-year-old IT specialist from Novosibirsk, on multiple criminal charges for allegedly planning to set fire to a draft office, as reported by the Zona Solidarnosti [Solidarity Zone] Telegram channel. The human rights project has labeled the requested sentence as a record-setting term for "anti-war" cases where there are no actual victims. Baburin's case came to light in September 2022. Initially, he was charged with aiding terrorist activities. Later, a charge of involvement in terrorist activity was added, followed by the initiation of a new criminal case for an alleged attempted treason. According to his lawyer, Baburin was tortured at the time of his arrest, with the torture continuing in the pre-trial detention center. In December, Baburin faced two additional charges: participation in illegal armed groups (the Azov Brigade) and involvement in a terrorist organization's activities.

In Omsk, a military court fined a local resident 350,000 rubles [$3,790] on charges related to public incitement to terrorist activities and the public justification of terrorism. According to the FSB, in September 2023, the convicted individual posted a comment on social media expressing approval of an arson attack on a draft office in Krasnoyarsk, which occurred in October 2023.

Children

The head of the Alpha children's military sports center and the war in Ukraine veteran, Danil Shargan, visited a performance by children with special needs in Novosibirsk on May 7. In March, one of Shargan's pupils accused him of assault during training, prompting an investigation by the prosecutor's office. Despite this, two months after the incident, Shargan continues to lead the military sports center. Later, Shargan posted a video of a training session, in which he encouraged children to kill Ukrainians.

Miscellaneous

In the village of Volodarsky, Astrakhan region, the names of 60 individuals killed in the war with Ukraine have been added to the list of fallen in the Great Patriotic War. The village has a population of just over 11,000 people.

In the Bestuzhev Drama Theater in Ulan-Ude, a play by a participant in the war with Ukraine will be staged. The play was written by playwright Sergey Levchenko, who volunteered for three months on the frontline at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. According to the plot, the 57-year-old main character goes to fight in the fall of 2022 instead of his sons, who have draft deferral certificates. Levchenko's predecessor, Sergey Levitsky, was fired in 2022 due to his anti-war position. Theater actor Artur Shuvalov attempted to cut his veins on stage in protest against Levitsky's dismissal in March 2023. Later, Shuvalov left Russia.

In Ulan-Ude, public hearings were held on the construction of a penal colony and a pre-trial detention center for 3,000 people. Ordinary residents of the Energetik microdistrict, where the new Federal Penitentiary Service facility will be built, were not allowed to attend the event. However, a participant in the "special military operation" was present. The city's residents are against it, but the authorities refuse to listen to their concerns. More details about the confrontation between residents and authorities have been provided by the Lyudi Baikala[People of Baikal] independent media outlet.

In Saint Petersburg, an exhibition-reconstruction titled "Leningrad Victory" was held, dedicated to the war with Ukraine. Despite the Immortal Regiment organizing committee’s statement  that the event would be held online, a procession took place in the city. Portraits of those who were killed in the war with Ukraine were carried along Nevsky Prospect.

Dmitry But, the killer from the Nizhny Novgorod region, who was killed in January 2023 in the war with Ukraine, has posthumously been awarded the Order of Courage. As revealed by the 7x7—Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet, Dmitry had been sentenced to nine years in 2021 for the murder and dismemberment of a girl.

Longreads

The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking] Telegram channel has analyzed how the Time of Heroes personnel program, announced by Putin as a "career lift" for participants in the war with Ukraine, is organized. More than 44,000 individuals who participated in the invasion have already applied for the program.

Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] reports on how the occupying authorities of the "new territories" get rid of monuments and other Ukraine’s heritage: they demolish monuments to ATO [the Anti-Terrorist Operation in the Donbas war] heroes and victims of the Holodomor. Instead, they reinstate Soviet-era monuments.