Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 17-18, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
Authorities in the Kursk region have refused to issue subsidized housing vouchers to residents of the town of Sudzha. The acting regional minister of construction Aleksandr Afonin explained this decision by stating that the issuance of vouchers could lead to workers leaving the region, since they allow recipients to buy homes anywhere in the country. In response, legislators representing the Sudzha district appealed to the region’s prosecutor, arguing that this decision violates the constitutional rights of residents to freedom of movement and to choose their place of residence.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Ilya Shur, a 25-year-old Moscow resident, who had previously won an appeal of a draft board’s decision, has received another draft notice. He spent six months contesting the results of a medical evaluation conducted at the Tverskoy draft office. During this time, he was detained at a train station and went through two court hearings. Eventually, a Moscow appeals court ruled that he was unfit for service due to vision problems. However, just a few days ago, Shur received a new draft notice. He got a text message from "mos_info" and a letter through the Gosuslugi public services portal, ordering him to report to a military collection point on Ugreshskaya Street in Moscow. Shur, along with his lawyer, is currently preparing a complaint to the prosecutor's office.
In Moscow, a draft office representative stated in court that Vladislav V., a student at the Moscow Humanities and Economics University, had deliberately removed his own gallbladder to avoid military service. In 2023, Vladislav underwent gallbladder removal surgery. After being discharged from the hospital, he went to the Tsaritsyno draft office to submit medical certificates, but the draft office refused to accept them, stating that all the surgery details had already been entered into the Unified Medical Information and Analytical System (EMIAS). Vladislav later discovered that he had been assigned a fitness category "B-3" [fit for military service with minor restrictions]. Together with his lawyer, he arranged for an independent medical evaluation, which assigned him a "D" fitness category [unfit for military service]. Vladislav then filed a lawsuit against the draft office. The case reached the Moscow City Court, where the draft office's "theory" was presented. Following this, the lawyer filed a complaint with the Military Prosecutor's Office regarding the representative's statement.
In the city of Biysk, Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], authorities conducted a raid to register migrants who had obtained Russian citizenship for military service. Four men were sent to the draft office. Reports indicate that since November 2023, more than 250 naturalized citizens in the region have been registered for military service. Some of them were drafted as part of the spring conscription campaign, while others voluntarily signed military service contracts.
In the town of Leninsk, Volgograd region, a 33-year-old man named Islamjon was stripped of his Russian citizenship for draft evasion. Islamjon had obtained his citizenship on Oct. 1 of this year but failed to register for military service within the required two weeks. As a result, his passport was declared invalid. He now has 14 days to leave the country, as his legal grounds for staying have been revoked. If he does not comply, he will face forced deportation. Earlier, it was reported that the Russian citizenship of two men in Moscow had also been annulled.
Posters displaying the message "avenge our own," alongside a photograph of a soldier holding a child and a phone number for enlistment for contract military service, have appeared in schools across Krasnoyarsk. The city’s education department clarified that the propaganda is aimed at adults, including parents, rather than schoolchildren.
The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel has published an article outlining the new procedure for undergoing military medical evaluations at draft offices, along with a list of regions where this procedure is available. Military medical evaluations at draft offices are permitted only in regions where there are no military medical organizations.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Dmitry Morozov from the Volgograd region, Dmitry Kokorin from the Kirov region, Dmitry Ivanov from the Tver region and Vladimir Vydrin from the Kursk region.
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 74,017 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 9,340 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has been supplemented with 1,118 soldiers, 170 of whom were mobilized. Journalists have noted another sharp increase in the number of obituaries published over the past three weeks, with an average of about 1,000 soldiers confirmed dead each week.
