Mobilization in Russia for Nov. 18-20, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
On Nov. 20, the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] approved a bill in its first reading that would authorize employees of the Central Bank and the Russian Association of Cash Collection to combat Ukrainian drones. The proposed legislation would grant bank personnel and cash transit guards the right to suppress attacks and prevent impending strikes involving aerial, ground, underwater, surface and other automated unmanned systems on guarded facilities within Moscow-controlled territory. Under the new rules, the Central Bank and the collection association would independently determine the protocols for neutralizing drones to defend their properties and designate the specific personnel authorized to make those decisions.
Lawmakers introduced a bill in the State Duma to amend the Law on Education and expand social guarantees for the families of deceased service members. The proposed legislation would authorize contract soldiers, mobilized troops, volunteer fighters, law enforcement officers and others who carried out missions in a combat zone to pursue a second vocational education tuition-free in a new field, a benefit that would also extend to the widows and widowers of personnel who died while serving in a combat zone or border regions.
Lawmakers also introduced a bill to the State Duma to mandate that federal, regional, and municipal authorities review appeals from war participants and their family members within 14 days, compared with the standard 30 days for other citizens.
Army Recruitment
The Vyorstka media outlet has reported that the Expert military personnel company, which has been supplying contract soldiers to state-owned companies and regional authorities since 2023, has become the subject of mass appeals from recruiters. Recruiters claim that they have not received commissions for candidates already deployed to the frontline for months. The sums owed range from hundreds of thousands to millions of rubles. As a result, many recruiters found themselves in debt. The company has stated that it is unable to pay the commissions because it has not received payments from some regions. Recruiters say that the rate for recruitment varies by region, averaging between 100,000 rubles [$1,240] and 500,000 rubles [$6,200] per candidate. However, if direct cooperation with the region is established, without an agency, the payments can be even higher.
The NIYSO Chechen opposition movement has reported that in Russia's constituent republic of Chechnya, the family of the Dadayev was sent to war as punishment for the actions of their relative. One of those deployed, Askhab Dadayev, is 17 years old, and it is unclear how he was able to sign up for military service. The reason for this "punishment" remains unknown, but in a published video, the Dadayev family speaks in Chechen, addressing their relative and claiming that he "did not keep his mouth shut," as a result of which they were forced to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense.
In Chelyabinsk, traffic police officers and military investigators have conducted a raid on drivers on one of the highways. The authorities were searching for drivers who had failed to complete military registration, paying special attention to naturalized citizens. It is reported that during the raid, about ten people were detained and underwent preventive conversations regarding the "necessity of complying with the legislation on military duty."
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
The MoD announced that more than 3 million people have used its digital service to obtain electronic certificates confirming participation in the war in Ukraine — though it did not clarify whether this figure includes individuals who applied multiple times or military family members.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Borzinsky Garrison Military Court has ordered the two-month detention of serviceman Vladimir Popov, who is suspected of murdering 34-year-old military police officer Konstantin Ektov. According to investigators, Popov, while intoxicated, shot Ektov in the head with a smoothbore rifle during a personal dispute. Ektov’s body was found on Nov. 11, and a few days later police announced the arrest of a 31-year-old suspect. That same day, a video surfaced showing the soldier confessing to the killing. Popov claims that at the time he was AWOL and knew Ektov because he had been paying him bribes to avoid being sent back to the frontline. According to Popov, after he refused to pay another bribe, Ektov came to his home and used physical force against his 80-year-old grandmother. Enraged, Popov went to the military police officer’s residence, where he shot him during a confrontation. Ektov had reportedly used violence against soldiers’ family members to extort bribes in other cases as well. He had multiple prior convictions.
A court in Pervouralsk has sent 52-year-old soldier Azat Fakhretdinov to a pre-trial detention center on charges of unlawful imprisonment. Fakhretdinov fled the frontline and, on Nov. 17, took his partner hostage, threatening to detonate a grenade in their apartment. According to his lawyer, the man acted out of fear of encountering MoD representatives who were searching for him. "In fact, no explosives or weapons were found in the apartment where he lived with his acquaintance," the attorney added. Fakhretdinov had been recruited into the war from a penal colony and had multiple prior convictions.
