Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 4-11, 2026 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The government has submitted to the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] a bill that would raise the maximum age for women in military service from 45 to 50. The bill also proposes raising the maximum age for women serving in the reserve from 50 to 55 for those holding officer ranks, and from 45 to 50 for those with other military ranks. The explanatory note says the changes are intended to provide additional social guarantees, arguing that the current age limits do not always allow service members to complete the required years of service to qualify for pensions and other benefits.

The Ministry of Defense has drafted a decree that would expand the powers of the military police. Commanders of military police units would be authorized to conduct preliminary inquiries into alleged crimes committed by service members, volunteers and civilian personnel. To track down servicemen who have gone AWOL, the military police would be permitted to deploy search-and-detention teams, ambushes, cordons, observation posts and patrols, as well as pursue wanted servicemen and seal off areas where they may be hiding. Servicemen from other units in the garrison could also be enlisted in the search. The draft would also authorize the use of nonspecialized vehicles to escort detainees in areas under martial law or affected by armed conflict; photo, audio and video recording; fingerprinting certain detainees; carrying out duties in civilian clothing; and issuing requests to other military units that they would be required to comply with.

Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations has drafted a bill to mobilize military reservists into the fire service to extinguish fires caused by attacks. The ministry says the measure is necessary because its units are understaffed, with staffing shortages averaging 22%. The bill’s authors claim that it would apply only to people who have previously served in the federal fire service and possess "professional experience, skills, and qualifications." An identical provision was added to the law governing service in the internal affairs agencies in August 2023.

Army Recruitment

According to data analyzed by economist Janis Kluge, who studies regional budget spending, the rate of recruitment into the Russian army remains (1, 2) at around 30,000 people per month, or 1,000 per day. In September, 29,900 people signed military contracts, bringing the total number of recruits for the first nine months of the year to 263,000. Recruitment has nevertheless remained approximately 5–10% below last year’s levels. In September 2025, 31,900 people signed contracts, while the total for the first three quarters was 292,000. Kluge notes that over the past year, the average regional sign-up bonus increased by 30%, from 1.4 million rubles [$16,500] to 1.9 million rubles [$22,400].

The governor of the Lipetsk region, Igor Artamonov, announced an increase of 1.1 million rubles [$12,900] in the one-time sign-up bonus for signing a contract with the MoD, raising it from the previously established 1.6 million rubles [$18,800] to 2.7 million rubles [$31,800]. For recruits signing contracts to serve in the Unmanned Systems Forces, the bonus will rise from 2.1 million rubles [$24,700] to 3.2 million rubles [$37,600].

The authorities in the Irkutsk region will pay NGOs 1.5 million rubles [$17,600] for each foreign national or stateless person recruited for contract military service. The relevant decree was signed by Governor Igor Kobzev on Oct. 8. The document does not require proof that a candidate has signed a military service contract. It does not name the specific NGOs eligible to receive the payments or specify the total number of foreign nationals to be recruited. At the same time, a separate recruitment payment program is already in place in the region: 1.5 million rubles [$17,600] for recruiting a foreign national, 800,000 rubles [$9,410] for a resident of another Russian region, and 100,000 rubles [$1,180] for a local resident.

In Saint Petersburg, the regional signing bonus for enlisting has been reduced: instead of 3.5 million rubles [$41,200], new recruits will receive only 1 million rubles [$11,800]. However, the previous amount will remain in place for contracts to serve in UAV forces. At the same time, the city has completely abolished a payment of 600,000 rubles [$7,060] previously provided by city businesses that employed recruits before they signed their contracts. The reduction has not been officially announced, but municipalities are already taking down promotional materials. The exact date when the new rates will take effect is unknown; Oct. 10 and Oct. 15 have been mentioned. Meanwhile, it is already no longer possible to sign a contract under the previous terms.

Rosneft’s Kuybyshev Oil Refinery in the city of Samara posted job openings on HeadHunter for crew members of Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and Berezhok-equipped BMP-2M infantry fighting vehicles to protect the facility against drone attacks. Candidates must sign a contract with the MoD to join the mobilization reserve, undergo specialized training, including unit coordination training, and then stand duty as part of the combat vehicle crews. The refinery offers a salary of 120,000 rubles [$1,410], additional payments of 100,000 rubles [$1,180] from the governor and at least 29,000 rubles [$340] from the MoD, as well as accommodation, meals, and insurance. Both vacancies were published on Oct. 8 but were subsequently moved to the archive.

