Mobilization in Russia for Oct. 8-10, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The Russian government's budget proposal for 2025–2027 reveals plans to cut funding for healthcare programs starting in 2026. The money saved from these cuts will be redirected to military expenses. One major program affected is the "Modernization of the Primary Healthcare System of the Russian Federation," whose financing will be stopped in 2026. Other healthcare initiatives will also receive less funding. In contrast, spending on defense and national security, which is set to reach 40% of the budget in 2025, is not expected to decrease. For example, the government intends to double payments to combat veterans, with expenditures reaching 267 billion rubles [$3 billion] by 2027. According to estimates from the Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel, this amount will cover payments for 2.6 million veterans.

The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel reminds its readers that a new law on extrajudicial detention took effect on Oct. 9, granting military commanders the authority to send their subordinates to detention facilities for 20 serious disciplinary offenses without a court decision. One of these offenses is the use of smartphones by military personnel. The total duration of such an arrest cannot exceed 15 days. This law applies only within the "special military operation" zone. In all other areas, disciplinary arrests will continue to be imposed exclusively by garrison military courts.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

In the Rostov region, authorities have increased the bonus for signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense for one year or longer by 100,000 rubles [$1,030]. The resulting 1.3 million-ruble [$13,400] bonus is available from Oct. 10 until Nov. 30. When including the federal component, the total sign-up bonus amounts to 1.7 million rubles [$17,500]. This increased payment is available to both Russian citizens and foreign nationals. The previous 1.2-million-ruble sign-up bonus was introduced in late July. Its validity ended initially on Aug. 31m but was later extended until Sept. 30, 2024.

Journalists from the Vyorstka media outlet, after speaking with sources among military personnel and officials, discovered that the number of contract soldiers over 45 years old in the Russian Army has been growing since the beginning of the year. The increase in the age of those fighting is attributed to a shortage of young people willing to go to war. Even soldiers themselves are complaining about the rising number of contract soldiers around 50 years old and older on the frontline. According to one soldier, 40% of the personnel consist of soldiers over 50, and they make up three-quarters of the arriving reinforcements. A source in the Moscow mayor's office confirmed that in recent months, the share of volunteers over 45 has reached half of all recruits. The military sees this as a serious problem: older recruits struggle with the physical demands of combat and are less resilient. The proportion of older soldiers among casualties is also rising. In less than the full year of 2024, 2,475 volunteer fighters over 45 have been killed in the war with Ukraine, an 18% increase over all of 2023 and three times the number killed in 2022.

According to journalist Oksana Asaulenko, the number of convicts in at least two penal colonies in the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject] has significantly decreased during the war. For example, in penal colony No. 10, there were nearly 1,500 convicts in the fall of 2021, but now only about 400 remain. In penal colony No. 37 in the town of Chusovoy, there were around 400 convicts before the invasion, but now there are only 180. Local authorities plan to close the penal colony No. 37, as well as the penal colony No. 38 in the city of Berezniki, likely due to the reduced number of inmates.

The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, following the instructions of the First Deputy Minister of Defense, has authorized medical examinations for service members on leave due to illness, injuries, or diseases sustained in the war, as well as those suspected of committing crimes against military service, to be conducted in draft offices in federal subjects. This means that military personnel will no longer have to return to their units and wait in combat conditions for their commander’s decision to refer them to a military medical board.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Vladislav Shitnikov and Ivan Yeliseyev from the Rostov region, Aleksey Nau from the Chelyabinsk region, Sergey Dyogtev from the Sverdlovsk region, Viktor Petrov from the Moscow region, as well as Leonid Panchukov and Bato Tugutov from Russia's constituent Republic of Buryatia.

The Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet has pointed out that between September and October, Sakhalin region governor Vasily Limarenko reported the deaths of 66 soldiers. This equals to around 10% of the total number of servicemen from the region killed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian have verified the deaths of 689 soldiers from the Sakhalin region. Since the beginning of this fall, Limarenko has published 26 posts about military deaths, posting obituaries daily from Sept. 9 to 13 and Sept. 16 to 21. For comparison, he made only ten posts regarding military deaths in August and twelve in July.

Former convicts who signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense and were assigned to the 137th Regiment of the 106th Airborne Division have reported that their contracts were not terminated at the conclusion of their terms. While imprisoned, the men had signed one-year contracts that expired on Sept. 16, but the command did not release them from service. Additionally, the soldiers complained that they were denied leave for the entire year of their service.

