Mobilization in Russia for Nov. 16-18, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The government endorsed a bill prohibiting employers from dismissing employees returning from mobilization, military contract service, or volunteer units during periods of mobilization, martial law, or wartime. The bill would amend Article 179 of the Russian Labor Code, a statute that already prioritizes retaining disabled war veterans, workers with families, and the spouses of mobilized soldiers when qualifications are equal. The new protection would apply for one year starting from the date an employment contract resumes. Although the Cabinet approved the initiative, it requested clarification on the wording and the timeline for enactment.
Sergey Kuchushev, the deputy minister of Digital Development, stated that by June 1, 2026, major IT companies employing more than 100 people and generating annual revenue exceeding one billion rubles [$12.32 million] must provide financial or nonfinancial support to universities and colleges amounting to at least 5% of the funds saved through tax breaks for personnel training. Failure to comply will result in companies losing their accreditation from the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of Russia—a status currently held by approximately 20,000 firms—along with associated benefits and deferral certificates shielding employees from the draft.
Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law lowering the age of criminal liability for sabotage from 16 to 14 and establishing life imprisonment for recruiting children into terrorist or sabotage activities. Further details on the initiative are available here. Data from the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court previously revealed that since the war began, courts have convicted at least 158 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 under these statutes.
Army Recruitment
Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] has analyzed the expenditures from the federal budget and found that in the third quarter of 2025, 135,200 people received a sign-up bonus for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense. While this figure exceeds that of similar periods in previous years, it is possible that a portion of these funds were paid for contracts signed in the second quarter of the year, accounting for 37,900 payments to new recruits, the lowest in two years. Thus, over nine months of 2025, a total of 262,700 people have signed contracts with the MoD, amounting to about 29,000 new contract soldiers per month. For the same period in 2024, 249,000 people enlisted in the army, which is a comparable number. Recently published analysis from German researcher Janis Kluge, based on data on payments from regional budgets (1, 2), also shows that Russia is recruiting about 30,000 people for the war monthly.
Governor of the Vladimir region Aleksandr Avdeyev has signed a decree that increases payments to citizens of foreign states that are not members of the Commonwealth of Independent States who sign contracts with the Russian MoD for deployment to the war against Ukraine. The payment has increased from the established 400,000 rubles [$4,930] to 1,6 million rubles [$19,700] and will be in effect from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, 2025.
The authorities of the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject] plan to allocate 10 billion rubles [$123 million] from the budget for payments for signing a contract with the MoD in 2026. In 2027, another 3.4 billion rubles [$41.9 million] are planned for sign-up bonuses, and 4 billion rubles [$49.3 million] are planned for 2028. The current size of the sign-up bonus in the Perm region is 1,5 million rubles [$18,500], thus, the authorities have allocated funds for the signing of more than 6,600 contracts.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
A 19-year-old servicemember of the 752nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, Andrey Krylov from the Vladimir region, who had previously been severely wounded and captured, was exchanged and returned to Russia in July 2025. However, despite an untreated arm injury, he was sent back to the frontline in September. In October, he went missing in action.
Military investigators have closed the criminal case for going AWOL that had been opened against contract soldier Aleksandr Ch. After being wounded, he was diagnosed with viral hepatitis C, but his commanders, without providing treatment, assigned him to an assault unit. Receiving no medical care, he left his unit to seek treatment on his own and later turned himself in. He refused to have the case suspended, which prevented commanders from sending him back to his unit. As a result, he was referred to a military medical board and, in July 2025, was classified as fitness category "V" due to his illness. Since being deemed only partially fit eliminated the legal basis for the charges, the case was closed, and he was discharged from service on Oct. 1, 2025.
Deputy Prosecutor General Sergey Zaitsev stated that more than 30,000 people from Yakutia [Russia's constituent republic of Sakha (Yakutia)] are participants in the "special military operation."
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
A court in the Sverdlovsk region has sentenced Mikhail Khlopin, former head of the Urals branch of the Union of Donbas Volunteers and head of the Ural center for basic military training, to 12 years in a high-security prison for illegal arms trafficking. His accomplice, Aleksey Zhmayev, received a 10-year sentence. In 2023, Khlopin had already been detained in another case involving the transport of munitions from the "special military operation" zone into the Belgorod region. At that time, Khlopin and his associates received relatively short sentences.
In the Astrakhan region, the Garrison Military Court has suspended proceedings in the case of serviceman Sergey Dudkin, accused of murder and going AWOL, after his failure to appear at the first hearing. The serviceman has been declared wanted. Despite the severity of the charges, Dudkin had remained released on recognizance.
The Second Eastern District Military Court has sentenced serviceman Yevgeny Balamedov to 18 years in a penal colony for desertion and illegal drug trafficking. According to the court, on Nov. 29, 2024, Balamedov voluntarily left his duty station, conspired with a member of a criminal group, and, following his instructions, picked up a wholesale batch of drugs, which he repackaged and placed in dead drops—his case includes more than 50 episodes of drug distribution. On Feb. 5, 2025, Balamedov was detained.
The Nalchik Garrison Military Court has issued three real imprisonment sentences in cases of leaving one’s unit:
- Rezuan Kardanov, absent from his unit from July 3-21, 2025, and previously convicted for drunk driving, received three years in a penal colony;
- Murad Khutiev, detained on Aug. 1 after two and a half months of absence and previously sentenced to six years for two episodes of going AWOL, received an additional year, bringing his total sentence to seven years in a penal colony;
- contract soldier Khasanbi Nagoyev, absent from his unit in Stavropol for three weeks, was sentenced to five years in a penal colony after pleading guilty.