Relatives claim that a resident of the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject] was forced to sign a contract after he went to the police during a psychotic episode. On July 3, 2026, 32-year-old Vladimir from Lesozavodsk experienced a psychotic episode with paranoid features, during which he went to the police in Ussuriysk to file a report alleging that his relatives had hired a hitman to target him. Police officers refused to accept the report, citing his mental state, but subsequently handed him over to the military, who brought him to a military unit in Sibirtsevo. There, a few days later, Vladimir was forced to sign a contract without undergoing a medical examination. When his mother arrived at the unit to visit him, he was covered in bruises. Afterwards, Vladimir was sent to the frontline. He was moved several times between different units and is currently in the 114th Motor Rifle Regiment. According to his relatives, his phone, laptop and bank cards were taken away, and he is being held in terrible conditions along with other servicemen.

In Tyumen, an attempt was made to force 44-year-old Oleg Shleyev to sign a contract. On Sept. 30, two men in military uniform initially suggested that he and two of his colleagues join the military; after they refused, the men obtained their personal details and soon returned for Shleyev—the only one of the three who had previously completed compulsory military service. He was taken to the regional draft office, where he was forced to sign a document without being informed that it was a contract. The man was then held at the draft office for two days. His partner filed complaints with the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee. On the third day, Shleyev recorded a video stating that he did not want to serve, after which he was released and asked to withdraw the complaint from the prosecutor's office.

The Ural State University of Railway Transport has posted a promotional ad stating that students "have a unique opportunity to receive free training through an in-demand continuing professional education program." Attached to the announcement is a QR code leading to an "information bot for candidates for contract military service" in the Max messenger app.

Human rights activists have reported new instances of notaries refusing to issue powers of attorney for conscripts and other citizens liable for military service, including after they received electronic draft notices. In Krasnoyarsk, Samara, Volgograd, Mordovia [Russia's constituent republic] and Moscow, notaries refused to issue the documents or demanded that applicants first check the electronic draft notice register. In one case, a notary claimed that issuing such powers of attorney had been banned for a year and a half, but could not cite any law establishing such a ban. Earlier, the human rights organizations Shkola Prizyvnika [Conscript School] and the Movement of Conscientious Objectors [a human rights organization supporting those who refuse to perform military service] reported similar incidents, noting that such refusals are unlawful.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 276,113 Russian servicemen killed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including 20,739 mobilized soldiers. Since the last update, 10,081 names have been added to the list. Additionally, Mediazona has confirmed the deaths of at least 20 Russian staff officers in a Ukrainian missile strike on Donetsk on Aug. 26. Among those killed were colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors and other officers serving in intelligence, artillery, engineering and command units. According to Mediazona, this is the largest known loss of Russian officers in a single incident during the war.

The Abakan Garrison Military Court has refused to invalidate a conscript's contract with the MoD, even though a forensic examination found that the document had been signed by someone else. The man was drafted in December 2023 into the 5th Railway Brigade in Abakan, and a contract was drawn up in his name in February 2024. He says he did not know about the contract, and his commanders attributed the payments he was receiving to his participation in competitions. In the fall of 2024, he was told he would be sent to the frontline with the assault troops, after which he told his commander that he had never signed the contract and was allowed to go home. In March 2026, he was detained for going AWOL, and in April he was sent to war with the 439th Regiment. Although his personnel file contained no written request to sign a contract and the forensic examination concluded that the signature was forged, the court ruled that receiving payments and effectively fulfilling the terms of the contract made it valid.

According to his wife, Roman Antonenkov, a 23-year-old conscript in the 6th Tank Regiment in Chebarkul, was forced through threats and physical coercion to sign a contract with the MoD. He was allegedly threatened with criminal charges over a phone that had been found, and then promised that he would be sent to Chelyabinsk to train as a driver if he signed the documents. After signing the contract, Antonenkov tried to submit a request to terminate it, but it was not accepted, and his wife's complaints to the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee went unanswered. The serviceman has already been told that he will be sent to war on Oct. 9.

