Mobilization in Russia for November 30 – December 1, CIT volunteer summary

Alexander Avdeev, Governor of the Vladimir region, denied the court martial threats to soldiers from the 346th Regiment who refused to fight and whom we wrote about earlier. Their female relatives recorded a video appeal to Putin, in which they complained that the command "threatened the men with execution by firing squad." Alexander Avdeev said, "The problem has already been solved – the men have cooled down, and the command has calmed down a bit." There is no threat of a court martial for the mobilized, but there were some "disputable moments with the officers." According to him, almost all servicemen returned to their positions. However, five of them need to be checked because of "psychological and physiological disorders."

The Military Ombudsman project published a reply to an appeal to the Organizational and Staff Department of the Rosgvardia [the National Guard of Russia]. Like on the 122 hotline, the response states that the end of mobilization draft does not mean the end of mobilization itself. Also, the Military Ombudsman reports that mobilized soldiers from the basement in Zavitne Bazhannya in the "DPR" were taken out today to give explanations to the investigation officer.

The conscripts from Chuvashia who protested their situation will not be dispatched to Ukraine until January. The men were due to be deployed to the front before November 27th but they are now being kept in reserve. Until they are deployed to the front, the reservists will take turns digging trenches at their training ground near Ulyanovsk. Recall that since the beginning of their strike, the soldiers were issued boots, sleeping pads, and balaclavas. Almost all of them were also granted two-day leaves to visit their homes and their families and were promised 50 thousand ruble payouts.

Мobilized soldiers from Chelyabinsk now stationed in Svatove complain of cold, dampness, and lack of commanding personnel. They also claim that they were sent to the frontline under the threat of death. Mobilized soldiers from Tyva recorded a video showing how they survive under freezing conditions. Murmansk region draftees are also unhappy and complain about poor living conditions and lack of training. The servicemen are forced to sleep in the cold in tents set up over damp ground.

The mobilized soldiers from Serpukhov abandoned by their command near Luhansk were taken away from the frontline after recording a video address. The military prosecutor’s office has started an investigation into their circumstances. The mobilized men who recorded the widely-circulated video address where they complained of their commanders have been evacuated from the front line. According to the Mozhem Obyasnit’ [We can explain] Telegram channel, relatives have reported that some of the men are already in Moscow. At the same time, the wife of one of the soldiers who appeared in the video informed the Vazhnye Istorii [The Important Stories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] that the group of the Serpukhov draftees were dispatched back to the front after the video address.

More than 90% of all draftees from the Primorsky region sent to Ukraine as part of the "partial" mobilization have been paid 150 thousand rubles each, as stated by the region's government.

A draft office did not allow an applicant to serve out his time in the Army in an alternative civilian service. The resident of the Russian constituent republic of Chuvashia had timely filled in all of the necessary paperwork and had his family members send it through with the registered mail service after he received a phone call from a draft office back in October.

General Manager of DonbassTeploEnergo [regional power generation company] Aleksey Tsyupka denied the Astra Telegram channel's post about mass mobilization of the Donetskteploset' [Donetsk heat distribution network] employees that we had described in one of our sitreps. "This news is pure fake," said Mr Tsyupka. However, Donetsk residents, while commenting on this rebuttal, are saying that the GM is lying. Astra will continue their investigation into the issue.

Russians are again receiving draft notices. A Sirena Telegram channel subscriber has just received one this morning at his Moscow residential address. Also, readers of the Govorit NeMoskva Telegram channel have talked about attempts by authorities to draft people after the end of the mobilization was announced. An employee of a hospital IT department from Ingushetia [constituent republic of Russia] said that an attempt was made to forcefully shove draft notices to him and two of his colleagues.

More news is coming in about Russian draftees being killed. Draftee Egor Masev, a father of multiple children from Magnitogorsk, 33-year-old, born in 1989, was killed in the war with Ukraine on November 11. Drafted on his 40th birthday, Vitaly Zaitsev from the Sverdlovsk region was killed in the Kherson region. AndreyVoronov from Kursk, born in 1989, drafted on October 15, was killed on November 10. The Tomsk region resident was shipped off to war with Ukraine a few days after the mobilization began. A month later he was killed during shelling. His father told the Vot Tak online news portal that his son had received no army training. Along with the others he was just shipped off to the front line like "cannon fodder".

The Russian Ministry of Defense continues to share details of the training of mobilized soldiers. Draftees perform combat tasks alongside specialists of a Western Military District's maintenance battalion. Motorized riflemen of the Central Military District, called up as part of the "partial" mobilization, are polishing their combat skills. Near Kazan, the mobilized are improving their night firing skills. Russian draftees continue their tactical training at Belarus's training grounds. The oppositional Belarusian project Motolko reports that several Russian soldiers armed with assault rifles escaped from the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground near Baranovichi yesterday. From Tyumen, one more trainload of draftees was sent to the war zone.

NGS24.RU online media outlet published an article about the family of Natalia and Aleksey, a draftee from the Krasnoyarsk region. Despite her numb hand, Natalia works as a cleaner. There is no other job available, and the family does not have any savings. Her husband Alekseyi, who is deaf in one ear and is almost blind in one eye, was mobilized on September 29. Early in October, he was deployed to the "special military operation". There is no way of communication with him now. In her attempt to get help or have a medical examination for her husband, the woman knocks on every door of government offices, only to be met with indifference.

Mobilization and mass emigration significantly increased Russians’ interest in learning foreign languages. In the fall, the demand rose for tutors in Serbian (by 221%), Turkish (69%), Hebrew (68%), Armenian (60%), Georgian (51%), Bulgarian (50%) and Chinese (15%) languages.

In Tyumen, the wives of the mobilized are grumbling that it has been two months since their husbands should have started receiving payments. The authorities tend to explain that they lost the lists.

The mayor of the town of Strezhevoy in the Tomsk region suggested that aiding the mobilized should be put under the control of a committee of community representatives, which will be able to see every receipt and payment order. As of now, 2 million rubles has been spent on aid for the mobilized and their families. Additionally, the kids of mobilized soldiers from Norilsk will receive a payment of 10 thousand rubles each.

Aleksandr Byvshev, a poet from the Orlov region, was arrested for the use of the derogatory term ‘chmobiki’ in his Facebook post. Earlier, he was fined 70 thousand rubles for posts supporting Ukraine.

The protest of Russian women related to the mobilized grows more structured as new organizations emerge. The authorities are not sitting idly by and are preparing their response. In a video by the Verstka media outlet, they tell how this female protest is formed, who stands behind the Council of Mothers and Wives, and what ideas the Kremlin is coming up with to try and take back control of the situation.