Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 4-6, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

According to the draft federal budget, the government plans to increase the monetary allowances of military personnel by 4.5% starting from Oct. 1, 2025, in line with the projected inflation rate. Further adjustments are expected to be 4.0% in both 2026 and 2027.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

In the city of Volgograd, local authorities are allocating 10 million rubles [$105,200] for mobilization training. With these funds, 500 residents will undergo military preparation at the Avangard center for patriotic and search operations. For comparison, in 2023, similar exercises at the same center cost less than 3 million rubles [$31,600].

In Moscow, law enforcement officers conducted a raid near metro stations, stopping young men of conscription age. After checking their documents, some of the men were detained.

Throughout the past week, law enforcement officers in Saint Petersburg conducted daily raids targeting migrants. On Friday, Oct. 4, during the largest raid, 150 men who had obtained Russian citizenship were taken to draft offices for registration. The next day, the Investigative Committee reported that about 100 of them decided to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Aleksandr Stolyarov from the Volgograd region and Andrey Markin from the Vladimir region.

Ildar Dadin, a Russian opposition activist who fought for Ukraine, has been reported killed in combat in the Kharkiv region. The initial report was provided by journalist Ksenia Larina, who cited the former vice-president of Gazprombank Igor Volobuev. The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] subsequently received confirmation of Dadin's death from the Sibir Battalion and the Freedom of Russia Legion, where Dadin served. Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] has also reported that Dadin was killed by artillery fire, citing his former fellow soldier. In 2015, Ildar Dadin was the first to be convicted under a law for repeated violations of protest rules and spent a year and two months in a penal colony. The law is widely referred to as Dadin's Law. In March 2022, Dadin relocated to Poland and joined the Sibir Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in June 2023, where he received the call sign "Gandhi." Starting December 2023, he fought as part of the Freedom of Russia Legion. Mediazona interviewed Ildar Dadin in summer 2023.

Zelimkhan Medov, who participated in an armed attack on Russia's constituent Republic of Ingushetia in 2004, has reported that his brother Ruslan Derbichev, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was deployed to the war. Without the family's knowledge, Derbichev was pressured into signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense and sent to the frontline, despite being unfit for military service. Derbichev has been a permanently disabled group two person for four years, deprived of the right to drive a vehicle. The family learned about his contract with the MoD through a video showing Derbichev handcuffed to a pole on accusations of using drugs, which occurred on his first day in the military unit.

Wounded soldiers of the 228th Regiment of the 90th Tank Division complained about being denied medical examination and essential medical care despite their injuries in a video appeal to Vladimir Putin. Moreover, they said their leave requests were being denied while payments were being routinely delayed. The men claimed that the unit command had ignored their queries and complaints, which is why they were pleading with Putin personally to order an inspection of the regiment.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Ex-member of the Wagner Group Andrey Sherstyanykh was sentenced to two years of probation for attacking police officers. The 38-year-old with a long criminal record was pardoned at the end of 2022 for his service in Ukraine with the Wagner Group. He returned home to live with his ex-wife and her newly-born baby. The couple’s antisocial lifestyle raised concerns for the safety of the baby among neighbors, who reported them to the police. Police officers who arrived at the scene were attacked by Sherstyanykh, heavily drunk and armed with a fire poker, and his ex-wife. The couple was quickly apprehended, and the baby sent to the hospital.

In the Rostov region, the court sentenced servicemen Yury Izmailov and Yevgeny Borodin each to two years and three months in a penal settlement for refusing to obey an order. According to the verdict, in April 2024 mobilized soldier Borodin refused to return to the combat zone due to anxiety and fear for his life. The court accepted Borodin’s prior deployment and injuries as a mitigating factor. Izmailov, who had signed up voluntarily as a contract soldier, also refused to return to the frontline. He told the court that he should have departed to his unit immediately once the order was announced, but was too exhausted by hardships of combat service.

The Sevastopol "City Court," appointed by the Russian authorities, has sentenced 47-year-old local resident Igor Kopyl to 14 years in a penal colony on charges of treason. The investigation claims that the man contacted an employee of Ukrainian intelligence and, under his instructions, "recorded videos and provided information about the location of personnel and military vehicles of the Russian Army," as well as "provided other assistance to a foreign state."

A court in Saint Petersburg has sentenced two local residents to 11 years of imprisonment on charges of calls for terrorism, assisting terrorism and participation in a terrorist organization for posting leaflets of the Russian Volunteer Corps and "Freedom of Russia Legion." According to the investigators, the men contacted Ukrainian organizations, received money from them and agreed to distribute leaflets calling for people to join these organizations. They were detained in August 2023 while posting the leaflets. The names of the convicts were not disclosed, but the Bumaga [Paper] independent media outlet found out that they are Fyodor Konovalov and Ivan Ladchenko. It is known that Konovalov worked as a cleaner at the Philharmonic and ran the Zaliznychni Magistrali YouTube channel. The director of the Philharmonic, Ilya Cherkasov, stated that Konovalov had mental development issues since childhood. Konovalov was detained in August 2023. At the time, the Baza Telegram channel reported that a conversation with a handler about collecting money for the AFU was found on his phone. Nothing is known about Ivan Ladchenko except that he was added to the register of terrorists and extremists of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring).

Igor Lominoga, the director of a private security company from the Krasnodar region, has been accused of "confidential" cooperation with a foreign state. In July 2024, Lominoga was detained for 15 days on charges of disobeying the lawful demands of law enforcement officers. The details of the new charges are unknown, and the first hearing in his case will take place on Oct. 7.

Children and Educational System

The human rights organization Amnesty International has released a report stating that Russian authorities are using emotional blackmail, searches, and physical violence to force teachers in the occupied territories of Ukraine to teach a curriculum filled with Russian state propaganda. Ukrainian educators face a difficult choice: flee under the threat of criminal prosecution or become complicit in spreading Kremlin ideology.

In a Teacher's Day address, the governor of Saint Petersburg mentioned that war veterans have begun working in local schools. As previously reported by the Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet, one of the first graduates of a program that trains former military personnel to become teachers is 51-year-old Andrey Shinyagin, who was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for extortion, assault, and unlawful detention of women.

In the Vladimir region, 2,500 college students will participate in fall military training. The program includes tactical, firearms, and drill training, tactical medicine, studying military regulations, learning the basics of drone operations, and meeting with war veterans.

Miscellaneous

The Rossiya airline has introduced a new code that requires employees to report their colleagues if they criticize the "special military operation." According to the Baza telegram channel, employees must provide personal information about those who photograph objects or spread "false information" about the war with Ukraine, as well as "spread the ideology of extremism and/or separatism."

A video game called “Squad 22: ZOV” about the war with Ukraine is being developed in Russia. The Ministry of Defense is not funding the creation of the game, but is "providing consulting services." According to the authors' plans, players will interactively "learn about the events in the Donbas, Mariupol, and Avdiivka," as well as familiarize themselves with various types of weapons. The game is expected to be released by the end of 2024.

Longreads

The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet] tells the story of how relatives of fallen Russian soldiers are burying "unknown persons."

SOTAvision explains how and why Putin appointed Artyom Zhoga, the commander of the Sparta Battalion, as his representative in the Urals Federal District.