Contract soldier Artyom Malyshev from the Belgorod region is being returned to combat duty despite having severe medical conditions caused by injuries and a concussion. According to Malyshev’s relatives, six months into his deployment, he was wounded in both legs and became deaf in one ear due to a concussion. Malyshev says he was not duly referred to the medical evaluation board and is instead being redeployed to the military unit.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
Having analyzed reports of the Department of Justice of Russia’s Supreme Court for the first semester of 2024, the independent Russian investigative media outlet Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories] found that the number of treason convictions imposed during these months soared more than threefold reaching 52, an all-time high ever recorded for any entire year over the past nine-year period. Moreover, the number of espionage prosecutions increased ninefold, amounting to 18 convictions within six months. Two more individuals were convicted for allegedly sharing confidential information with a foreign country. Increasingly, authorities use criminal charges to target citizens who criticize Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. During the six months from January to June 2024, as many as 40 sentences were pronounced for spreading "fake news" about the Russian army, while only 65 of such sentences were ordered in the entire year 2023. Furthermore, an increase is reported in the number of convictions imposed on military personnel. Earlier, the Vyorstka media outlet revealed that during the first six months of 2024, Russian garrison military courts had convicted as many as 6,088 service members on criminal charges, while Vazhnyye Istorii pointed out that the number of servicemen sentenced for murder had almost doubled. Meanwhile, the number of criminal convictions for offenses related to military service, such as desertion and failure to obey orders, increased three times in 2024 compared to 2023 and 7.5 times compared to years preceding the invasion. Notably, earlier reports indicated that almost half of the military members convicted on criminal charges (48%) received real prison sentences.
Mediazona also analyzed data from the Department of Justice and found that the number of verdicts against teenagers on politically motivated charges sharply increased since the beginning of 2024. These charges include, for example, treason, justification of terrorism and sabotage. After the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, cases against children in Russia on charges of sabotage or acts of terror—often related to arson—became increasingly common. Additionally, charges for comments made online, frequently involving the justification of terrorism and similar offenses, have also risen. Before the full-scale invasion, fewer than 10 verdicts per half-year were handed down under charges of treason, sabotage, disruption of transportation services, justification of terrorism and acts of terror against schoolchildren. In the first half of 2024 alone, however, 23 such sentences were issued.
Vyorstka calculated based on the same data that in the first half of 2024, 427 Russians were convicted for evading regular conscription, and one other person was tried for evading alternative civilian service. None of the draft dodgers were sentenced to actual imprisonment. Three conscripts received suspended sentences, one was released from punishment and another was acquitted. Notably, 99% of those convicted on these charges received fines, with only five individuals fined more than 100,000 rubles [$1,030]. In total, the courts collected 16.4 million rubles [$169,400] in fines from draft dodgers. According to Vyorstka, in 2023, 958 people were convicted of evading military service, and, as in 2024, none of the conscripts were sentenced to actual imprisonment.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russian and foreign citizens have been fined nearly 241 million rubles [$2.49 million] under misdemeanor charges of "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces and criminal charges related to spreading "fake news" about the Russian army. Of this total, almost 220 million rubles [$2.27 million] were collected under misdemeanor protocols for "discrediting." Specifically, 190 million rubles [$1.96 million] were collected in 2022 and 2023, with an additional 29.8 million rubles [$307,700] in the first half of 2024.
The investigative department of the FSB has opened a criminal case against an 18-year-old resident of Voronezh on suspicion of treason, sabotage and participation in a terrorist organization for distributing "anti-Russian" leaflets and setting fire to a relay cabinet. According to the FSB, the young man, acting on the instructions of handlers from Telegram, distributed "anti-Russian" leaflets, set fire to a trunk communication relay cabinet belonging to the Southeastern Railway, and provided his handlers with the coordinates of a volunteer organization that supports Russian soldiers. The young man has since been arrested.
Moscow resident Ilya K., who spent four months in a detention center on charges of hooliganism, has become a suspect in a treason case. In early October, he was arrested by the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow. Initially, the court did not disclose the nature of the case against him, and the specific charge has only recently been revealed. However, the details of the accusation remain unknown.
