mobilization briefs
October 24, 2022

Volunteer summary on mobilization in the Russian Federation for October 22-23

“Sota” media outlet reported that Bryansk mobilized people, who organized a strike at the Soloti range in Belgorod and demanded not to be sent to Ukraine, were returned to the Bryansk region. Now, according to the source, about 30 people are in a military unit in the town of Klintsy, from where they were taken to the Belgorod region.

Astra media outlet spoke to the relatives of mobilized soldiers from the Lipetsk and Bryansk regions who are being held in basements in the so-called LPR after retreating from forward positions.

The mobilized residents of Tyumen, who were sent to the forests near Enerhodar without preparation or medical examination, recorded a video message in which they confirmed the information about the complete lack of supplies. Without tents, they have to sleep under the open sky on gym mats, and not all of them even have sleeping bags.

New draftees from the Moscow region revealed the conditions they are currently living under. The men record videos and send them to their families. They’re saying they are being held in a hangar with no water, food, electricity or heating. They are forced to procure their own groceries and pay for them with their own money.

New conscripts from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous region are sharing their feelings about their training camp. They are complaining about the old equipment, lack of gear, alcohol consumption, theft and brawls.

A St Petersburg male with a psychiatric condition is being forced into conscription, his niece told the Fontanka media outlet on the 23rd of October. She said the St Petersburg resident has been collected by the police and escorted to the conscript's collection center where he is being held at the moment. Another St Petersburg resident, a father of four children, one of which is disabled, has been issued a draft notice. A conscript from Yekaterinburg, Vitalii Rukavichnikov, was shipped off to fight in Ukraine with no training of any sort. A week and a half has passed from the day he was drafted to the day of his arrival in the conflict zone. He has no previous military experience and has problems with his eyesight.

Tatyana Dotsenko, the wife of a mobilized soldier from Lipetsk, told the Mediazona news outlet that her 45-year-old husband was sent to the front lines after just one day of training. First, he found himself in Lyman where he “miraculously survived.” Currently, he is near Kreminna.

In Kuznetsk Basin, a mobilized man suffered an epileptic seizure while lining up before being sent to a training center in Omsk. Sending off ceremonies for additional groups of mobilized were held in Tatarstan, the town of Oboyan in Kursk Region, and the town of Aleksin in Tula Region. In Udmurtia, each of the last 12 days saw 6 to 7 buses carrying newly mobilized men away.  In Novosibirsk, for three days in a row groups of conscripts are being sent out under the cover of night.  After a pause that lasted only a few days, Chelyabinsk Region is again sending mobilized men out.

The Metropolitan of Belgorod Ioann who once blessed the ill-fated Kursk submarine gave blessings to the Belgorod mobilized leaving for war. He brought them icons, sprinkled them with holy water, and gave advice. In sixteen mosques in Bashkiria, sheep were sacrificed for the wellbeing of the Russian citizens who went to fight in Ukraine.

In Yekaterinburg, men drafted for the “special military operation were given some supplies: first aid kits, warm clothes, and food packages were distributed to the mobilized at the Chkalovsky military enlistment office. The mobilized residents of Tomsk are advised to obtain additional clothing supplies at the assembly points on the day of the departure to the training grounds. The Omsk mayor’s office sent guitars and flags for the mobilized recruits to the training center. In Novosibirsk, donations are solicited for a stove and coal for the mobilized.

A mobilized construction worker from the Krasnodar area became a prisoner of war on his first day in Ukraine. The publication Mediazona spoke to his brother. A mobilized soldier from the Voronezh Region, who was  sent to the front line after just three days of training, was killed on October 5 near Liman.

Vadim Bulatov was killed among the five mobilized residents of Chelyabinsk whose death made the news earlier. The brother of the deceased said that the mobilized were instantly transferred to the frontline. He is determined to seek accountability for those who sent the drafted men to the war so quickly.

In Bataysk in the Rostov region, the funeral of the first perished mobilized from that region took place. A 22 y.o. Bogdan Boyko had been mobilized in the beginning of October, and his mother was notified of his death on October 17 already. The deceased served as a senior rifleman of a motor-rifle squad. Where and how Bogdan had perished was not disclosed. Bogdan Boyko was buried in a closed coffin.

Mediazona news outlet reports of at least 41 mobilized killed in action during the last month within the count of the RuAF casualties at the war in Ukraine. Part of these casualties refer to non-combat losses: people died in training centers, at training grounds and at military bases.

​​A Moscow resident filed a claim for he had been put into a database with draft dodgers from the mobilization. He is employed in the Russian Railways Company and was given an exemption, in accordance with it he was excluded from the mobilization lists and released from the draft office in the Kuzminki district of Moscow. But he has still got into the draft dodgers watch list and is being detained every time the man goes out and gets spotted by CCTV cameras.