Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 11-18, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The government submitted to the State Duma [lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly] a bill that would extend the maximum deadline for paying lump-sum death benefits and insurance payouts to the families of deceased service members from 30 days to seven months. According to the document, officials would have up to six months to verify the circumstances of each death and identify all relatives entitled to the payments, after which they would have to transfer the money within 30 days. The document does not explicitly prohibit early payment. The bill would apply a similar timeline to payments for the families of deceased employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the customs service. It would also halt the indexation of benefits and insurance payments until Jan. 1, 2028. In its current version, the document does not cover deceased members of volunteer formations, and it sets no payment deadlines for wounds.

On first reading, the State Duma approved a bill that would allow conscript soldiers to be sent to military units of the federal fire service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations to fight fires and carry out emergency rescue operations, including in areas of armed conflict. For now, these units operate in closed cities and at high-priority and restricted-access sites. Authorities cite the geopolitical situation and threats from "unfriendly countries" as the reasons for expanding the units' powers, and say bringing in conscripts should help reduce the personnel shortage without any added cost to the budget. The Ministry of Emergency Situations reports that response units are understaffed by as much as 22 percent and that the annual staff turnover is three to five percent. Earlier, the head of the ministry, Aleksandr Kurenkov, announced plans to send up to 5,000 conscripts to the fire service each year.

Army Recruitment

According to an estimate by the Re: Russia project, budget spending on payments to military personnel and the families of those killed has exceeded 3 trillion rubles [$36 billion] over a six-month period of combat operations, equivalent to more than 2.5% of annual GDP. In early 2025, comparable spending was approximately 1 trillion rubles [$12 billion] lower. At present, sign-up bonuses alone cost the Kremlin more than 600 billion rubles [$7 billion] per six months, of which more than 500 billion is covered by regional budgets. More than 1 trillion rubles [$12 billion] is spent on salaries paid to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, while payments for those killed and wounded cost approximately 1.4 trillion rubles.

In the Novosibirsk region, the sign-up bonus has been reduced by 900,000 rubles [$10,800], from 2.5 million rubles [$29,900], set in April this year, to 1.6 million rubles [$19,100]. Thus, including the federal payment of 400,000 rubles [$4,780], new recruits in the region can now receive a total of 2 million rubles [$23,900] for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense.

In the city of Lipetsk, the municipal sign-up bonus for signing a contract with the MoD has been increased almost threefold, from 600,000 rubles [$7,170] to 1.7 million rubles [$20,300]. Including national, regional, and municipal funds, recruits in the city are now promised a total of 4.8 million rubles [$57,300] for signing a contract, or 5.3 million rubles [$63,300] if they join the Unmanned Systems Forces. At the same time, the authorities of the Lipetsk region have decided to allocate an additional 869 million rubles [$10.38 million] to recruitment efforts for the war. The planned number of people to be recruited for military service has not been specified. The funds have been included in the state program for "ensuring public security."

Authorities in Saint Petersburg have officially reduced the regional sign-up bonus for signing a military service contract from 3.5 million rubles [$41,800] to 1 million rubles [$11,900]. Information about the new payment amounts appeared on the Smolny administration’s website. The reduction had not previously been officially announced, but municipalities had been removing promotional materials advertising the old rates. The previous payment amount will remain in effect for those signing contracts to serve in the Unmanned Systems Forces. At the same time, the city has completely abolished a 600,000-ruble [$7,170] payment previously offered by local businesses that employed recruits before they signed contracts.

In the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject], authorities have announced recruitment for operators of FPV interceptor drones to protect industrial facilities from drone attacks. Specialized teams will be established within the BARS [Special Combat Army Reserve] volunteer unit, formed in May 2026, and incorporated into the region’s air-defense system alongside mobile fire teams. Candidates are being offered contracts with the MoD and the opportunity to join the mobilization personnel reserve while continuing to work in their regular jobs.

In Moscow, Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard] officers detained a man in the military reserve with the intention of sending him to war, reported Artyom Klyga, a lawyer with the Movement of Conscientious Objectors [a human rights organization supporting those who refuse to perform military service]. This is the first report of such an incident in the capital. According to Klyga, the man was detained under the pretext of an ID check based on a police alert. The law enforcement officers told him that "mobilization is underway in the country" and asked about his military service experience. Klyga believes they intended to take the Muscovite to a recruitment center and send him to the frontline, as has already been happening in other regions. The man was released after contacting an HR employee at his workplace. Klyga notes that Rosgvardia officers in Moscow have software installed on their tablets that gives them access to information about citizens’ military registration status. This likely refers to mobile access to the Unified Military Register.

On the largest Russian classified advertisements website Avito, active recruitment for contracts with the MoD is taking place under the guise of job listings at companies. One man who answered an ad for rotational shift work was promised a position with a five-day workweek with two days off, a monthly salary starting at 210,000 rubles [$2,510], a sign-up bonus of 2.9 million rubles [$34,600], free room and board, and a week of leave after three months. The correspondence revealed that the contract would be signed with the MoD and processed at a military recruitment center in Kazan after undergoing a medical examination. Instead of being hired by the company, the man was assigned to a military position in a motorized rifle regiment in the Orenburg region. However, according to his relatives, after he signed the contract, he was told that his unit would be deployed to Donetsk.

In Georgia, listings for general laborers are being used to seek out potential contract soldiers for the Russian army. Job-search chat groups carry openings for general laborers in Tbilisi and Rustavi that offer free housing, three meals a day and a six-day workweek. But when applicants try to sign on, recruiters offer them work as a signaller or a security guard in the Kherson and Belgorod regions, with salaries ranging from 170,000 rubles [$2,030] to 210,000 rubles [$2,510], and taking the job requires signing a contract with the MoD.