The Tomsk Garrison Military Court has sentenced serviceman Sergey Matveev to seven years in a maximum security penal colony for intentionally causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death by negligence. According to investigators, on the night of June 18, 2025, Matveev, while intoxicated, struck an acquaintance twice "for a disrespectful remark." The victim fell asleep and was found dead in the morning. He was found to have liver ruptures and acute blood loss.
The Second Eastern District Military Court has convicted three teenagers aged 15 and 16 from the Omsk region under a terrorism-related article. One of the minors was sentenced to six years and eight months in a correctional colony, and the other two to six and a half years in a penal colony. According to prosecutors, in December 2024 the youths, having received assignments via a messenger app, set fire to three relay cabinets on the rail section between the Kormilovka and Kalachinsk stations. This allegedly caused train delays and resulted in damages amounting to 180,000 rubles [$2,230].
In Saint Petersburg, police have detained a 15-year-old teenager on suspicion of committing an act of terror. According to preliminary data, he bought gasoline, poured it over a traffic police car, andset it on fire in a service parking lot in the Admiralteysky district, acting on instructions from unidentified individuals who had also suggested that he send them the coordinates of military units, draft offices and hospitals. The detainee only partially admitted guilt. The court sent the teenager to a pre-trial detention center.
The Vladimir Regional Court sentenced a 20-year-old man to 15 years in prison on charges of treason and sabotage. According to the court, the young man set fire to two relay cabinets and one battery cabinet on the railway section between Yaroslavl and Aleksandrov in the Vladimir region. For this, he received a reward of 30,000 rubles [$370] from a "representative of a foreign state."
A court in the city of Yekaterinburg sentenced Oleg Podkorytov, a resident of Pervouralsk, to 15 years in a maximum security colony on charges of committing an act of terror and participating in a terrorist organization. The prosecution had requested a 23-year sentence. According to investigators, in August 2024 Podkorytov contacted the Freedom of Russia Legion and, following instructions he received, set fire to a relay cabinet on the railway section between Pervouralsk and Podvoloshnaya. He sent a video of the arson to a representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion after which all communication from their side abruptly stopped. The footage later appeared on theFreedom of Russia Legion YouTube channel. A month later, Podkorytov was detained at the Georgian border, when he was allegedly travelling in order to join the Freedom of Russia Legion.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) officers detained in Novorossiysk a former priest who had been stripped of his clerical rank more than 10 years ago, on suspicion of recruiting people for "sabotage and subversive activities in the interests of Ukraine’s armed formations." According to TASS [Russian state-owned news agency], the detainee is a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Iveron Mother of God. According to law enforcement, he recruited parishioners and members of Cossack communities into the Russian Volunteer Corps. A criminal case has been opened against him on charges of participating in a terrorist organization.
A Moscow court has sentenced 30‑year‑old Yevgeny Serebryakov to 25 years in prison on charges of orchestrating a terrorist attack in conspiracy, along with the illegal possession and manufacture of explosives. Prosecutors said Serebryakov was responsible for detonating a car bomb targeting an officer of the GRU [Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation] in July 2024. The blast destroyed a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado in Moscow, severely injuring Colonel Andrey Torgashov—who lost both feet in the explosion—and wounding his wife. Authorities reported that Serebryakov fled Russia the same day, boarding a flight to Turkey. He was later detained abroad and extradited to Russia.
The FSB announced the arrest of a resident from the occupied Donetsk region in connection with an alleged plot to carry out a terrorist attack. According to investigators, the suspect planned to poison a Russian high-ranking serviceman by offering him two bottles of British beer laced with a toxic mixture. According to authorities, the man was acting under instructions from Ukrainian intelligence. They allege Ukrainian officers had contacted the Russian serviceman through a dating app, posing as a woman named Polina, and maintained correspondence with him for several months before the alleged plot.
