Mobilization in Russia for Nov. 27-30, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment

In Moscow, police detained Danil Zimin, a Yabloko party [Russia's social-liberal political party] activist, and enlisted him in the armed forces within one day. The young man had previously been detained on Oct. 31 but was released that same day after asserting his right to alternative civilian service. Although a court of first instance upheld the draft office’s refusal to grant him this right, Zimin filed an appeal, so the verdict has not yet taken effect. On the morning of Nov. 28, police detained Zimin once more. He was taken to a draft office and fined for failing to report after receiving a draft notice. Then, he was sent to the Unified Military Recruitment Center on Yablochkova Street, and later, to the military collection point on Ugreshskaya. He managed to pass along a letter stating that he was forced to "formally" undergo a military medical evaluation and was issued an order for dispatch to the place of service on Nov. 28, 2025. That evening, Zimin was already in a military unit and managed to call his relatives.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 152,142 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 16,013 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 2,901 soldiers, 141 of whom were mobilized. Journalists have noted that 67 percent of the deceased Russian soldiers came from rural areas and towns with populations under 100,000, while less than half of the Russian population lives in such places.

Aleksandr Sedov, a 47-year-old resident of the Moscow region who had been mistakenly mobilized and then sent home, was detained for the third time on charges of going AWOL and taken to a military prison in the town of Naro-Fominsk. In September 2022, Sedov, the father of five minor children, voluntarily reported to a draft office, unaware that he was legally exempt from the draft. The office sent him to the 4th Tank Division based in Naro-Fominsk. Just a few days later he ended up back home, was registered for military service, and since then had been working at a local enterprise. In 2023 and 2024, representatives of the commandant’s office came to him twice, telling him he was wanted for going AWOL. Both times the issue was resolved after the local military commissar intervened. In September 2025, representatives from another unit of the 4th Tank Division tried again to enlist Sedov. They claimed that he had been a contract soldier in their unit since 2022 and had been receiving pay the entire time despite not actually serving. According to the unit representative, Sedov failed to return from leave in February 2025, so he was declared AWOL. This incident was also resolved with the help of the commissar. However, on Nov. 21, a group of servicemen arrived at Sedov’s workplace, detained him, and took him to Naro-Fominsk, where he was placed in a military prison. The Ministry of Defense claims it has addressed the situation: "the decisions have been canceled, and the serviceman has already been sent home" and is currently on leave pending discharge.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

A court in the city of Nalchik sentenced an official of the MoD to three years in a penal colony for taking a 1.5-million-ruble ($19,200) bribe in exchange for "general patronage" for a servicemember. According to the court’s findings, Lieutenant Gorbunova received the money from a subordinate in December 2023, promising in return to keep him at the unit’s home base and exempt him from participation in combat operations. The court decided to impose a sentence well below the statutory minimum and also not to strip Gorbunova of her rank or awards, citing positive character references and state honors.

A court in Moscow has ordered Anastasia Stratovich and Nikita Tikhonov to be held in a pre-trial detention center on charges of destroying property. According to law enforcement, they applied "a substance that served as a flammable material" to the car of an Investigative Committee employee, after which the vehicle was completely destroyed. It is not specified when the defendants set the car on fire or when they were detained.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of a 56-year-old Russian man who was allegedly deported from Ukraine after being instructed to blow up a gas pipeline in the Serpukhov district of the Moscow region. The intelligence service claims the man had been placed in a foreign nationals’ holding center for violating migration rules, where he was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence. In 2024, he allegedly returned to Russia "under the cover story of deportation." Following instructions from his "handlers," he reportedly bought a car and an electric drill, then retrieved bombs from a cache. He was supposed to drill into the ground above the gas pipeline and plant the explosive devices, allegedly disguised as construction adhesive, and activate them. He was reportedly detained "in the act."