The Pacific Fleet Military Court in Vladivostok has sentenced 25-year-old Alena Katorzhnykh, a student at the Lesozavodsk Industrial College from Omsk, to 14 years in a penal colony on charges related to an act of terror. The final sentence was determined by partially combining it with a prior conviction from January for drug trafficking. It was reported that Katorzhnykh pleaded guilty, stating that she committed the crime to earn money. She was arrested in late September 2023 near her home on suspicion of setting fire to a military commissariat [draft office] in Vladivostok. The pro-government outlet Shot reported that the fire was set by a local businessman named Manap. According to Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty], his full name is Manap Gulimzarov, and he asked Katorzhnykh to record the arson on camera. He has also been arrested. Sibir.Realii had previously covered details surrounding those detained in connection with the case.
The Military Appeals Court has reduced the sentence of 19-year-old Dmitry Sanin from the Belgorod region from eight years to seven years in prison. In June 2024, the 2nd Western District Military Court found him guilty of treason and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization. According to investigators, Sanin, who was 17 at the time, "decided to assist the Ukrainian paramilitary group Freedom of Russia Legion" in June 2023.
In Crimea, the FSB reported the arrest of a 24-year-old Ukrainian woman on suspicion of passing information about the location of a temporary Russian military base. A criminal case has been opened against her on charges of espionage.
A "court" in Kerch, Crimea, has sentenced local resident Vladislav Kislyakov to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason for allegedly providing a Ukrainian intelligence agent with information about the locations of air defense systems in Kerch. According to a statement from the "Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Crimea," this data was deemed accurate and could have been used against Russia's national security.
A court in Krasnoyarsk has upheld the sentence against journalist Yevgenia Shelkovnikova. In June 2024, she was sentenced to three years of corrective labor under a criminal case for "using violence against a government official." On Sept. 22, 2022, the first day of "partial mobilization," Shelkovnikova was reporting from a draft office, gathering comments from visitors. According to her account, 60-year-old military commissar Viktor Nechiporenko grabbed her by the arms, struck her, and, with the help of two other draft office employees, attempted to drag her behind a turnstile into a restricted area. After the incident, Nechiporenko filed a complaint against Shelkovnikova, accusing her of attacking him. She has denied the charges. The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking] Telegram channel published her statement following the sentencing.
Former Ukrainian prisoner of war Igor Chichko has revealed that 72-year-old American Stephen Hubbard, who was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a penal colony for "mercenary activities," was tortured while in custody. According to Chichko, Hubbard was repeatedly beaten, starved and subjected to electric shocks.
On Oct. 18, the Moscow court websites resumed posting case files for hearings to determine pretrial restrictions, including the associated charges. These records had disappeared since Sept. 30, allegedly due to a "technical malfunction."
Children and Educational System
Schoolchildren in Arkhangelsk participated in a military-patriotic game organized under the "Childhood Navigators" project, where kids ran around with assault rifles while wearing bulletproof vests.
Longreads
A reporter from the OVD-Info independent human rights project met with Aleksey Moskalyov and his daughter Masha a day after Moskalyov's release from a penal colony. Meanwhile, SOTAvision published an interview with Russian deserters who fled the frontline to Kazakhstan and later received asylum in France.
Mediazona reported the disturbing account of Dmitry Baloga, a native of the Kherson region. In February 2024, Baloga was detained by FSB officers in Domodedovo on suspicion of setting fire to a car marked with the "Z" symbol. After being tortured and threats of sexual violence against his daughter, he was coerced into making a false confession.
The Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] media outlet reported on Ukrainians who had been held for months in immigration detention facilities in southern Russia. Convicts who previously served sentences in Russia, as well as those living in the country without proper documentation, are awaiting repatriation to their homeland.
The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet interviewed sociologists to understand why many Russians justify the war. Meanwhile, Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal], spoke with Russians who oppose the war but have lost loved ones to it. Additionally, journalist Dmitry Kolezev released a video focusing on how military propaganda is infiltrating the education system in schools.
The Insider shared stories of Africans who went to Russia in search of a better life but ended up in trenches. Some of them were coerced into military service through blackmail, deceit or their inability to understand the Russian language.