Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 15-17, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

Authorities in the Tyumen region have almost tripled the sign-up bonus for those concluding a contract with the Ministry of Defense. Previously set at 600,000 rubles [$6,190], the bonus will increase to 1.6 million rubles [$16,500] starting on Oct. 17.

Governor of the Perm region Dmitry Makhonin has signed a decree, which introduces a reward for "assisting in military recruitment." The payment of 30,000 rubles [$310] will be awarded for each contract soldier recruited. Recruits can be Russian citizens, foreigners or stateless persons. However, current military personnel are not eligible for this payment.

The Tolyatti city administration has announced that the Samara region will now be offering a 30,000 ruble [$310] reward to individuals who recruit others into the war against Ukraine. This amount has been increased from the previous reward of 15,000 rubles [$150]. To receive it, residents must provide a certificate from the draft office confirming that the person they recruited has reported to a military unit under contract. Additionally, starting on Oct. 16, regional authorities have increased the sign-up bonus payable to contract soldiers to 1.6 million rubles [$16,500].

At least ten conscripts serving with the 90th Tank Division stationed in Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk region, unexpectedly received payments of 305,000 rubles [$3,150] from the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Services of Tatarstan [Russia’s constituent republic], intended as a bonus for signing a contract with the Russian MoD. However, the conscripts claim they did not conclude any contracts, despite being regularly pressured to do so. Earlier reports mentioned three young men in this situation, but several more have now come forward with similar stories. A spokesperson for the Central Military District described the incident as a "technical glitch," while the Ministry of Labor in Tatarstan declined to provide further details, stating that the payments were made based on lists submitted by the Republic's draft offices. Chelyabinsk regional authorities also called it a technical error and stated that the payments were a mistake. Officials have promised that the conscripts who received the money will continue serving their regular conscription term. Meanwhile, the conscripts' families have filed complaints with the Military Prosecutor's Office, despite commanders urging them "not to make a fuss." Some human rights advocates suspect this may be a test of a new remote recruitment method.

Another raid targeting migrants took place in the city of Omsk, where 130 people were checked. Men who had recently obtained Russian citizenship were handed notices to report to the draft office. According to the regional police, they are now required to register for military service and obtain military IDs, without which they allegedly will not be able to work legally in Russia. A similar raid was conducted in a Romani settlement in the Leningrad region, where 32 people were taken to the police station and handed draft notices.

In Moscow, two men had their Russian citizenship annulled for failing to register for military service. According to a police order, they are now required to leave the country. As noted by the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel, the Interior Ministry's statement does not clarify whether the citizenship was obtained before the amendments—allowing the revocation of acquired citizenship for draft evasion—came into effect, or if the cases occurred in the last two months. This raises an important question: does the law apply retroactively? It remains uncertain whether individuals who acquired citizenship before Aug. 8, 2024, are safe from losing it.

Voyennye Advokaty also clarified the specific conditions for draft deferrals for students at various educational levels, including school students, college students and those enrolled in undergraduate, master's, postgraduate and residency programs.

Almost 80% of volunteer fighters enrolling for the war in Ukraine have not earned a graduate degree. This group includes 47% of those who have finished vocational school and 32.2% of those having no credentials beyond a secondary school diploma. The investigative media outlet Vyorstka reported these numbers citing Voyennye Komissary Rossii [Russian Military Commissariats], a magazine published by Russia’s MoD. Moreover, according to the data provided by the ministry, over 20% of volunteer fighters were unemployed prior to joining the armed forces, while 5% had never completed conscription service. Notably, 51% of volunteer soldiers are single. Most of the numbers reported by Vyorstka were corroborated by a source from the Moscow mayor’s office. However, according to this source, the rate of contract soldiers with no prior military or conscription background amounts to as much as one fourth of the whole cohort.

Ekhim A. from Bryansk filed a police complaint reporting a fraud that resulted in a loss of 21,000 rubles [$220]. However, the matter took an unexpected turn as the police started pushing the 22-year-old claimant into signing up for contract service with the MoD. Ekhim A. refused to sign a contract.

With thousands of convicts across Russia being diverted to battlefields, penal settlement No. 59 in the Urals may be shut down, as its population is reported to have dwindled to 15 inmates only. This news was reported by local media. However, when speaking to the Ostorozhno Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, the press office of the regional division of the Federal Penitentiary Service denied these allegations. Earlier, journalist Oksana Asaulenko had revealed that authorities planned to close down penal colonies in the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject].

