Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 11-13, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Since mid-August, Yekaterinburg residents have seen a noticeable increase in advertising for contract military service, reports SOTAvision, a Russian independent news outlet. Authorities have placed advertisements on the employment center building and public transportation stops. In the regional town of Aramil, contract service ads were even placed on the building of a children's arts school. Earlier, the Yekaterinburg city administration had extended its 200,000 ruble [$2,080] sign-up bonus for enlisting to all Russian citizens—including those not registered in the city—and to foreign nationals. Taking into account the regional and federal components, those concluding a contract in Yekaterinburg can receive over 2.1 million rubles [$21,800].
In Saint Petersburg, the youth wing of the United Russia party [Putin’s ruling party], known as Molodaya Gvardiya [Young Guard], announced that 12 of its members—including the head of the local branch and his deputy—had gone to Ukraine to fight as part of the Kaskad military unit. This unit is commanded by Dmitry Sablin, a member of the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia]. According to the Telegram channels Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] and VChK-OGPU, Kaskad is considered a special "court" unit. It is reportedly where legislators and the children of officials enlist to make a symbolic appearance in the war without participating in active combat operations.
Two deputy governors of the Belgorod region, Rustem Zainullin and Aleksandr Lorents, have announced their departure for the war within the ranks of the BARS-Belgorod volunteer unit. Sergey Popov, a member of the Belgorod regional legislative assembly, has also joined the unit. Earlier in 2023, Popov had enlisted in the territorial defense forces and had risen to the position of assistant commander for political affairs in a battalion. The Ministry of Defense announced the formation of the BARS-Belgorod volunteer unit in early September 2024. It is tasked with protecting essential infrastructure and socially significant sites, as well as combating UAVs. The ministry promises volunteers a salary of about 80,000 rubles [$830], which may be increased to 280,000 rubles [$2,910] if they are assigned combat tasks. Funding will be jointly provided by the region and the Ministry of Defense, with contracts supposedly expiring after a one-year term.
Ruslan Sidiki, who was previously accused of acts of sabotage in the Ryazan region, has reported an attempt to recruit him for the war. Earlier, TASS [Russian state-owned news agency] reported, citing sources, that Sidiki allegedly had expressed a desire to join the war effort. However, his lawyer and a source from SOTAvision have refuted this information.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Viktor Petrov from Russia's constituent Republic of Buryatia, Ivan Ogarkov from the Kirov region, Nikita Zaborskikh, Yevgeny Didenko and Anton Kravchenko from the Rostov region, German Nikitin from the Astrakhan region, as well as Vyacheslav Romanov, Maksim Tomshin, Sergey Balashov, Roman Shuklin and Yegor Taushankov from the Sverdlovsk region.
Two Russian conscripts, Mark Leonov and Pyotr Yandom have reported receiving payments for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense, although they did not sign anything. Leonov was conscripted at the end of May 2024, while Yando has been serving since December 2023. Both are assigned to a military unit in the town of Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk region. In September, the young men initially received 305,000 rubles [$3,170] from the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Services of the Republic of Tatarstan. Subsequently, they received a payment of 400,000 rubles [$4,160] signed as a "sign-up bonus for military personnel who signed a contract between Aug. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, for tasks related to the special military operation." Typically, conscripts are paid 2,500 rubles [$26] per month. In his comment to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, Leonov stated that he did not sign anything and confirmed that conscripts had been repeatedly and very persistently urged to sign a contract with the MoD, but they had consistently refused. A third similar case was reported by the mother of another conscript. All three cases involve the 90th Tank Division stationed in Chebarkul and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Services of the Republic of Tatarstan. The conscripts and their families intend to conduct graphological examinations of the signatures on the contracts and also plan to appeal to law enforcement agencies and the courts.
Soldiers from the Pskov region and Saint Petersburg, serving in a unit of the 6th Army, have filed a complaint with the presidential administration and the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office, claiming that their command is illegally sending them to the war. The authors of the complaint (most of whom are awaiting trial for refusing to go to war) stated that among them are not only wounded soldiers but also those suffering from HIV and hepatitis. Their diagnoses were ignored by the military medical board. The soldiers' complaint was forwarded to the 6th Army itself, where they were told that orders from the command must be obeyed without question, and that failure to follow orders in wartime could be considered treason.
