Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 10-11, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The Russian government has approved one-time payments to compensate for the injury or death of territorial defense force fighters serving in border areas and inside Ukraine. These payments will be equivalent to those received by military personnel and law enforcement officers involved in the war with Ukraine: 3 million rubles [$30,900] for injuries and 5 million rubles [$51,600] for their families in the event of death. Territorial defense units have been established in the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions, as well as in the occupied areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
In the Samara region, as of Oct. 16, the amount of the one-time payment for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense will be increased to 1.6 million rubles [$16,500]. Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev doubled the regional part of the payment, adding 795,000 rubles [$8,200]. Thus, together with the federal share, this brings the total to 2 million rubles [$20,700].
The Yekaterinburg city administration has extended its 200,000 ruble [$2,060] sign-up bonus for contracts with the Ministry of Defense to all Russian citizens—including those not registered in the city—and to foreign nationals. Originally introduced in early August, the payment was increased to 200,000 rubles by the end of that month. Combined with regional and federal payments, individuals can receive over 2.1 million rubles [$21,700] upon signing a contract in the city.
In the Leningrad region, law enforcement officers conducted a raid in Sertolovo, reportedly on orders from Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee. The operation targeted men who had been granted Russian citizenship but failed to register for military service. Over 250 people were checked, and more than 60 were taken to draft offices. A similar raid carried out by police in the Tyumen region resulted in 16 naturalized citizens being charged with misdemeanors and sent to draft offices to register for military service.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Yevgeny Dementyev from the Sverdlovsk region, Nikolay Andrianov from the Kirov region, Oleg Safonov from the Leningrad region, Aleksey Molchanov from the Ivanovo region and Viktor Petrov from the Tver region.
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 72,899 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 9,170 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has been supplemented with 895 soldiers, while the number of mobilized has decreased by 10. Mediazona has analyzed the average age of the servicemen killed in the war and how it has changed over time. Previously, the Vyorstka media outlet reported an increase in the number of contract soldiers aged 45 and above.
The Ukrainian Hochu Naiti [I Want to Find] project, dedicated to locating Russian soldiers who have been missing in action, has reported it has received over 31,000 requests to search for missing military personnel since its launch in January 2024. The list includes servicemen from 437 units of the Russian Armed Forces. Moreover, in 4,000 requests, the relatives of the missing indicated that they had not been informed of the unit to which their loved ones had been assigned. The 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade, involved in assaults on the town of Avdiivka, has the highest number of missing soldiers, with 848 requests from their families. Additionally, the 25th, 30th, 114th and 123rd Motorized Rifle Brigades, along with the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment, are among the units with the highest numbers of missing servicemen.
The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet spoke with relatives of conscripts captured in the Kursk region. Families of soldiers who have been exchanged in the past two months complain that they are not allowed to call home after being released from captivity. The conscripts were informed that their time in captivity and the duration of the security check would not be counted in their service. Additionally, the relatives of soldiers still in captivity accuse commanders of lying about their status. For instance, Aleksey Kirkin’s family was told by his unit that he had signed a contract just days before the fighting in the Kursk region began. When asked to see the document, the unit refused.
A group of six Russian deserters, who fled the war to Kazakhstan, has safely reached Europe and applied for asylum. This is the first such case. The fleeing contract soldiers and mobilized men are currently receiving assistance from several human rights groups. In particular, these organizations have set up a "deserter verification" system to check that the escapees are not collaborating with Russian intelligence services and have not been involved in war crimes. BBC News Russian reports their story. It is worth noting that Aleksey Alshansky, a former military member and part of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), participated in assisting the deserters.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
A pardoned drug dealer from the city of Arkhangelsk, who had participated in the war, has been detained again for drug trafficking. According to sources from the outlet 29.ru, the individual in question is Mikhail Uspasskikh, who had previously been convicted multiple times, including for illegal drug distribution. He now faces up to 20 years in prison.
A court in Astrakhan has sentenced ex-convict Ivan Polunin to nine and a half years in a maximum security penal colony for the murder of his female partner. A brief report on the verdict regarding the "special military operation" participant was released on July 19, but the full text of the verdict was only published later, as noted by TV Rain [independent Russian television channel]. According to the verdict, Polunin, who had been serving a sentence for a drug-related charge, was pardoned and deployed to the war. In early 2024, he returned home to the Astrakhan region and decided to reunite with his 13-year-old daughter, whom he had not seen since her birth. However, the child's mother objected, leading to a conflict in which Polunin stabbed the woman multiple times. He later dismembered the victim's body and attempted to dispose of it. In court, he claimed that the woman had "insulted" war participants and Putin during the argument. The court considered his participation in the war as a mitigating factor.
Yevgeny Kozlov, the deputy head of the Tyumen regional office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, reported that from May 2023 to Oct. 9, 2024, 378 ex-convicts, who had been released due to their participation in the war, returned to the region. According to Kozlov, during this period, they committed 128 crimes, including 65 thefts.