According to the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel, enlistment offices in Moscow have resumed sending draft notices via email from the Gosuslugi public services portal. The channel explains that the digital military identification platforms and registers [the Unified Military Register and the Draft Register] are not yet fully functional, therefore digital notifications have no legal effect and can be ignored.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Kirill Ivanov from the Tyumen region, Timofey Perepelitsyn from Moscow, Sergey Glukhov and Mikhail Kireyev from the Ulyanovsk region, Aleksey Gvozdev from the Kursk region, Kirill Ivanov from the Leningrad region, as well as Maksim Bondarev from the Irkutsk region, who was buried a year and a half after his death.

Another 18-year-old Russian serviceman has been reported killed in the war against Ukraine. He was identified as Anatoly Gorbachyov from the Ryazan region, who traveled to Moscow on Aug. 22, the day after his 18th birthday, to sign a contract with the MoD. Gorbachyov was killed on Sept. 14, just 24 days after signing the contract. He kept a video diary throughout his time in the army.

The Vyorstka media outlet has analyzed research on the primary causes of death among Russian soldiers in the "modern armed conflict," published in the Military Medical Journal. According to the findings, injuries from explosions are the most common cause of death, accounting for 74.5 percent of total fatalities. Gunshot wounds from firearms represent the second leading cause, responsible for 14.7 percent of Russian soldier deaths. An additional 4.3 percent of deaths are attributed to thermal injuries and the same percentage to blunt force trauma. Fatal injuries predominantly affect the head (52%) and chest (48.5%), as well as the lower limbs (35.7%). According to the article, 38.2 percent of soldiers died from limb injuries. The authors of the article explained this mortality rate by the "objective difficulties" in evacuating wounded soldiers.

Dmitry Buol, a hitman from the Trunov criminal group, has returned to Novosibirsk after participating in the war. In 2011, he was sentenced to 17 years in a penal colony for four murders.

A 42-year-old Serbian citizen Željko Advigov, who enlisted in the Russian army, is reportedly being held in the basement of a psychiatric hospital. After being injured while serving in the 57th Regiment, Advigov was not allowed to fully recover and was sent to this basement in Donetsk, a location revealed by soldiers from the regiment in August. According to them, no medical assistance is provided there, and money is extorted for medications. Advigov posted footage from the makeshift prison and stated that the commanders of the 57th Regiment are demanding one million rubles [$10,400] for his release. Additionally, for a bribe of 600,000 rubles [$6,190], soldiers can avoid participating in assaults.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The prosecutor's office of the Perm region has approved the indictment of a 31-year-old participant in the war with Ukraine for the murder of two people committed with extreme cruelty and for deliberate damage to someone else's property. According to investigators, on the evening of Jan. 17, 2024, the man was drinking with two strangers, whom he later killed following a conflict. He faces life imprisonment. Previously, he had served time in a penal colony but was pardoned by Vladimir Putin in October 2022 and sent to the war. The man returned home in May 2023.

A former Wagner Group mercenary who fatally beat a 45-year-old woman from Novosibirsk has signed a new contract with the MoD and may be sent back to the war from pre-trial detention. The woman's son reported this to journalists. On Oct. 1, while in his apartment, 41-year-old Mikhail T. assaulted the woman and left her unconscious outside. She passed away a week later.

In Volgograd, a criminal case has been opened against a soldier who killed an acquaintance, also a veteran of the war, during a drinking gathering. According to law enforcement officers, on Oct. 15, while the men were consuming alcohol together in an apartment, a conflict arose. One man assaulted the other with a metal stool, then dragged the body to an elevator and went to sleep. The neighbors discovered the corpse. Both men had recently returned from the war in Ukraine and had previous convictions.

The Federal Security Service has arrested a 21-year-old woman from the Samara region on suspicion of collaborating with Ukraine. Law enforcement officers claim she organized the arson of a cell tower and was also planning to set fire to a relay cabinet near a railway station in Samara. A criminal case has been opened against her on charges of committing an act of terror and deliberately destroying or damaging someone else’s property.

An 18-year-old resident of Omsk has been detained on suspicion of treason for allegedly managing Ukrainian Telegram channels and raising funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The FSB also claims the young man promoted terrorist organizations and called for violence against patriotic citizens.

