Mobilization in Russia for November 23-24, volunteer summary
The State Duma [Russian Parliament] approved a law, which puts on hold job status of government employees who were conscripted, contracted or volunteered (to fight in the war in Ukraine) until their return to their post. The law states that they will keep their job for the duration of the "pause"; however no wage will be paid during the period.
The Unified Payment Center of the Russian Defense Ministry launched a hotline to deal with questions from Russian conscripts (although only volunteers) about their financial remuneration.
Banks in Novosibirsk stopped loaning money to draftees or any other military personnel fighting in the war with Ukraine, citing high risks. The Legislative Assembly of the Novosibirsk region has asked Russian federal authorities to interfere.
Murmansk authorities might have actually conscripted 2.5 times more of the region’s residents than was originally announced. The Arctic Observer news website found the region's financial statements which revealed the figure of 2.5 thousand mobilized men which did not align with the statement of the region's Governor Andrey Chibis on September 21 "around a thousand" men were planned to be drafted in the region.
District heads from the Leningrad region will receive financial bonuses for their respective successful mobilization campaigns. Governor of the Leningrad region Aleksandr Drozdenko announced this during the regional government meeting. Only four districts have failed to meet their "partial” mobilization quotas: Vyborgsky, Kingiseppsky, Kirishsky and Luzhsky.
The Moscow Times [an independent English-language outlet] has learnt where the money allocated for the activities related to mobilization had been spent. As per calculations of journalists, of the officially budgeted 32.5 billion rubles, only one fifth, 6 billion, was actually spent on defense measures to protect the population from the effects of the war. In the best-case scenario, the largest part of the funds was spent on unrelated activities. In the worst it was stolen.
“Today, you no longer belong to your family – you belong to the state,” said the Irkutsk region Governor Igor Kobzev describing his experience at a military academy during a meeting with the mothers of mobilized soldiers.
The Mozhem Obyasnit [We can explain] Telegram channel tells of 80 mothers and wives of the mobilized from Kuban heading to Moscow to demand a meeting with Putin. They intend to conduct a protest at Red Square. The activists belong to the Krasnodar chapter of the Council of Mothers and Wives and plan to conduct their action on Sunday to coincide with Mother’s Day. Similar delegations are expected to arrive from other Russian cities as well. According to the Telegram channel, the women demand accurate information on their loved ones’ whereabouts and return of those who were conscripted in spite of not being eligible for mobilization under the law. Immediately after the announcement, the official channel of the Council of Mothers and Wives denied planning a protest at Red Square. “Our women act lawfully. The Council of Mothers and Wives would never let women down and encourage them to participate in unsanctioned actions for which they could be detained by police and jailed for several days,” the announcement said. Later, the head of the Council of Mothers and Wives Olga Tsukanova confirmed to the Verstka media outlet that the movement’s representatives did not intend to come out to the Red Square. She also added she did not personally know the women who decided to head to Moscow from the Krasnodar region.
A video published today shows a group of mobilized Serpukhov men in the village of Baranykivka in Luhansk region. The video was filmed by the men themselves. In addition, relatives of these mobilized soldiers informed that a military prosecutor allegedly threatened the soldiers with a military tribunal for disseminating a video criticizing military leadership. The mobilized themselves said that they were ready to fight at the second or third line but refused to be at the front line. The men also refused to disarm.
A mother whose son was killed in the war in Ukraine already on October 5, received a letter from the military dated October 31, stating that her son was presently serving at unit 91711 in the town of Boguchar.
The Zabaikalye region resident Aleksandr Tashlykov, 54, mobilized into a medical company, died at a district hospital under mysterious circumstances. He was found bleeding at a hostel but his bank card keeps being used at liquor stores. In the village of Tolpino in the Kursk region, a conscript accidentally fatally shot a fellow soldier with an assault rifle. A reconnaissance senior sergeant named Andrey was serving night duty, AK-47 in hand. At some point the assault rifle “accidentally discharged” towards another serviceman, a 33-year-old private named Sergey. The bullet hit Sergey in the neck, and he died on the spot. Military prosecutors are investigating. In the Primorsk region, a mobilized soldier assaulted a fellow soldier with a knife during a quarrel in the unit. Yesterday, a hospital in the village of Pogranichny admitted a 42-year-old senior ensign Dmitriy Sh. suffering from four stab wounds in his side and back. Apparently, there was a quarrel between him and a 28-year-old Maksim Z., a mobilized soldier from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. As a result, the private grabbed a knife and assaulted the ensign right in their tent. The mobilized man was detained at the spot and in the near future a criminal case will be initiated against him under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A mobilized soldier Vladislav Pivnyuk, a history and social sciences teacher at School No. 253 in St. Petersburg, was killed in the “special military operation.”
A 33-year-old student was mobilized. Evgeny Zhukov passed entry exams for admission to the university in August. An order for admission was received only in October. He entered an intra-extramural form of study, and should have been entitled to a draft deferment. However, Evgeny had already been mobilized and sent to a training ground in Tyumen by that time. His wife is trying to bring him home through legal action, but without success so far. Vitaly Kandalov from Volgograd tried to sue a draft office and prove that he was non-effective due to problems with his legs. However, he could not win the case and was drafted.
However, there is also good news. A mobilized father with many children from Rubtsovsk was allowed to go home. 31-year-old Andrey Gavrilin, an employee of the Altaivagon plant, which is included in the register of enterprises of the military-industrial complex, was taken away on September 29 to the Omsk region. The man left behind a mother with disabilities and three children. Almost two months later, Andrei Gavrilin was returned home.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia reports that mobilized soldiers continue to undergo intensive training. In Buryatia, the mobilized fired from T-72B tanks, in the Khabarovsk region, snipers are improving their skills to defeat enemy personnel with SVD sniper rifles, in the Amur region, servicemen are trained to counter enemy armored vehicles. Mobilized tank-men train at the Central Military District training ground in the Novosibirsk region. In the rear of ​​the “special operation”, draftees are being trained in driving BTR-D armored personnel carriers and firing with Fagot wire-guided anti-tank missile system. In Togliatti, masters of MMA and boxing delivered training for mobilized residents of the region.
Conscript soldiers are sent to duty stations in parallel to a dispatch of mobilized men. The first military train set off from Novosibirsk. It had about 700 recruits from the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Tomsk, and Altai regions. They will serve in military units of the Eastern Military District. Conscripts from Bashkiria and the Sverdlovsk region were also sent there.
"SPITSnaz" [from “Spetsnaz” (the Russian Special Forces) where “SPITS” means “needles”] is operating in Krasnoyarsk. It includes employees and kindergarteners of the Severok kindergarten. Children draw pictures, and adults knit socks for Russian soldiers in Ukraine.