Summary of mobilization in Russia for October 23–24

The Government of the Russian Federation has issued a decree on the provision of support measures for mobilized entrepreneurs. They will be exempted from paying rent for land plots and real estate. They are also relieved of obligations to pay utility bills.

According to Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of Moscow, 6.5 thousand people applied to the Centers for Support of Mobilized Families to receive material assistance.

Omsk Governor Alexander Burkov reprimanded officials for delays in payments to the mobilized and stated that many of them are already in Ukraine. In Sochi, social payments of 100 thousand rubles to mobilized citizens have begun, which are made by the governor's order. According to the city administration, the families of 48 mobilized Sochi residents have received them. Mobilized men from the Perm region cannot receive the 100 thousand rubles promised by the governor. The problem is reported by the Telegram channel "Prikamskie Vityazi." It is led by a mobilized man who is now in the village of Yelan. According to him, the Ministry of Defense is dragging its feet in enrolling people into military units, and they cannot get the money without it.

A detailed investigative report by Mediazona explains how the current wedding boom helped estimate the scale of the mobilization in Russia. Based on the marriage registration data in different regions of Russia, Mediazona estimated the total number of men mobilized as 500 thousand.

The Kursk Region governor Roman Starovoyt inspected a military unit in Voronezh Region where almost 500 conscripts from Kursk are currently stationed. The regional administration brought the men thermal underwear, rubber boots with thermal lining, as well as socks. The governor also informed that the group was left without food and supplied clothing due a mortar strike. “A mortar hit the transport carrying food and clothes for our sub-unit. Everything was destroyed by fire and it took some time to deliver replacements.”

In the Kemerovo region, rehabilitation centers for the mobilized are being prepared. According to Governor Tsivilev, there is already an influx of wounded.

The “partial” mobilization in Chelyabinsk Region will end on October 28, informed the military commissar of the Region Andrei Maksurov. The military commissar of Yakutia Aleksandr Avdonin reported that the republic completed “the main activities pertaining to the partial mobilization”. He also stated that the local “draft boards will continue work to bring back citizens who are legally eligible for deferral of military service.” Such conscripts will be recalled from the army.

721 mobilized soldiers went to the “Special Military Operation” zone from Tatarstan as part of the first group. Three more groups will leave this week. Mobilized soldiers are being sent off to war from Leninogorsk,Mezhdurechensk,Orel Region, Mordovia, Kuryin District of Altay Region, Bryansk, and Novokuznetsk. Khabarovsk dispatches several hundred mobilized men daily. 40 men were taken today from Mezhdurechensk in Kemerovo Region. In Chuvashia, souvenir kerchiefs are presented to conscripts during their sending-off ceremonies. And here is another inspirational speech for the mobilized men given by a priest.

The second group of the mobilized has already been sent out from the Altai Republic (Russian region in Southern Siberia, which encompasses the Altai mountains) on October 22-23. According to a Taiga.Info news outlet estimate, at least one of the groups of the mobilized comprises approximately 100 men, representatives on indigenous people included. The “Asians of Russia'' fund activists labeled it as “ethnic cleansing”. They consider even such losses can become crucial for indigenous people. Their entire population numbers just 80 thousand, and the smallest groups count from 260 men (Chulym Tatars) to 4 thousand.

The military prosecutor’s office of the Vladimir region hasn`t recognised as a violation of the law the remarks of the Military Commissar of Raduzhny (a “closed town” in the Vladimir region), who prohibited the men of the draft age from leaving the closed town given the declared mobilization, and also promised to prosecute those, who hadn't already attended the draft office even without a draft notice.

The affair regarding the Moscow residents mobilized by the draft office of the Tsaritsyno district of Moscow is ongoing. Previously, their MOSQs (military occupational specialty qualification) turned out to be not in demand, thus the local Military Commissar replaced their MOSQs with “rifleman”. They received new draft notices on October 24 with an obligation to attend the draft office on November 2.

A resident of the Smolensk region was mobilized right during a sick leave. The man, suffering from chronic diseases, is now in the Kherson region.