A court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced local resident Dmitry Kravtsov to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony for allegedly gathering information in the interests of Ukraine and preparing an act of terror in the occupied city of Berdiansk. He was found guilty on multiple criminal charges, including organizing a terrorist community, aiding terrorism, attempting an act of international terrorism and illegal acquisition of explosive devices. According to investigators, in the spring of 2022, Kravtsov joined a "terrorist community" created in the interests of the Ukrainian army, gathering information for two months about "individuals among local residents" of Berdiansk who supported Russia. He also allegedly acquired and stored explosives for use in carrying out an act of terror.

The Supreme Court of Russia's constituent republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has sentenced a 40-year-old resident of Yakutsk named Zakharov to four years in a penal colony in a criminal case for cooperating on a confidential basis with a foreign state. The man was detained on March 1. According to the court, from November 2022 to February 2023, Zakharov worked for Ukrainian military intelligence and provided military information on mobilization, the economic situation in Yakutia and local residents' attitudes toward the war. Zakharov also allegedly wrote "anti-Russian slogans" on banners supporting the war, which the Ukrainian side later used "for propaganda purposes."

The Idel.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet studied the results of an independent examination regarding the death of 37-year-old Rifat Dautov, who was accused of participating in protests in Baymak in January 2024. Based on this examination, the defense claims that Dautov could have been brutally assaulted during his transfer to Baymak after his arrest. According to the findings, Dautov received at least 48 blows, after which internal bleeding began, and a few hours later, he died from massive internal blood loss. Earlier, experts found no alcohol or drugs in the deceased's blood, although pro-government Telegram channels claimed that a forensic examination had allegedly shown alcohol intoxication and no traumatic injuries.

Law enforcement officers assaulted Voronezh resident Aleksandr Filimonov after his detention, while the pre-trial detention center administration has denied him medical assistance. Activists delivering supplies to Filimonov in the detention center reported that he was also tortured with electric shocks and suffocated with a plastic bag. Filimonov was detained in July 2023, while the FSB reported the arrest of three Voronezh residents accused of collaborating with the Right Sector [Ukrainian nationalist organization] banned in Russia. According to the Free People of Voronezh Telegram channel, Filimonov had ties to Oleg Butusin, who is fighting on the Ukrainian side. Allegedly, someone posing as Butusin contacted Filimonov via Telegram and gave him tasks, including photographing the parking lot of the Voronezh branch of the FSB. Filimonov has been charged with high treason, possession of explosives and incitement to extremism.

In response to a question from a Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] correspondent, the Moscow City Court press service stated that the omission of the charges in the case files related to pretrial restriction hearings occurred due to a "technical malfunction." They assured that the information "would be restored shortly."

Children and Educational System

Ostorozhno Novosti has obtained access to guidelines prepared by the Ural Federal University aimed at preventing mass killings. According to the document, teachers are advised to organize meetings with war correspondents and soldiers returning from the "special military operation" zone. The guidelines also suggest checking libraries for books containing terrorist information or works that "discredit and falsify Russian history." Additionally, the document encourages involving students in military-patriotic and volunteer organizations. Previously, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee proposed similar measures to combat juvenile crime.

In the upcoming "Talking About Important Things" lesson on Oct. 21—a compulsory lesson held every Monday in schools across the country—titled "How to Build a Strong Family," children will learn about Putin’s views on "traditional values."

The Moscow City Department for Competitive Policies plans to allocate over 1.73 billion rubles [$17.84 million] for drones and related technical equipment to support educational processes. The contract also includes plans to advance production in the capital between 2025 and 2030.

Miscellaneous

Russian weekly war expenses in Ukraine have surpassed the annual budgets of 80% of Russian regions, according to the draft national budget for 2025 published in late September. Military expenditures for 2025 are set to reach 13.2 trillion rubles [$136 billion], while this year’s spending stands at 11.1 trillion rubles [$114 billion], or approximately 210 billion rubles [$2 billion] per week. Only 18 of Russia’s 83 federal subjects have budgets exceeding the weekly cost of the war in Ukraine. These include Moscow (4.7 trillion rubles [$48 billion]), Saint Petersburg (1.2 trillion rubles [$12 billion]) and the corresponding regions, as well as the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject] (380.6 billion rubles [$4 billion]), the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region [Russia's federal subject] (389.6 billion rubles [$4 billion]), the Kemerovo region (280.1 billion rubles [$3 billion]), the Chelyabinsk region (331.3 billion rubles [$3 billion]) and a few others. Four regions spend less in a year than Russia spends on the war in a single day (30 billion rubles [$309 million]): the Jewish autonomous region, Ingushetia, Kalmykia [Russia’s constituent republics] and the Nenets autonomous region [Russia’s federal subject].