Maksim Mikhailov, a serviceman of the 1008th Regiment who has had a third-degree disability since childhood and suffers from an organic personality disorder, has been declared wanted for going AWOL. When signing his contract, he did not undergo a medical evaluation, but in late December, the command sent him to the military medical board to assess his fitness for service. Due to concussions and deteriorating health, Mikhailov was unable to find his unit and returned home to the city of Astrakhan. Several months later, with the help of a friend, he went to the medical board. Psychologists issued a certificate stating that he was unfit for armed service and combat due to his medical condition. Despite this, Mikhailov was told he would be sent on an assault mission.
Dmitry Shabalin, a serviceman from the 331st Regiment of the 98th Airborne Division, also complains about attempts to send him on an assault mission. Shabalin, who is from the city of Izhevsk, had previously been sent to a hospital with complaints of headaches and heart arrhythmia. Despite being diagnosed with a condition incompatible with participation in assault operations, he was not referred to the military medical board, but instead continued to be transferred between units. Shabalin's wife said he was pressured to sign a report for transfer to an assault brigade, but he refused. Recently, he was transferred to an assault regiment, had his passport and military ID confiscated, and is now set to be sent on an assault mission.
The Russkaya Obshchina [Russian Community], a far-right Russian nationalist organization, published a video in which armed individuals in camouflage, claiming to be war participants, issue threats to doctors and members of the State Duma, demanding a ban on abortions. One of the participants in the video can be seen wearing shoulder patches with neo-Nazi symbols.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
According to the Astra Telegram channel, serviceman Aleksandr Syuzev of the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade died after crashing his car into a tank in the Kursk region. Five other servicemen were in the car with Syuzev—all of them sustained injuries.
A court in Tula has placed serviceman V. V. Goliguzov in a pre-trial detention center on charges of murder. According to prosecutors, on Oct. 8, a drunken Goliguzov assaulted his acquaintance, who died on the spot. As reported by the 7x7—Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet, this likely refers to Vladimir Vyacheslavovich Goliguzov, who was sentenced last year by the Tula court to four years in a maximum security penal colony for robbery and theft. He likely signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in a penal colony.
The Volgograd regional court upheld the robbery conviction of the war veteran Vladislav Burdin and his two accomplices. Of the three codefendants, the ex-military received the lesser sentence. The court admitted Burdin’s prior conviction for a similar offense into evidence, but sentenced him to only a year and seven months in a penal colony.
Astra’s sources reveal that war veteran Aleksey Krivosheyev is suspected of having murdered Aleksey Kochash in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Krivosheyev stabbed Kochash in the chest which led to the victim’s death at the scene. Krivosheyev had already had prior convictions for theft and for assaulting a public official. He had signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in April 2024.
In the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], war veteran Pavel Kokorin, recently back from Ukraine, brutally beat his wife with a bat in front of the couple’s four children, Astra reports without naming its sources.
In Moscow, a 14-year-old daughter of a war participant was raped by Emomali Mirzoev, a native of Tajikistan who had been previously convicted of a similar crime and pardoned for his participation in the war as part of the Wagner Group. According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, a criminal case against the man was recently submitted to the court, but he is requesting to be sent back to the war. Mirzoev enlisted to the war from a penal colony in September 2022, was pardoned by Vladimir Putin, and received a Russian passport in May 2023. Mirzoev met the 14-year-old girl through an online application.
The "Zaporizhzhia Regional Court" sentenced three local residents for "espionage" on behalf of Ukraine. Aleksandr Zhukov and Sergey Popov were each sentenced to 12 years, while Sergey Korzh received 13 years in prison. According to investigators, Popov was gathering data on the locations of Russian soldiers and military equipment, which he allegedly passed on to an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate. Zhukov collected information about the personnel of a Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard] unit stationed in occupied Melitopol and also passed it to Ukrainian intelligence. Korzh, an engineer at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, was accused of spying on Rosgvardia in occupied Enerhodar. He was also accused of passing information to the Main Intelligence Directorate.
At least 49 people in Russia have been subjected to forced psychiatric treatment for political reasons. The Memorial Center shares the stories of some of them. Russian authorities are using mental health issues as a pretext for repressing individuals they consider undesirable—from activists and Muslims to scientists and musicians.
Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Vasilets, who was sentenced to two years and five months in a penal settlement for refusing to participate in the invasion of Ukraine, has been released on parole. In a video message, he thanked those who sent letters of support while he was behind bars.
Children and Educational System
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee has proposed combating juvenile crime by promoting traditional values and organizing meetings with veterans of the war in Ukraine. The committee identified sabotage in favor of Ukraine, activities of Islamist organizations, and mass murders as the main threats to the country.
Longreads
Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] has published an extensive piece on Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died while in Russian captivity. She spent six months in a torture-filled pre-trial detention center in Taganrog.