The Khimki City Court has sentenced Junior Lieutenant Yevgeny Proshkin to five years in a penal colony on charges of large-scale fraud. In August 2023, Proshkin was serving on contract-based military service with the 503rd Motorized Rifle Regiment on the Zaporizhzhia axis when he was taken prisoner. There, he met a mobilized reserve major named Yury. Proshkin was released from captivity in December, and in late March 2024, the captive Yury's wife contacted him, hoping to secure her husband's release. The officer told the woman about a "POW exchange scheme involving a certain general in Moscow who could arrange an unofficial exchange of a Russian serviceman for a large sum of money." Proshkin received a total of 2,856,000 rubles [$35,200] from the prisoner's wife for this purpose. Before receiving the final payment, he called the woman and informed her that her husband had been exchanged and was in Rostov-on-Don "undergoing seepage and would be home soon." When Proshkin stopped responding and her husband failed to return home, the woman sought help from the Federal Security Service (FSB). The junior lieutenant was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center in December 2024.
The Southern District Military Court has issued several sentences against four captured Ukrainian servicemen who previously served in the Azov Brigade:
- Ivan Melnykovich was sentenced to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony for participation in a terrorist organization and undergoing training to commit terrorist acts. Notably, in August 2023, he had already been sentenced by the "Supreme Court of the DNR" to 18 years on charges of attempted murder and waging war using prohibited methods. According to the prosecution, Melnykovich and his fellow soldiers allegedly fired at civilians in the city of Mariupol to prevent them from leaving the city. Mediazona previously reported on the practice of Ukrainian POWs convicted in Russia being tried multiple times;
- 31-year-old Anatoly Roslavtsev was sentenced to 19 years in a maximum security facility on charges of participating in a terrorist organization and undergoing training to commit terrorist acts;
- Oleg Shapovalenko was sentenced to 19 years in a maximum security penal colony under charges of participating in a terrorist organization and undergoing training to commit terrorist acts;
- Dmitry Borisenko was sentenced to six years in a penal colony on charges of participating in a terrorist organization.
The FSB has detained a 32-year-old resident of the Tula region, accusing him of treason for allegedly transferring cryptocurrency in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Valeriy Grantsev, a 22‑year‑old native of Crimea and former Russian army serviceman, has been sentenced to 15 years in a maximum‑security penal colony on charges of treason. The trial was conducted behind closed doors.
The FSB has detained two women from the occupied Kherson region on suspicion of espionage. According to law enforcement officers, the suspects "proactively collected and transmitted" information to Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence concerning the deployment of Russian Armed Forces personnel and the movement of military vehicles. Both women reportedly hold dual Ukrainian and Russian citizenship.
Assistance
Under amendments to the 2026 national budget, the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund—headed by Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Tsivilyova, niece of Vladimir Putin—will receive a record allocation of 50 billion rubles [$616 million]. During budget deliberations, lawmakers approved an additional 7 billion rubles [$86 million] in funding for the fund.
In the Chelyabinsk region, authorities have launched the Hour for Victory initiative, encouraging employees of defense enterprises to donate the equivalent of one hour’s wages each month to the All for Victory fund. Officials describe the contributions as voluntary, estimating them at around 500 rubles [$6.16] per person.
Children and Militarization
School staff in the Voronezh region have been required to print out promotional materials to "attract citizens to contract-based military service." Employees are required to drop these materials in their neighbours’ mailboxes. Furthermore, school staff must organize outreach to students' parents.
In the village of Chunsky in the Irkutsk region, a third Young Army [pro-Kremlin youth organization] detachment has been formed—five- and six-year-old kindergarteners have been ceremoniously inducted into the detachment. Throughout the year, the children will wear uniforms for patriotic celebrations on February 23 and May 9, participate in parades on a local square, and raise the flag in the mornings in kindergarten. The kids’ uniforms were purchased by their parents.
In the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], war veterans, together with the Young Guard of United Russia [Putin's ruling party] have launched the Far Eastern Frontier project for schoolchildren aged 16 to 18. As part of this project, teenagers will be brought to a training range, where soldiers from the 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade will conduct a "practical day" of basic military training.
Miscellaneous
The "DPR authorities" plan to spend 1 billion rubles [$12.32 million] on developing the concept of "military tourism." Officials want to attract tourists to combat operations sites, while Deputy Chairman of the "DPR government" Kirill Makarov admitted that a significant number of the tourist lodgings has been destroyed, so investment will be increased. The source of funding is not disclosed.
The Legislative Assembly of the Kamchatka region approved the law on the titles of "village of military valor" and "settlement of military valor" for settlements where more than 15% of men aged 18-65 participated in the war with Ukraine. The first such village could be Sedanka, where 39 out of 67 adult men left for the war, out of a total population of 457.
The Mediazona media outlet spoke with 20-year-old conscript Vyacheslav Boyarentsev, who signed a contract in December 2024, was sent to the war as a cartographer, and later deserted.
The Idel.Realii media outlet tells the stories of families from Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent republic] who lost multiple family members in Ukraine.
The Kavkaz.Realii media outlet published a piece about Central Asians taking part in the war against Ukraine on Russia’s side.