Russian mobilization news update by CIT volunteers, November 2-3

Russian authorities and business operators are getting ready for the second wave of mobilization, as reported by Verstka. The news outlet is saying that despite the public announcement about the end of conscription, preparations for the second wave are well underway. The government is modernizing its draft offices, and the offices themselves are re-checking their conscription records. "I don't know the exact dates, but the new wave is coming soon, maybe even this winter" - sources close to the Kremlin are saying. Another source is saying that the Kremlin has decided to use the pre-New Year festivities period as an "emotional relief" for the population. However, "no one believes that the mobilization will end". Some men have already received draft notices dated 2023. The "Mozhem Obyasnit'" Telegram channel has information about three such cases.

Elvira Vikhareva, a politician, called the information desk of the Moscow government to clarify whether the mobilization had indeed ended. An operator replied that this requires Putin's decree - the one that he refused to sign. On November 1, a follower of the Sirena Telegram channel called the mobilization hotline three times. All operators replied that there were no official instructions to finish the mobilization. On November 3, the situation repeated. The hotline operator replied that there was no decree to finish the mobilization, which means that it continues.

The mobilization ended, but draft notices keep coming. According to a Ufa resident, he was handed a draft notice on November 2 and was invited for mobilization on November 17. In Ufa and the Volgograd region, lists of people liable for military service continue to be set up. “Now in the Volgograd region, the military recruitment offices are making inquiries to employers about draft-age employees who can be mobilized. Representatives of military recruitment offices come to HR departments together with the police.

The head of a military recruitment office in the Lipetsk region was dismissed for mistakes during “partial” mobilization, including mobilization of men with deferment from the draft.

Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma [the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] Defense Committee, commented on the protest of Chuvash mobilized soldiers. Turns out they just did not wait until the end of the month. “Yes, I saw these rallies. But, according to the president's decision, a soldier will be paid 195,000 RUB [per month] starting the day he was drafted and during his entire service. The only delay may be that the Russian Ministry of Defense pays at the end of the month. Therefore, everyone will be paid. Depending on their positions, they can be paid even more,” Sobolev said. Anatoly Aksakov, a State Duma deputy from Chuvashia, told Verstka media outlet that the mobilized soldiers who took part in the protest in the training center in Ulyanovsk are not yet supposed to be paid. Recall that Vladimir Putin's decree states that payments are due to all mobilized soldiers "from the date of enrollment in the lists of personnel of the military unit, including training period."

Meanwhile, protests of the mobilized from the Chuvashia Republic (Chuvash people national region in Russia) are ongoing for the third day so far. The soldiers demand an immediate transfer of 400 million roubles to their personal accounts, these funds were allocated from the regional reserve fund. More than 2000 men are willing to sign a collective appeal to the head of the Chuvash Republic Oleg Nikolayev. The deputy head of the region administration Vladimir Stepanov told the mobilized about the 400 million rubles. Regional Minister of Finance Mikhail Nozdryakov, however, refutes this information. Currently the funds are insufficient even for a lump-sum payment of 50,000 roubles. All those detained by the police were released without charges, including a private from the Batyrevo district of the Chuvash Republic. Parliamentarian of the Chuvash Republic State Council Igor Molyakov confirmed that his associate, the mobilized parliamentarian from Novocheboksarsk Grigoriy Mikhailov, had actively been taking part in the protests. At the same time, the mobilized spent from 30,000 to 100,000 roubles for equipping themselves, according to their relatives. Many have spent borrowed or bank loan money. It was reported that on November 3 the mobilized from the Chuvashia Republic were provided with boots, rags, sleeping bags and balaclavas. A mobilized soldier has clarified that currently “all is calm” at the military base, the men have put their signatures under the demand to pay them the promised money. The interviewee added that he had already started combat training.

An initiative group of wives of the mobilized reported that conscripts from the Tyva Republic (Tyvan people national region in Russia) terrorize the mobilized from other regions and threaten them with knives at the Grenada military camp in the vicinity of Berdsk (the Novosibirsk region). The women addressed the Governor of the Novosibirsk region Andrey Travnikov with a request to handle the situation. Meanwhile the authorities of the Tyva Republic reported back of “overfulfillment” of the mobilization objectives.

The Deputy Governor of Khant-Mansi Autonomous Area-Yugra Vsevolod Koltsov announced that the mobilized, who had received a lump-sum pay out of 250,000 roubles from the regional budget and had been demobilized for some reasons afterwards, were obliged to return the money. The Governor of the Oryol region Andrey Klychkov gave an explanation for not paying sign-up bonuses to the mobilized. In his opinion “giving money is the easiest way”. He claimed that he had used the budget funds for providing the mobilized with clothes, MREs and other staff required at the frontline. The Governor reported that the region had spent 33 million roubles for equipping the mobilized. Meanwhile the Oryol region is among the ones who provide the worst material support for the mobilized. According to Readovka pro-K remlin far-right news outlet, this list includes Kirov, Kurgan, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza and Ulyanovsk regions, the Republics of Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Chechnya and Mordovia. There are still no regular nor lump-sum payments in these regions. Families of the Republic of Tatarstan residents, who were mobilized, complain: there are no promised payments. Social networks are piled with requests to “handle the situation”, the Telegram channel of the head of the region Rustam Minnikhanov included. However, 18 points for gathering humanitarian aid for the mobilized have been established in Kazan (the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan).

