mobilization briefs
November 2

Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

On Nov. 1, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced the nationwide launch of a system "to digitally obtain a certificate of participation in the special military operation." The ministry has also standardized the document template, which confirms a person’s status as a veteran of the war against Ukraine. Military personnel and their family members can receive this certificate, which can be requested via the Gosuslugi public services portal, where it is now available for digital download.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced proposed amendments to the Labor Code that would prohibit employers from dismissing employees currently fighting in Ukraine during the term of their military service, overturning previous legislation that permitted termination after one year of service. The government also plans to extend the duration of social benefits provided to the spouses of military personnel. Mishustin stated a corresponding bill will soon be introduced into the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia].

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

A government resolution had previously aimed to launch the Unified Military Register [digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and serve draft notices] on Nov. 1. Authorities started a pilot in September, when Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, indicated that the system would not become fully operational until Jan. 1, 2025. Grigory Sverdlin, head of the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] project, argues that the digital draft notices, which are served during this testing phase, have no legal force.

In Russia’s constituent Republic of Chuvashia, authorities have doubled the value of the bonus for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense to 1 million rubles [$10,300], up from the 500,000 rubles [$5,140] introduced on Aug. 1. Considering the federal component, individuals who enlist in the region can receive a total of 1.4 million rubles [$14,400].

Authorities in the Orenburg region have increased the regional sign-up bonus for joining the MoD from 400,000 rubles [$4,120], set in August, to 1 million rubles [$10,300]. With the addition of the federal bonus, the total payment now amounts to 1.4 million rubles [$14,440].

Local media in Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan report upcoming changes to the eligibility period for the sign-up bonus offered to those signing contracts with the MoD contracts. Previously, a payment of 1.3 million rubles [$13,400] was available for contracts signed between Oct. 11 and Dec. 31, 2024. Authorities now propose reducing this period, with eligibility ending on Nov. 3, 2024.

Authorities in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region plan to increase funding for sign-up bonuses for MoD contract recruits by 1.5 times in 2025, budgeting up to 1.183 billion rubles [$12.16 million] for this purpose. This year’s budget allocated 783.1 million rubles [$8.05 million]. Currently, contract signees receive 1.5 million rubles [$15,400] from the regional government, with an additional 200,000 rubles [$2,060] provided by city funds. For 2025-2027, yearly expenses for injury- or death-related compensation are set to exceed 1 billion rubles [$10.28 million].

In the city of Ufa, contract soldiers who sign contracts between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, will be eligible for a 500,000-ruble [$5,140] discount on real estate purchases. The city administration will issue special coupons that contract soldiers can present, along with their contract, to participating developers to receive the discount.

In the city of Krasnogorsk, Moscow region, a raid has been conducted against migrants. Law enforcement officers and representatives of the "people's militia" came to a hostel and checked about 350 of its residents. Among them, 26 men who have Russian citizenship, were summoned to draft offices.

In Moscow, law enforcement officers continue to conduct checks on men of conscription age in connection with the ongoing fall conscription campaign. Police stop young men near metro stations and check their documents, after which the men are either released or taken away.

The Vyorstka media outlet has reported a significant increase in the number of Russian work permits issued for citizens of India, Nepal and other countries in 2024. Over the first nine months of the year, 22,690 Indian citizens were granted permits, representing a 2.7-fold increase from the same period last year. The number of permits for Nepalese citizens rose by 2.2 times (to 1,547), for Sri Lankans by 1.5 times (to 1,948) and for Bangladeshis by 34.7 times (to 1,874). With the exception of Bangladeshis, citizens from the aforementioned countries have been recruited to the war against Ukraine.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

In a video recording, members of the 382nd Battalion of the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade have complained about the loss of nearly half of their personnel, citing command orders as the cause. According to the soldiers, their initial deployment was to conduct reconnaissance by fire. They completed the task and withdrew from the area, but the commander ordered to storm the identified and well-fortified positions. As a result, only seven out of twelve servicemen survived. The soldiers are requesting a transfer to a different unit. The authenticity of the video recording has not yet been confirmed.

