Mobilization in Russia for Nov. 6-9, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

Members of the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] proposed simplifying the admission process to military academies for applicants who failed to enroll in civilian universities, in order to address cadet shortfalls. The lawmakers suggest that if vacancies exist, applicants should be allowed to submit documents without an initial selection. This would enable these applicants to quickly become cadets. The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel notes that young men automatically become "conscripted servicemen" upon entering a military academy, unlike a civilian university. Furthermore, they must sign a contract after they turn 18, though not before the end of their first year. Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] previously reported that cadets face difficulties when trying to leave military academies.

Army Recruitment

Drawing on an article by The Telegraph, the Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel reports instances of the Russian army recruiting people with severe mental illnesses. Authorities reportedly persuaded or forced them, despite their disabilities, to sign contracts before dispatching them to forward positions. Consequently, many went missing or died in action.

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 145,258 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 15,767 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 2,171 soldiers, 83 of whom were mobilized. Journalists note that after the adoption of amendments to the legislation that facilitate the recruitment of young people for the war, there has been an increase in the number of 18-to-20-year-old men killed in action.

In Tyumen, members of the far-right Russian nationalist organization Russkaya Obshchina [Russian Community] have been assisting in the search for deserters and servicemen gone AWOL. The group has been using its social media accounts to post photographs of allegedly missing soldiers, asking the public to report any sightings. The organization’s coordinator stated that data on the soldiers is provided by the military police, although the Russkaya Obshchina has no legal authority to participate in raids to search for servicemen. Earlier, the Penza branch of the organization reported on the detention of Russian soldiers who had gone AWOL from their military units.

In Sergiyev Posad, plainclothes men detained a young man on the street after spraying him with pepper spray. One of them presented an ID identifying himself as a Ministry of Defense officer and claimed the man was a deserter. According to witnesses, the men said he had signed a military contract while in pre-trial detention and later escaped. However, an acquaintance of the detainee said he had served in the military, was hospitalized and may not have returned to his unit because he is "physically unable to serve."

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

A former operative and two participants in the war with Ukraine have been arrested in connection with the murder of 38-year-old crypto scammer Roman Novak and his wife, committed in Dubai. In early October, Roman and Anna Novak were lured to a rented villa under the pretense of meeting potential investors. There, the kidnappers demanded that Novak hand over the keys to his cryptocurrency wallet, which he did. When it turned out the wallet was empty, the couple were killed and their remains buried in the desert. According to Fontanka [pro-Russian media outlet of the Leningrad region], a total of eight people are implicated in the case. The organizers and principal perpetrators were identified as 53-year-old St. Petersburg resident Konstantin Shakht, 46-year-old St. Petersburg resident Yury Sharypov and 45-year-old Moscow resident Vladimir Dalekin. Sharypov and Dalekin had both fought in the war but were later demobilized for health reasons. In 2014, Dalekin was detained for assaulting a woman, while Sharypov had previously been implicated in a 2003 murder case.

In the Irkutsk region, a man has been kidnapped and forced to sign a contract to participate in the war. According to the Investigative Committee, in 2024, a resident of Angarsk, together with his acquaintances, offered a local resident to buy a car. After the sale, they demanded more money and, after taking the car, started threatening him. Then they kidnapped the man and took him to a closed facility, where he was forced to sign a contract to participate in the war. After he received the payment, they forced him to transfer about 700,000 rubles [$8,650] to the accounts of three members of the group. All suspects have been detained. Weapons, knives and equipment were seized during searches at their addresses.

In the Donetsk region, two school students have been sent to a pre-trial detention center on charges of attempted act of terror. According to investigators, the detainees were planning to set fire to a relay cabinet in the occupied territories of the Donetsk region.

A teenager from Moscow has been detained on suspicion of setting fire to a police car in Khimki on Nov. 7. The fire was quickly extinguished, and no one was injured. The detainee, born in 2008, told law enforcement officers that he had been instructed to set the car on fire by unidentified individuals with whom he had communicated by phone.

A court in St. Petersburg has ordered a teenager named Vyacheslav held in a pre-trial detention center until Dec. 30 on charges of participation in a terrorist organization. Investigators describe him as "a supporter of extremist views and positions" who was dissatisfied with the authorities and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to law enforcement, by Feb. 3 the teenager had begun communicating with members of the Russian Volunteer Corps and told them he was willing to provide information about transportation infrastructure in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Investigators say he later sent them photos and videos of a transport facility. The teenager’s father is fighting as a volunteer in the war against Ukraine.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of a man accused of preparing a terrorist attack in the Moscow region. According to the agency, the 27-year-old resident of Volokolamsk was allegedly acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services and was supposed to deliver explosives to Moscow. The FSB said he retrieved a package with explosives from a cache in Lyubertsy and was to leave it in Izmailovsky Park, but was detained before completing the delivery.

In Russian-occupied Sevastopol, a "court" has upheld the 10-year penal colony sentence of 60-year-old Pavel Chibisov, convicted of preparing an act of terror that resulted in a person’s death and illegally purchasing explosives online. According to investigators, Chibisov allegedly received from a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the coordinates of a cache containing improvised explosive devices and was tasked with blowing up a car carrying Russian soldiers and the Kremlin-appointed head of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region. Chibisov, a native of Donetsk, moved to Russia in 2021 and registered his residence in Tver.

In the Tambov region, FSB officers have detained a local resident on charges of treason and financing terrorism. According to the intelligence service, the man allegedly shared information with a Ukrainian blogger about the locations of Russian soldiers and transferred money to support "one of the pro-Ukrainian terrorist organizations banned in Russia." His name and other details of the case have not been disclosed.

In the Russian-occupied part of the Luhansk region, the authorities have opened a criminal case against 34-year-old local resident and Russian citizen Natalya Borzilo under the article on treason. Investigators claim that in April 2022, she collected information about the positions of units of the so-called "LNR People’s Militia" in the Svatove district and transmitted it to Ukraine. No further details about the case have been made public.

Assistance

Lawmakers in Russia’s Murmansk regional parliament have introduced draft legislation requiring companies with more than 100 employees to reserve at least 1% of their workforce for war veterans. To enforce compliance, the bill sets out financial penalties for employers who fail to meet the quota: individual executives could face fines ranging from 20,000 rubles [$250] to 30,000 rubles [$370], while corporate entities could be fined between 50,000 rubles [$620] and 100,000 rubles [$1,240]. If adopted, the new requirements would take effect in July 2026.

Children and Militarization

In the town of Kataysk in Russia’s Kurgan region, a kindergarten recently held a "master class" where preschool-aged children were taught how to handle Kalashnikov assault rifles. According to a now-deleted post from the kindergarten’s official page, the demonstration was intended to "foster patriotism, respect for national history and a readiness to help others." The post included photos of children dressed in camouflage while holding the weapons. Following widespread criticism, the post was later deleted.