Summary of mobilization in Russian Federation for October 12–13
Igor Krasnov, the Prosecutor General of Russia, made recommendations for citizens who are not eligible for mobilization but received a draft notice: “After receiving a notice, the citizen should arrive to the military commissariat with up-do-date personal information, documents that confirm his right to be exempt from the partial mobilization”. On our part, we still don’t recommend going to military commissariats.
Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, reported that to be exempt from “partial” mobilization a father of multiple children has to have three, not four children as dependents. Pavel Chikov, a lawyer and a human rights activist, is skeptical about such claims because those who are mobilized “won’t be able to cite either a deputy’s words or some mistake-riddled document from the Internet.”
Russian senators proposed a law that would allow those convicted of crimes of little or average gravity to have their sentences adjourned or fully lifted in case they are willing to take part in military operations.
The military commissariat confirmed the death of five conscripts mobilized from the Chelyabinsk region. The regional authorities will help their families by paying each a compensation of 1 million rubles. More information on the deceased can be found in BBC’s article. The death of Krasnoturyinsk’s resident Evgeniy Bizyaev whom we mentioned in the October 10-11th dispatch was also confirmed. On another note, the first mobilized lawyer – Andrey Nikiforov from Saint-Petersburg – was killed near Lysychansk. Thus, at least 7 cases of killed conscripts are known for a fact. Meanwhile, Sirena (a Telegram news channel) published a recording of a conversation with a mobilized person who was wounded in action near Svatove as part of the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, whereas his friend was killed there. That information is supported by a post published in a pro-Russian Brosok Mangusta Telegram channel, furthermore, it names general Zusko as responsible for the current state of affairs. A video was published with Russian soldiers taken prisoner also near Svatove. A few of them claim to have been mobilized. Mediazona collected everything that is currently known about deaths of mobilized Russians – both on the frontlines and in-training – in their article.
According to RosBiznesConsulting [the RBC Group, a Russian media group] estimates, after three weeks, the authorities of more than 23 regions announced the completion of the mobilization plan. Based on the letter from a military recruitment office to the municipalities of several districts of the Astrakhan region, the authenticity of which we assess as very likely, the “conscription and transportation of citizens” for the war will resume on October 14, 17, 19. In Tatarstan, graduates of military courses at [civilian] university will now be drafted to fill the shortage of commanding positions. At the same time, men began to receive draft notices for the beginning of next year and even for the spring. Mozhem Obyasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel has already become aware of three cases when people liable for military service were ordered to come to the military recruitment office next year. Military notices stopped being issued in the Irkutsk region, said Yevgeny Fuzhenko, the Military Commissar [the Head of Recruitment Office] of the region. However, the issuance may be resumed at any time at a request of the General Staff.
The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation replied to the Federal Chamber of Lawyers that lawyers are not entitled to a draft deferment, they are to be drafted on a general basis. Moscow lawyers insist that the draft of lawyers can lead to a violation of the right to qualified defense embodied in the Constitution, as well as to the disruption of the work of both investigators and courts. However, in most regions, lawyers do not lay claim for deferment, and men who have gone to the "special military operation" are ready to be replaced by female defenders.
Ombudsmen named the main complaints of the mobilized soldiers. Most of the complaints were received due to the non-compliance of mobilized soldiers with the priority criteria for the call, a formalistic conduct of a medical examination or its absence, as well as problems with equipment.
The authorities of Kuzbass [the Kemerovo region] explained why the mobilized soldiers do not pass medical examinations in military recruitment offices. The representative of the government of Kuzbass claimed that medical examinations of military personnel are carried out in a military unit. It should be noted that, according to numerous reports published in previous Mobilization Summaries, there is often no medical examination in the units either.
In Moscow, Alexander Kustov, a 35-year-old IT specialist from VTB Bank, is being mobilized, despite a reservation confirmed by the General Staff and a military recruitment office. One more Moscow citizen was almost mobilized in his office, but he did not take the draft notice and was allowed to go home. Another Moscow citizen was detained as a draft dodger, although he regularly came to a military recruitment office. This did not prevent him from being put on a federal wanted list. In St. Petersburg, a draft notice was issued to Avital Parfenenko, an Israeli citizen. The woman has a sight disability, she has also undergone a renal transplantation. And in Moscow, a draft notice was handed to a woman from Vietnam who received Russian citizenship in 2020. Nguyen Vu Hoang Anh believes that a military recruitment office just could not determine her sex by name. Forty rotation workers aged 18 to 55 were reportedly taken to a military recruitment office from the hostel of Moscow SpetsCityStroy company on October 12. Moreover, correctional inspections of Moscow have reportedly started to issue draft notices to people with an outstanding conviction. SHOT Telegram channel claims that draft dodgers are already being identified in the Central, Northern and North-Western administrative districts of Moscow with the Potok system [a system of automatic identification of number plates and remote monitoring of traffic]. The student from yesterday's Mobilization Summary, who was mistakenly detained twice for draft dodging, was detained for the third time.
Insurance companies reported that demand for travel insurance by Russians grew since the announcement of the “partial” mobilization. For the period from September 21 through October 10, the sales of insurance policies to those going abroad increased by 41% as compared to the same period in 2021 and by 21% as compared to the same period a month ago.