In Birobidzhan, in the Jewish Autonomous Region [Russia’s constituent region], a 63-year-old pensioner with tuberculosis, encephalopathy, cognitive impairment, chronic liver and pancreatic disease and hypertension, who weighs 45 kilograms and stands 150 centimeters tall, was declared fit for military service and forced to sign a contract with the MoD. Despite his health, the military medical board in Birobidzhan assigned him service fitness category "A" (fully fit for military service). Meanwhile, in Rostov-on-Don, the man was declared unfit for service, but his contract was not terminated. After his relatives complained, he was repeatedly moved between various units and hospitals, and in Barnaul, in the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], he was made to sign a contract. He was later sent to the Rostov region, from which, according to his family, he was to be sent to war. His family has been unable to reach him for almost a month.

Russian real estate agencies have begun asking clients to provide extracts from the Electronic Draft Notice Register when completing property transactions. At least 15 agencies in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Omsk and other cities have introduced or recommended the practice. Real estate agents say the requirement is intended to ensure the security of transactions. Although the law does not require clients to provide the extract, some agencies warn that the other party may refuse to proceed with a deal without it.

In Saint Petersburg, OMON [riot police], together with draft office staff, conducted a large-scale raid at Sennoy Market after Friday prayers. While police detained dozens of people over suspected violations of immigration law, draft office staff checked whether men who had recently obtained Russian citizenship had registered for military service. Several dozen men were handed draft notices.

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 281,753 Russian servicemen killed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including 20,814 mobilized soldiers. Since the last update, 5,640 names have been added to the list. The journalists have also highlighted losses among paratroopers and marines, who account for up to 10 percent of all Russian military fatalities. Notably, three elite formations—the 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, the 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade and the 76th Guards Air Assault Division—rank among the top ten units with the highest numbers of personnel killed.

Vladislav Kapustin, a 23-year-old resident of Krasnoyarsk who completed his statutory military service in 2023–2024, has been declared AWOL, detained, and sent to an assault unit. After a year of service in the 5th Railway Brigade in Abakan, Russia's constituent Republic of Khakassia, Kapustin returned home, only to be arrested in Krasnoyarsk on March 15, 2026, over a military service contract he had allegedly signed in February 2024. Kapustin was taken to a collection point for deserters and then transferred to an assault battalion of the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade. Relatives discovered that his personnel file contained no written request to sign a contract, and a forensic examination confirmed that the document had been signed by someone else. After Kapustin's father filed a complaint about the forged signature, he was threatened with criminal charges for filing a false report. Complaints from Kapustin's lawyer were also unsuccessful: the investigator maintained that the contract was considered valid regardless of the authenticity of the signature or the absence of a written request.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Russian garrison military courts handed down sentences to 8,781 people in the first half of this year, a record for the past 16 years and 42% more than in the first half of last year, when 6,192 people were convicted. Most of those convicted in the first half of 2026 received prison sentences—6,078 people. This figure was also a record. By comparison, 40% fewer people received this punishment in the first half of last year—3,643—while the figure for the first half of 2024 was 2,908.

The 2nd Western District Military Court has begun hearing the case against Uso Avdalyan, a serviceman from the Voronezh region, who is accused of murdering several people, committing six counts of torture, and four counts of abuse of authority resulting in serious consequences. The details of the alleged crimes are unknown, but in 2018 he was sentenced to 11 years in a maximum security penal colony for murdering bailiff Maksim Maksimov and stealing his car. Avdalyan likely signed a contract with the MoD while serving his previous sentence.

The Southern District Military Court’s permanent judicial presence in Donetsk is hearing the criminal case against serviceman Aleksey Korolev, who is charged with the murder of two or more people and extortion on a large scale . Korolev had previously been convicted multiple times of robbery, armed robbery, theft, fraud and hooliganism. Since 2023, he had been serving an 11-year sentence for drug dealing, but in 2024 he signed up to fight in the war while serving his sentence in a penal colony and was assigned to the 121st Motorized Rifle Regiment. In October 2025, while in the occupied territory of the Kharkiv region, he shot and killed six reconnaissance soldiers from the 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade during a dispute triggered by a Russian FPV drone mistakenly attacking an ATV belonging to the 121st Regiment. On the evening of Oct. 24, several assault troops from the regiment who were intoxicated arrived at the reconnaissance company’s command post in the 27th Brigade to confront the UAV operators. They assaulted the reconnaissance troops present and seized their UAV control equipment. On the morning of Oct. 25, the reconnaissance company commander, Yury Davydov, assembled a group of servicemen to retrieve the equipment. The attempt ended in a shootout: Korolev, a grenade launcher operator, grabbed a weapon and opened fire. Six servicemen were killed, and two others, including Davydov, the company commander, were wounded.

Children and Militarization

In Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic], children are being drawn into military-related training exercises as part of a monthlong civil defense campaign. In one village in the Sterlitamak district, schoolchildren were outfitted with helmets and body armor and given assault rifles and a grenade launcher. At a school in the Salavat district, students also received training on how to respond to a "drone threat."

Assistance

Across Russia, war participants, their relatives and businesses connected to them have begun receiving preferential access to state business subsidies. In Buryatia, a Russian constituent republic, the maximum reimbursement of expenses for veterans with disabilities was raised to 10 million rubles [$119,400], while other entrepreneurs can receive no more than 7 million rubles [$83,600]. Businesses owned by war participants also receive priority in the distribution of subsidies for agriculture, equipment purchases and innovation projects, with some programs applying a higher coefficient. Similar preferences were introduced in the Astrakhan region, while in the Krasnoyarsk region companies receive additional points when applying for state support for hiring war participants.

Longreads

The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking] Telegram channel reports on two conscripts who were assigned to military units in the Far East and coerced into signing military service contracts.