In Novosibirsk, four 15-year-olds were detained on suspicion of committing sabotage and assisting sabotage activities. According to investigators, in November 2025 an anonymous user contacted a 15-year-old boy via a messaging app and offered him money to carry out arson attacks. The student told a friend about the offer, after which the friend set fire to equipment at a cell tower. A few days later, the teenager received a similar message and passed it to peers, who then set fire to equipment at another base station.

A court in Chita has sentenced three residents of Irkutsk, Tamirlan Khayrulin, Ivan Naidyenov, and a minor identified only as Sh., to prison terms of nine, seven, and six and a half years, respectively. Sh. will serve his sentence in a juvenile correctional colony. The defendants were convicted on charges of carrying out a terrorist attack and preparing for one. According to investigators, Khayrulin and Sh. set fire to a cell phone tower in Svirsk, Irkutsk region, after being promised payment by an unidentified individual. They later agreed to attack Tu‑22M3 aircraft at a local military unit by arson, but were detained while preparing for the operation. The teenagers were also charged with setting fire to a railway relay cabinet in September 2024 and planning to burn one of the "humanitarian centers" in Irkutsk.

A court in the Tula region has sentenced a 30-year-old man to 16 years in prison for treason, sabotage, participating in a terrorist organization, and vandalism. According to law enforcement, the man joined an unnamed terrorist organization in late December 2023 and carried out assignments for Ukrainian intelligence services. According to the prosecutor’s office, he set fire to a cellular communications base station and spray-painted graffiti on buildings.

A military court in Khabarovsk has sentenced 41-year-old Artyom Pogrebenko, a native of Ukraine, to 21 years in prison on charges of espionage, preparing a terrorist attack as part of an organized group, and inciting terrorism. According to prosecutors, in February 2022, Pogrebenko "established contact with representatives of Ukraine and, acting on their instructions, sent them photographs of aircraft along with their locations." Investigators also claimed he had planned to set fire to vehicles belonging to Russian service members, but was detained by the FSB before carrying out the plan. Pogrebenko’s lawyer said the case involved an encrypted (anonymous) witness "either an FSB officer or a border guard" whom Pogrebenko had allegedly tried to influence, according to the case files. The attorney added that Pogrebenko had expressed remorse.

Separately, a court in the Omsk region sentenced Georgy Tyrkov to eight and a half years in a penal colony on treason charges. Authorities say that in 2022 he posted online comments calling for terrorism and repeatedly sent money to organizations raising funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In the city of Yekaterinburg, authorities conducted an "experiment" to test residents’ willingness to take part in acts of sabotage. From Nov. 19-26, local Telegram channels posted ads for side jobs that linked to a bot offering two ways to "earn money." The first was courier work, promising up to 350,000 rubles [$4,490] a month for carrying packages to designated locations. The second was "technical interference," meaning disabling a city facility, for which the bot offered 2 million rubles [$25,700]. Those who declined were shown an FSB social video warning about the risks of getting pulled into criminal activity. Those who proceeded to the final step and agreed received a message saying such actions in real life would lead to criminal charges, along with another warning video. The posts gathered nearly 29,000 views, but only 176 people clicked through to the bot. Of those, 166 refused; ten agreed to carry out the tasks.

Assistance

The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet found that in just under a year, authorities in Udmurtia spent at least 14.5 million rubles [$186,000] on DNA tests to identify bodies of soldiers killed in the war. Spending rose sharply compared with the previous year: from September to December 2024, only 2.5 million rubles [$32,100] had been allocated.

Russia’s total number of people with disabilities rose by 190,000 in 2023-2024, according to the Social Fund of Russia. By the end of last year, the country had 11.122 million people with disabilities, compared with 11.004 million a year earlier and 10.932 million in 2022. Before the war, the number had been declining for nearly a decade.

Longreads

The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet describes how business to send friends and acquaintances to the frontline is organized.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty published a report on the pressure Russian companies face to enlist their employees and hire "special military operation veterans."

The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet reported that Russian regions have begun delaying payments tor wounded and killed soldiers and reducing one-time bonuses for signing contracts.