Stanislav Chusteev, a 25-year-old wounded mobilized soldier from the 132nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, was sent back to the frontline instead of receiving necessary medical treatment. On Aug. 31, he was seriously wounded but received no medical care. On Oct. 3, Chusteev reported to his commander stating he was unfit for combat duties and requested to be sent to the military medical board. However, his commander refused to accept the report and redeployed him to the frontline. Following this, Chusteev's whereabouts became unknown. It turned out later that he had been returned to an assault brigade, where he ultimately was killed.

State Duma member from the Vladimir region Aleksey Govyrin stated that war participants from the region are facing issues receiving their payments. They complain about complex bureaucracy, errors in their personal accounts during fund transfers and negligence by staff when processing documents.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The Budyonnovsk Garrison Military Court found an unnamed contract soldier guilty of the negligent homicide of a conscript. The incident occurred in April at a training ground during practice shooting when a bullet ricocheted and hit the conscript. The accused pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation.

The Second Eastern District Military Court has sentenced soldier Aleksandr Chashchevoy to nine years of imprisonment on charges of repeatedly going AWOL. For the first time, Chashchevoy failed to report for duty without valid reasons on April 14, 2023. On Oct. 11, 2023, he voluntarily appeared at the military investigation department in response to a summons but again failed to report on Oct. 16. On March 26, 2024, he was found and taken to the commandant's office. Two days later, Chashchevoy escaped once more and was only detained on June 24. He was brought back to the commandant's office but disappeared the same day. On Aug. 4, the soldier was found and detained again.

Law enforcement officers have detained a 33-year-old resident of the Vladimir region on charges of attempted smuggling of military-grade equipment. According to investigators, the man allegedly attempted to sell PNV-57 night vision devices on the largest Russian classified advertisements website Avito to a buyer from Belarus.

Unknown persons set fire to relay cabinets on the Moscow Railway section. The fire occurred at night in the Kazan direction, between Lyubertsy and Perovo-1, according to Russian Railways [Russian fully state-owned railway company]. As a result of the incident, MCD-3 trains were delayed by 30 to 60 minutes, and some train services were canceled.

On the evening of Oct. 31, a draft office in Lyubertsy, Moscow region, was set on fire. According to the Shot Telegram channel, a man placed a box wrapped in a rag on the building’s windowsill, set it on fire and fled. The fire covered three square meters and was extinguished before first responders arrived. Shortly afterward, a 23-year-old Moscow resident was detained on suspicion of arson, and a criminal case for an act of terror was initiated against him. During interrogation, he claimed that individuals identifying themselves as Federal Security Service (FSB) members had ordered him to set fire to the draft office.

In annexed Crimea, Vyacheslav Piskunov, a 62-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony for allegedly attempting to murder a Russian serviceman. According to investigators, in September 2023, Piskunov reportedly conspired with members of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to organize an attack on a technician working in the maintenance and repair division of a military unit in Dzhankoi. To execute the plan, Piskunov allegedly built an explosive device and attached it to the underside of the serviceman’s vehicle. The bomb was reportedly detonated; however, the car was empty at the time.

Also in Crimea, a 53-year-old man, Nikolay Lozenko, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason. According to prosecutors, Lozenko was allegedly recruited in 2017 in Melitopol by a representative of the Security Service of Ukraine to engage in covert cooperation. Russian law enforcement claimed that, "under orders, Lozenko conducted visual surveillance, took photos and videos and relayed information on the locations of Russian military personnel and vehicles in Sevastopol in July 2022."

The Primorsky Regional Court found Robert Shonov, a former US Consulate employee in Vladivostok, guilty of "confidential cooperation with a foreign state," sentencing him to four years and ten months in a penal colony. News of the 64-year-old Russian citizen’s arrest emerged in May 2023. Later reports from the FSB alleged that starting in September 2022, Shonov had been working on assignment for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, gathering information on the progress of the war, mobilization in various regions and "sensitive issues and their impact on potential protest activity in the lead-up to the presidential elections." The US State Department stated that Shonov was not engaged in espionage but was compiling news summaries based on publicly available sources.

According to Memorial [human rights organization], the number of political prisoners in Russia has increased almost 20-fold during the last ten years. Currently, Russia holds 776 political prisoners behind bars, compared to only 40 in February 2014. According to OVD-Info [independent human rights project], over 1,391 people are under guard as a result of political persecution. OVD-Info also notes a rise in politically motivated criminal cases, with 546 persons politically persecuted this year, up from 122 in 2014—a five-fold increase. In 2022 and 2023, OVD-Info observed the record number of people subjected to political persecution, with 815 and 698 cases, respectively. The majority of them were accused of anti-war activities.