In the village of Nizhny Zhirim in Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic], two unidentified men in masks, who were presumably searching for a deserter, threatened local residents with weapons. According to one man, on Oct. 3 the strangers stopped the car in which he was riding with his brother with a disability, and one of them then pointed a pistol at the driver's face.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

The Southern District Military Court has received a criminal case against two Russian servicemen accused of murdering seven civilians in the occupied town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. The charges include murder and attempted murder of two or more people committed by a group for financial gain and to conceal another crime; cruel treatment of the civilian population; looting on an especially large scale; infliction of grievous bodily harm resulting in death; destruction of property; and violent unlawful entry into a dwelling. The events in question likely took place in November–December 2025, when the Russian military leadership reported capturing Pokrovsk. According to the Ukrainian project Hochu Zhit [I Want to Live], two riflemen from the 30th Separate Motorized Rifle Battalion broke into the basement of a house where civilians were sheltering and demanded alcohol. When the civilians refused, the soldiers shot and killed a father and son, Yaroslav and Oleksandr Zavadskyi; a married couple, Dmytro and Oksana Hulko; their son, Dmytro; Oksana’s mother, Nadiia; and a man named Aleksandr. An eighth person, Petro Merontsev, was wounded and pretended to be dead. After the soldiers left, he managed to get out of the basement and flee. Following the shooting, the soldiers reported to their commander that they had eliminated a Ukrainian Armed Forces sabotage and reconnaissance group and set the house on fire. According to the Hochu Zhit project, military police managed to arrest two of those involved in the massacre: Aleksandr Agafonov and Rinat Galimzyanov. However, Galimzyanov’s mother claims that her son was "exonerated" and continues to serve in the military. Agafonov’s sister also claims that the second defendant in the case is not Galimzyanov, but Sergey Morkovin from the Novosibirsk region. According to her, a third participant in the killings, whose surname was Kostromin, was shot dead by military police during his arrest. Mediazona found that Morkovin and Agafonov had both been convicted multiple times.

In the Nizhny Novgorod region, a soldier was detained on charges of desertion and the murder of three women. According to investigators, on Oct. 3 in the settlement of Neklyudovo he killed his partner with a tire iron, then drove to the home of her mother and daughter and told them what he had done. When the women said they would call the police, he killed them as well. He then dismembered the bodies, packed the remains into bags and attempted to drive them into the woods in a rented GAZelle van. On Oct. 5, traffic police stopped the vehicle in Nizhny Novgorod. The serviceman tried to flee but was detained; human remains were found in the cargo bed.

Igor Yakovenko, 52, a political prisoner held at Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Krasnodar, died. He had been sentenced in October 2025 to five years in prison for preparing to join a terrorist organization. According to investigators, Yakovenko had corresponded with a recruiter for the Freedom of Russia Legion and filled out an application to join the unit. Human rights advocates said he had repeatedly complained of beatings and denial of medical care. An inoperable brain tumor was discovered shortly before his death, after which he was returned to the pre-trial detention center for palliative care. According to a tally by the Rus Sidyashchaya project, Yakovenko was the tenth political prisoner to die in custody since the beginning of 2026. 

Assistance

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that nearly 3 billion rubles [$35.30 million] in budget loan debt has been written off for the Belgorod region under a federal program supporting Russian regions. The freed-up funds will go toward supporting war participants and their families. The region currently carries 25.2 billion rubles [$296 million] in budget loan debt, up to two-thirds of which may be written off provided the funds are used for purposes specified under the program. In previous years, the region has had a total of 300.1 billion rubles [$4 billion] in debt written off.

The Moscow region authorities have allocated an additional 5.7 billion rubles [$67.06 million] from the regional budget's reserve fund for payments to participants in the war against Ukraine and families of fallen servicemen. Of this amount, 5.05 billion rubles [$59.42 million] will go toward payments to contract soldiers, while 600 million rubles [$7.06 million] will be allocated to families of fallen servicemen. The 2026 regional budget initially earmarked more than 24 billion rubles [$282 million] and 3.86 billion rubles [$45.41 million] for these purposes, respectively, but funding has since been increased several times. In the region, those signing military service contracts are entitled to 2.6 million rubles [$30,600], while families of fallen servicemen receive 3 million rubles [$35,300].

The Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel has highlighted an increase in spending on payments to veterans of the war against Ukraine in the draft federal budget for 2027–2029. According to the document, spending on monthly payments to veterans will rise from 203.5 billion rubles [$2 billion] in 2026 to 337.7 billion rubles [$4 billion] in 2029, with additional spending over the three years totaling 268.9 billion rubles [$3 billion]. Based on the allocated funding, payment amounts and projected inflation, the outlet estimates that the number of veterans receiving payments will increase from the current 1.88 million to 3.41 million by 2029. This would mean approximately 500,000 new veterans each year.

Longreads

The Vyorstka media outlet reports on how Russian marketing agencies sell military recruiters databases of phone numbers belonging to men who have visited websites about the "special military operation," applied to microfinance organizations or appeared on debtor lists.

The Memorial Human Rights Defense Center's Political Prisoners Support project has published a report on political repression in Russia.