According to Kyrgyzstan’s minister of labor and migration, 760 thousand Russian citizens entered the country since the beginning of the year. 730 thousand of them later left for other countries.
A passenger at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow who received a travel package to Turkey as his birthday gift was not allowed to travel abroad. “They don’t even talk to the guys. They say there’s a decree on mobilization and a ban on leaving the country. Then they hand them a slip of paper and send them home. Supposedly, they are on some kind of list but they don’t say which list exactly. In 20 minutes, about 5 more people were taken off the flight along with us,” recalled the passenger’s wife. A Pskov-born Rossiya airline employee attempted to board a flight to Tashkent but he was turned back at the Sheremetyevo airport in relation to the mobilization decree despite the man’s eligibility for postponement and no military summons issued to him. The restrictions against leaving the country affected St. Petersburg physicians as well. In a letter addressed to local hospitals, the head of the St. Petersburg Healthcare Committee Dmitri Lisovets, recommended that their employees refrain from taking work trips until “a special order [is issued]”.
Novosibirsk authorities promised to compensate the mobilized city residents for their expenses related to procuring their military gear that may cost up to 100 thousand roubles each according to various estimates. Later, however, the officials claimed that they meant something else, i.e. they will only compensate some people and not fully. In Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, families of the mobilized received new benefits including free pre-school childcare and free school meals. At the same time, the wives of the mobilized Yugorsk residents complain that they are yet to see the free school lunches to which their children were now entitled. In Tatarstan, mobibilzed muslims will be issued pocket prayer books to help fight against fear and against the enemy.
Mobilization is playing an ever bigger part in the economy. Cheliabinsk factories started to make body armor, combat boots, and sleeping bags. A shoe factory, in addition to producing winter footwear for the mobilized, now also makes combat boots to army standards. A knitting factory is now making thermal underwear and several garment factories started producing sleeping bags. Krasnoyarsk Region has sent out 1,000 humanitarian aid kits—first aid supplies, warm clothes, sleeping bags—to the training center in Kuzbass. In Novokuznetsk, dog owners donated the fur sheared from their pets. A collection box to aid the mobilized was installed in the town of Volsk in Saratov Region. In other news from that town, there was an unconfirmed report of yet another mobilized man’s death. In Krasnodar Region, the head of a village council asked entrepreneurs to donate up to 50 thousand rubles for the needs of the mobilized.
Troop trains with the servicemen mobilized in the Ul`yanovsky region set off for shooting ranges and training centers of the Southern military district. More troop trains with the mobilized were seen out in Smolensk and in Igra (Udmurtia region) as well. Another group set off from Kaliningrad. And some part of the mobilized Tomsk residents has already been sent to Kherson, according to a Telegram channel administered by conscripts. In this video, the mother of a conscript soldier tells that her son was sent to the state border with Ukraine to dig trenches and sit there under fire without any training. It's worth noting that this case does not contradict the effective laws and rules.
The Russian Ministry of Defense demonstrates videos from Rostov and Murmansk regions in order to prove the absence of problems with supplying the mobilized. It`s stated that the servicemen are provided with a complete set of uniform and equipment, including a first-aid kit and protective gear. Readovka news media points out the standard of equipping soldiers: “Provided with everything from band-aids to cotton wool: all is set up”. In the meantime the mobilized deployed in Ussuriysk complain that no one of them has received any humanitarian aid, they were provided only with uniform, without boots. The mobilized from the Moscow region ask for assistance with gear. The mobilized Vologda residents from the 347th Motorized Infantry Regiment complain about problems with the supplies and provision of military equipment. There is no instruction and training either. The formation of the regiment takes place at the CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) defense academy in Kostroma. A video emerged on the Internet with men in military uniform expressing deep “appreciation” to the Governor of the Voronezh region Aleksandr Gusev. According to them, the head of the region had visited the military base on October 8, but hadn't even come up to the mobilized to have a talk.
The situation around the mobilized servicemen from Velikiy Novgorod and Saint Petersburg, who were left for a night by the entrance to the Training center of the Aerospace Defense Military Academy in Tver, was successfully resolved. As a result of the situation going public, the people were let into the Training center and accommodated for the night.
Combat training of the mobilized citizens has started at a shooting range in the Chelyabinsk region. It's worth noting that according to TASS (state-owned Russian news agency), the T-72A tank (accepted for service in 1979), shown in the video, is classified as a modernized one. More modern T-72B and T-72B3 tanks, as well as simulators, are exploited at a training ground in the Kuban region.
The mobilized citizens have already filed 14 lawsuits in courts in Saint Petersburg. The majority of the lawsuits were filed in the Krasnogvardeysky district of the city. For example, one of the mobilized seeks for an explanation through the court as to why he was assigned to a mechanized infantry regiment while he is actually a skilled artilleryman.
Sale of alcohol was prohibited in Novosmolinsky in the Volodarsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Previously the similar ban was set up in the neighboring Mulino.
A man, who had harassed an under-aged girl, was identified and detained in a military camp for the mobilized in the vicinity of Volgograd.
A draft office employee in Dagestan was forging signatures in draft notices in order to enhance his performance.