A father of multiple children has been sentenced to two years and two months in a penal settlement for failure to obey orders. Albert M. had signed a contract in 2007, but in May 2024, he refused to carry out an order to deploy to a combat zone. Among the mitigating factors the court noted that he had three young children.
In the Rostov region, an 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a relay cabinet. According to sources from The Astra Telegram channel, the incident occurred on the evening of Oct. 4. The event did not affect the operation of the equipment or train schedules. Three days later, on Oct. 7, Matvey Filatov, a resident of Novocherkassk, was arrested at his home. The law enforcement authorities claim that he committed the arson on the instructions of certain Ukrainian handlers via Telegram, driven by ideological motives. He has been charged with an act of terror, which could result in up to 20 years of imprisonment.
The Second Eastern District Military Court in Chita sentenced a resident of Barnaul to 18 years in prison for attempted terrorist attack, cooperating on a confidential basis with an international organization, participating in the activities of a terrorist organization, and receiving training for terrorist activities in connection with his attempt to set fire to a draft office. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), in November 2023, the man voluntarily contacted one of the paramilitary organizations affiliated with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He made several Molotov cocktails with the intent to set fire to the draft office in Barnaul, but was detained by FSB officers during the attempt.
A 23-year-old resident of Engels, Saratov Region, has been sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony under charges of "justifying terrorism." According to law enforcement, the young man shared materials in social media and messaging apps in late 2023 that justified the actions of "pro-Ukrainian terrorist organizations." He is also accused of making public calls for extremist activities against Russian soldiers.
Two residents of the Tomsk Region have been sentenced to nine and eight years in prison on charges of treason for transferring money to the AFU.
A court in Yekaterinburg has sentenced Viktoria Mukhametova, an operator at Uralvagonzavod [Russian state-owned machine-building company], to 12.5 years in a penal colony on charges of treason for sharing blueprints with Ukraine. Investigators claim that Mukhametova, along with her husband Danil, an engineer at Uralvagonzavod, shared certain military-technical information that could be used against the Russian Army in exchange for 100,000 rubles [$1,030].
A criminal case has been opened against a 58-year-old Krasnoyarsk resident named Sologub for public calls for terrorism. He allegedly joined the Freedom of Russia Legion.
The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject] will spend 15.5 million rubles [$159,900] on New Year's gifts for the children of war participants. The funds from the regional government's reserve will be used to purchase sweet treat sets and wireless speakers for 11,056 children. The cost of each gift will be 1,400 rubles [$14].
Members of precinct election commissions in Yekaterinburg are being required to report on their material support for participants in the war. They are asked to provide information on the number of commission members assisting participants in the "special military operation."
The Telegram channel of the Umeltsy—Frontu Snezhinsk [Craftsmen for the Front, Snezhinsk] volunteer group posted videos showing people with mental disabilities working for free to create components for military drones.
Children and Educational System
The Belgorod Center for Technical Creativity ordered 150 mock-up Kalashnikov assault rifles and 24 RGD-5 grenades, spending 6.6 million rubles [$68,100] for this purpose. The center operates 8 branches in the Belgorod region, serving over 30,000 children aged 5 to 18. Among other things, they learn how to handle firearms, safety procedures for handling weapons, and weapons mechanics.
The BBC's investigative department told the story of the war in Ukraine through the lens of a single house in Vuhledar, where the fates of three people became intertwined: a Russian soldier, the homeowner, and a Ukrainian prisoner of war who spent 46 days in the basement of the house.
The Sever.Realii media outlet told the story of a man who went to the frontline in search of his father, only to go missing himself. Meanwhile, the Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet features the story of contract soldier Artyom Bazganov and his widow Natalya. Artyom had signed a contract to pay off his child support debt, and after he died in a hospital, his widow had to personally cover the cost of transporting his body home.
Vyorstka reported on how other senators received three former military personnel appointed to positions in the Federation Council. It also covers the activities of "special military operation" veterans in government and how this "new elite" is helping to promote contract-based military service.
The Re:Russia project published an extensive report on how Russia is combating national identity in the occupied territories of Ukraine, which could be interpreted as cultural or humanitarian genocide. Russian-language education programs are being imposed in schools, anti-Ukrainian propaganda elements are introduced, and teachers face coercive measures, including imprisonment and torture.
The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet shared the story of Aleksandr Glazov, who was sentenced to six years in 2019 for his involvement in the suicidal online game "Blue Whale." After joining the Wagner Group and going to war, he was pardoned and now conducts "lessons of courage" in schools near Moscow.
The Agentstvo independent media outlet, in collaboration with the Associated Press, investigated how young women aged 18-22 from African countries are lured to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone under false pretenses to work on the production of Shahed-136 (Geran-2) loitering munitions. Upon arrival, they are kept under constant video surveillance and are forced to work with toxic chemicals in the manufacturing process.