The FSB announced the detention of a resident of Velikiye Luki, identified by local media as 35‑year‑old artist Nikolay Bazylev, in connection with an alleged attempted terrorist attack. Investigators say Bazylev planned to set fire to the Velikiye Luki administration building using a Molotov cocktail. He was reportedly stopped by employees of a private security company before carrying out the attack. Authorities confirmed that Bazylev was placed in a pre‑trial detention center. His name had already been added to the register maintained by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring) on Sept. 9.
In the Russian‑occupied part of the Donetsk region, law enforcement officers detained a man accused of preparing a terrorist attack "against a high‑ranking official of the regional state authority." According to law enforcement, the suspect is under investigation for treason, planning a terrorist attack, and illegal arms trafficking. Officials have not released the man’s name or further details of the case.
Authorities in the Kursk region have opened a treason case against Galina Titova, a 56-year-old resident of the town of Dmitriev. Titova is believed to be held in a pretrial detention center, though officials have released no details about the allegations. Her social media accounts include posts critical of the Russian government.
In Moscow, a court ordered the detention of 47-year-old construction company owner Vladimir Goy on treason charges. Goy, who was born in Ukraine’s Lviv region and later became a Russian citizen, was placed in a pretrial facility after a series of administrative detentions. Since June, he had been arrested at least 11 times on minor hooliganism charges, a pattern critics describe as "carousel" arrests.
Another man, 56-year-old Sevastopol native Igor K., has gone missing after being detained at the Adler airport upon arrival from Moldova. Though he never held Ukrainian citizenship, he moved to Kyiv in 2018. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he left for Moldova and decided to return to Crimea this fall. He was sentenced to 15 days for disobeying police, but according to his daughter, he never reappeared after being taken to a temporary detention facility. Police told her he may have been taken by the FSB, a claim the local FSB office denies. Her appeals to the Interior Ministry and the Investigative Committee remain unanswered.
In Russian-occupied Enerhodar, a local court sentenced a 57-year-old woman to 11 years in a penal colony on espionage charges. Prosecutors allege that between May and June 2022, she shared information about the locations of air defense units with an unidentified individual said to be acting "in the interests of Ukraine’s military intelligence."
A court in the Krasnodar region sentenced Natalya Lopatko, a resident of Novorossiysk, to 14 years in a penal colony on charges of treason. According to law enforcement, in January 2024, the woman collected data on air defense systems and strategic facilities in Novorossiysk and passed them to an acquaintance from Ukraine whose father serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which the court regarded as "providing real assistance to Ukraine."
A "court" appointed by Russian authorities in Donetsk sentenced a local woman to 13 years in a penal colony on charges of treason. According to reports, she allegedly collected data on Russian soldiers and their deployment locations, then passed it to Ukrainian intelligence services. She was detained in 2024.
Assistance
In Khakassia [Russia's constituent republic], regional payments of 1.1 million rubles [$13,600] to families of servicemen killed in the war with Ukraine have been suspended due to budget constraints. Previously, these payments helped families organize funerals before receiving national and insurance benefits, which typically arrive after about six months.
Children and Militarization
Dmitry Zherlitsin, a student at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, has been expelled from the university for the second time after failing to pass his exams. Both times he enrolled using a benefit provided to children of participants in the war with Ukraine. Under current legislation, this benefit has no expiration date and allows applicants to submit documents to universities an unlimited number of times while their Unified State Exam [graduation examination in Russia’s schools] results remain valid.
Miscellaneous
Memorials mentioning several hundred fallen participants of the invasion of Ukraine have begun to appear across Russia. For example, in the center of Kyzyl, the capital of Russia’s constituent Republic of Tyva, a monument was unveiled listing more than 500 dead. In Knyaze-Volkonskoye in the Khabarovsk region, a monument to the soldiers of the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade bears more than 400 names, while in Saratov, a monument to those killed since the start of the war now includes more than 2,500 names.
Vyorstka published a piece stating that the Kremlin is pressuring the Time of Heroes personnel program to select for the "new elite" only the most neutral and non-independent participants of the war, fearing the emergence of popular and potentially disloyal military commanders. At the same time, according to Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet], the Kremlin abandoned the idea of massively promoting participants of the "special military operation" to the State Duma, having realized that only a few of them are actually capable of working within state structures. As a result, the original plan was reduced from 150 to 50-70 candidates.