The head of the Republic of Bashkortostan (Bashkir people national region in Russia) Radiy Khabirov claimed that more than 200 multi-children fathers were mobilized in the region. He ordered to handle the issue of turning back the mobilized. A father of three under-aged children was mobilized in the Moscow region, and he hasn’t been demobilized even regardless of the fact that his relatives provided all the required documents. Father of three children, 26 y.o. Ivan Polyanskiy from the Orenburg region, received a draft notice. He refused the exemption and died during combat training two weeks later. Another mobilized father of three children was killed in action – Dmitriy Garaschenko from the Rostov region. A 48 y.o. mobilized Mikhail Kulinchenko from the Republic of Khakassia (Khakass people national region in Russia) died at a military base in Omsk “due to illness”. The specific cause of death has not been determined. Sibir’.Realii news outlet (Siberia.Realities, the subdivision of the Radio Liberty media for covering developments in the Siberian regions of Russia) published a coverage of funerals of the first mobilized from the Republic of Buryatia (Buryat people national region in Russia), who had perished in Ukraine.

Relatives of the mobilized from the Lipetsk and Bryansk regions provided one more video from a cellar in Kreminna with the men, who had refused to go back to the frontline. “We are forced with threats to get back to the meatgrinder, to encirclement, for slaughter. We have refused”. And here is the follow-up of the video with the freezing mobilized from the Tyumen region in the vicinity of Enerhodar. “Not a single bullet do I have, how am I supposed to fight? I`ve already spent more than 100 thousand (rubles) for the uniform, for everything!” Other mobilized residents of the Tyumen region demonstrated the aid from their local district administration. Also there, in the vicinity of Enerhodar, the mobilized from the Republic of Bashkortostan (Bashkir people national region in Russia) reside in a shabby granary: sleeping bags lay on the floor, the water is brown and “the only source of heat” is a campfire. According to the servicemen, the command hasn’t provided any supplies to them — all the food they have to buy on their own in the nearest village. And the mobilized residents of the Vladimir region were given out used body armor with traces from bullets.

The mayor of Novosibirsk reminded the mobilized of alcohol safety saying, “We are all people, I understand everything. But be careful. There should be discipline. I say this based on my experience, I've been there myself."

The Russian Red Cross in association with the #MYVMESTE movement [#WEARETOGETHER, a Russian government-supported NGO] set up a fund to aid the mobilized and their families.

In the town of Raduzhny, a fundraising campaign was announced to purchase gear for mobilized locals. They were left in a forest next to a bare field and told to dig in. They were not provided with food or water, and those who were sick did not get medication, sleeping bags, and cold-weather clothing. Residents of the Yeisk district, Krasnodar region, collect necessities, including underwear, socks, and toilet paper, for the needs of the mobilized. Schoolchildren from Perm urge to aid the mobilized at least with socks. Residents of the Rostov region continue to help the mobilized. Employees of the Shakhty technical school of design and service are making clothes for the military on a daily basis. In Tyumen, homeless women joined the volunteer movement and began knitting warm clothes for the mobilized. In Khanty-Mansiysk, a New Year's concert and fireworks were canceled due to mobilization. The mayor explained that this is in solidarity with the mobilized and their families.

In the Tyumen region, 30 employees of the Yubileyny agricultural holding, one of the largest agricultural enterprises of the region, were mobilized. Most of them were involved in crop production. The company had already experienced a staff shortage before the mobilization started.

In the Omsk region, the police initiated administrative proceedings against those evading mobilization. 44 reports on administrative offenses were drawn up for ignoring draft notices.

Against the background of "partial" mobilization in Russia, the demand for "temporary" employees working on fixed-term contracts has increased. Employers are obliged to preserve the workplaces of the mobilized, thus, there is a need to replace them for the period of their service.

In Voronezh, public transport is overloaded after local drivers were mobilized. People and mass media regularly discuss the difficulties of traveling by public transport: "Route No. 8 is sorely lacking. Buses run 20 minutes apart during rush hour."