A Tyumen woman complained that she hadn't received the payment she was due for the mobilization of her husband: the list he was on was simply lost somewhere. The State Duma representative Maksim Ivanov explained why the payments are late. According to him, all the payments are routed through the Alushta centralized logistics system used by the Ministry of Defense. The system freezes since its load has increased manifold.

The authorities in the Vladimir Region collected clothing, food, and clothing items from state employees and regular citizens for use by conscripts dispatched to the war in Ukraine. The administrators did not clarify why the Ministry of Defence is unable to supply the servicemen with those necessities. Mobilized soldiers from Baksan complained in their social networks that their aid addressed to them was not distributed. The press secretary of the local administration reported that the problem was resolved after a phone call was placed to the unit in the Volgograd Region where the Baksan men are undergoing training.

Artem Mashkov from Chelyabinsk Region became yet another conscript who was killed “while doing his military duties.” In Ekaterinburg, a funeral was held for mobilized soldier Igor Matveev, 36. Sergei Shmelev, 34, an instructor at a Volgograd arts school, was killed in the war on November 1. Members of the Mobilization Telegram channel report that “in Volgograd, they bury the mobilized daily, several guys a day. This has been happening since October 28. The rumor is they all died while riding a convoy which was shelled and that there were 60 of them.” The publication V1 confirms the information of daily funerals. From October 28 until November 2, 16 local men who were killed in Ukraine were buried in Volgograd. No mourning period was declared in the region and no entertainment events were canceled.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, according to Baza online media outlet, mobilized soldiers, while intoxicated, slaughtered thirteen cows, stole a car, and committed a friendly fire incident.

A group of mobilized soldiers, accused of desertion, were sent back to the frontline. Relatives of one of the soldiers, Artem Anisimov, claim that these servicemen who survived the shelling and wanted to return to their unit were being sent to the front again. And the mobilized soldiers of the 252nd Motorized Rifle Regiment are not allowed to return to their unit located in Russia.

A volunteer from Voronezh escaped from a military base because his documents were forged, additionally, he did not receive the promised payments. His wife claims that a criminal probe was opened against the soldier.

A resident of Belgorod reproached the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov for the fact that when he was visiting air defense servicemen, he granted them honorary certificates but did not provide them with food or gear. Gladkov replied that he gave each fighter a package of food, as well as a backpack with gear and a uniform.

“What do we want?! Blood! What are we going to do?! Kill!” This battle cry was used by a battalion commander to raise the morale of conscripts from the Khanty-Mansi region.

The Ministry of Defense is eager to demonstrate that mobilized soldiers are being trained. In the Khabarovsk region, recruits perform live firing exercises as part of tank crews, and in the Sverdlovsk region, they are trained to use MLRS, mortars, and air defense systems. At the Baltic Fleet training grounds, soldiers learn how to hit training targets with Khrizantema-S tank destroyers. In the Novosibirsk region, mobilized soldiers also receive special training. After the completion of training, detachments of mobilized troops left the Rostov region for the combat zone. 397 mobilized residents of the Bryansk region began military training in the Kursk region. Ostorozhno, Novosti [Caution, News] Telegram channel told a story of servicemen who were sent to the frontline without any unit cohesion or training. These deployed groups include mobilized soldiers.

The construction industry in Transbaikalia suffered greatly from “partial” mobilization — a lot of builders were conscripted. As Liana Schiller, head of the Union of Builders of Transbaikalia, said, given the shortage of personnel, there is no one to replace them. The "partial" mobilization announced by the President of the Russian Federation aggravates the shortage of personnel in the agriculture sector of the Novosibirsk region. This was stated by the Deputy of the Legislative Assembly from the “A Just Russia — For Truth” party, director of the Novosibirsk Food Corporation Alexander Teplyakov.

In Tyva, the families of the mobilized cannot be provided with coal as promised. So far, only a part of the families of the mobilized residents of Tyva have received the coal promised by the authorities. 41% of the families on the lists received three tons of coal, and 65% of the families received firewood. The authorities of the Temryuk district in the Krasnodar Territory asked businesses to save on New Year's corporate parties and send the saved money to the needs of the army. In the Rostov region, children were involved in the production of stretchers for the army. Children from the Morozov branch of the Yunarmiya pro-government children’s movement were involved in the assembly of the Foma-180 tactical stretchers. In the Kichmengsko-Gorodets district of the Vologda region, donations are collected from rural residents for the mobilized. Ulyanovsk state employees are forced to give money in the amount of daily earnings to help the army. The money goes to the fund of the lover of the ex-governor Morozov.

The courts of St. Petersburg registered 80 complaints against decisions on mobilization. Only one of them was upheld.

A 22-year-old resident of Nyagan was mobilized right during the entrance exams to the university. The military commissar asked him via WhatsApp to come and check his papers. The young man agreed and could not return home, despite his admission to university and a number of diseases.