Assistance

The Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel reports that the Ryazan City Hospital and the Ryazan Region Hospital are being readied to treat war participants. Physicians are being trained to treat combat-related injuries, while civilian patients are being transferred to other hospitals. A new military hospital, scheduled to open in April 2024,  has yet to become operational.

Children and Educational System

The Novosibirsk regional ministry of education has suspended the accreditation of Novocollege, a private college in the city. Novocollege fell out of favor in the spring of 2022 when its director, Sergey Chernyshov, demanded that the ministry cancel "political briefings" at schools and discuss the effects of propaganda on students’ health with psychologists. Novocollege had previously been cited with three administrative violations. In 2024, Chernyshov announced that the educational institution would cease operation after the end of the current school year.

In Khabarovsk, a youth society dedicated to studying the Juche ideology—the state ideology of North Korea—has been established at School No. 80. According to the society’s founder, history teacher Vladislav Kushnirenko, the initiative was created in coordination with and supported by DPRK Consul Lee Sen Ir. In the society’s first session, as we previously reported, a discussion was held on the memoirs of Kim Il Sung. The Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet reviewed the 28-year-old Kushnirenko’s background using public sources and leaks, shedding light on his other notable activities.

Miscellaneous

Aleksandra Sveshnikova, the wife of opposition activist Ildar Dadin, who was killed on Oct. 5 in the Kharkiv region while fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion, revealed that the Freedom of Russia Legion, in which Dadin served, refused to release his body to her and did not inform her of his funeral. According to Sveshnikova, this may have been due to Dadin's conflicts with the unit’s leadership. The Legion, in turn, responded that Dadin had not listed Sveshnikova as his wife or next of kin when he enlisted, nor had he made any verbal requests to have his body given to her in the event of his death. Based on this, the command decided to handle his burial according to its own protocol, cremating him as he had wished. The independent Russian media outlet Holod published a detailed account of the activist’s story.

In the Belgorod region, unknown individuals identifying themselves as "partisans" conducted an operation to distribute leaflets through volunteers with the message, "You are the hope of the motherland. Join us." The QR code on the leaflet directed users to a website listing the names of Russian soldiers killed in action. According to the organizers, the volunteers distributing the leaflets were unaware of the QR code’s destination. Previously, a similar campaign was carried out in Saint Petersburg by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (GUR).

UN Special Rapporteur Mariana Katzarova presented a report focused on torture in Russia. She noted that while instances of torture have been documented in the country over recent decades, it has been used systematically against all who dissent from Russian government policies since the invasion of Ukraine. Among those subjected to torture are military personnel who refuse to follow orders.

Longreads

The first conscription into the Russian army has begun in the occupied territories of Kherson and the Zaporizhzhia region. The Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet reported where Ukrainians from these occupied territories are expected to be sent for service.

Russian soldiers who recently defected from the army and arrived in France—the founders of the organization Proshchai Oruzhiye [A Farewell to Arms]—spoke to the publications Nastoyashcheye Vremya [Current Time, an editorially independent, US-funded Russian-language media outlet] and Novaya Gazeta Europe [the European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] about issues within the Russian army.

The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported on how officials are attempting to integrate war veterans into government positions and why these appointments have not yet become a systematic practice.

The Pervy Otdel [First Department] human rights project published an extensive interview with human rights advocate Mikhail Savva, who documents war crimes against Ukrainian civilians detained in Russian.

Holod interviewed Dmitry Vasilets, who was recently released from prison. In February 2022, he was sent to the frontline, but after taking leave, he became a Buddhist and decided not to participate in the war any longer. For this decision, he was sentenced to two years and five months in a penal settlement.

The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet examined the "Talking About Important Things" lesson guides for preschoolers and spoke with their parents. Meanwhile, Mediazona reported the story of Ilya Podkamenny, who was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony a year ago for placing wire obstacles on train tracks.

The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking] Telegram channel spoke with Russian Orthodox Church clergy who openly expressed anti-war positions, even as the church declares priests who oppose the war in Ukraine to be traitors. Patriarch Kirill also actively supports the aggression.