The mother of a conscript soldier Igor from the Chelyabinsk region suspects that his unit's command may have signed a contract on his behalf and is now preparing to send him to the war. The 20-year-old was drafted in late May and, by early June, was sent to Chebarkul, where he was assigned to the 26th Separate Medical Battalion, assisting in transporting wounded soldiers by rail. Recently, his fellow soldiers noticed his name listed in an order for signing contracts, and a few days later, 305,000 rubles [$3,140] were deposited into the conscript’s bank account, with the sender listed as the Ministry of Social Labor of the Republic of Tatarstan. These are the payments typically received by those who sign military contracts. Both Igor and his mother deny that he signed a contract. She has filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office.

A former inmate of the Storm-V unit, Stanislav Vitort, who was unable to walk without crutches but was sent to the frontline, has gone missing near the town of Vovchansk. His wife, Darya, shared this information with the Astra Telegram channel. She received a call from his unit, informing her that on Sept. 20, he had been wounded, and they were unable to evacuate him. She believes he may have been killed. Meanwhile, Vitort's father was told by the unit that Stanislav had been officially listed as missing since Oct. 2, and they had no information that he was wounded. Earlier, Vitort had posted a video stating that the command planned to send him on an assault mission despite his inability to move without crutches, after which he was detained by military police. He was thrown into a pit, handcuffed, beaten, and his crutches broken before being sent to the frontline.

In the city of Yekaterinburg, a mother of multiple children who lost her husband in the war with Ukraine was denied the death gratuity payment for his death. In June 2024, the 33-year-old man signed a contract, and by August, he was transferred to the Kursk region. On Sept. 2, news of his death became known. The soldier's wife attempted to apply for a regional payment of 1.5 million rubles [$15,500]. She was denied because her husband was killed near Kursk and not "in the special military operation zone."

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Residents of the village of Novopetrovka in the Belgorod region have complained about looting. According to their statements, which were reported by local channels, "unknown individuals" are taking trailers filled with belongings at night. One resident accused Russian soldiers stationed in Novopetrovka of being responsible for the looting. A similar situation is reportedly occurring in other villages.

A court in Saint Petersburg has sentenced businessman Aleksey Isakov, who returned from the war in Ukraine, to 10 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of murder and illegal arms trafficking. In March 2024, Isakov shot and killed his acquaintance in a restaurant in central Saint Petersburg, allegedly over a debt of 7 million rubles [$72,100]. Isakov was recruited for the war from a penal colony, where he had been placed for theft.

In the Krasnoyarsk region, Denis Stepanov, who had previously participated in the war against Ukraine as part of the Wagner Group, has been sentenced to 19 years in a maximum security penal colony for the murder of two people with particular cruelty in a publicly dangerous manner. In October 2023, the 32-year-old defendant got drunk and decided to take revenge on his ex-partner, who had moved out to live with her mother. He took a can of gasoline and set her house on fire. Prior to his participation in combat operations, Stepanov had been repeatedly convicted of theft and robbery. He was deployed to the frontline in November 2022 from a penal colony, served for six months, and was pardoned in May before returning home.

In Russia's constituent republic of Sakha (Yakutia), a court sentenced local resident Viktor Savvinov, a former convict pardoned for his service in Ukraine, to 20 years in a maximum security penal colony for two new murders. In February 2024, in an alcohol-fuelled altercation, broke the skull of his drinking companion with a metal crowbar before killing his own estranged aunt, a renowned teacher and winner of the Russia’s Best Teacher prize, by axing her in the head and then torching her wooden house. Savvinov then attempted to flee from the scene, but was apprehended by law enforcement. By that point, Savvinov had already been imprisoned several times for various crimes, including the murder of a female drinking companion which landed him behind bars for 11 years. While in prison, he enrolled into the Wagner Group and was deployed to fight in Ukraine, to return to his home village a few months later.

Criminal proceedings against a business owner and musician from the city of Vologda Yevgeny Zhurin, suspected of scamming an 82-year-old woman out of her apartment, were submitted to the court to be treated as a standalone criminal case. 61-year-old Zhurin did not waste his time and deployed to Ukraine in April 2024 straight out of the pre-trial detention center. As a result, Zhurin himself will avoid prosecution and trial, as opposed to the three female accomplices he had lured into his criminal scheme.

A criminal case was initiated against a resident of Kovrov in the Vladimir region for an attempt to dodge conscription. According to the prosecutor's office, the young man was summoned into statutory military service, but ignored the draft notices and failed to report to the draft office.

An explosive device was discovered on one of the tanks of a freight train that arrived in Yaroslavl on the morning of Oct. 5. A criminal case has been initiated under the article for an act of terror.

A 22-year-old resident of Tomsk has been sentenced to six and a half years in a maximum security penal colony for preparing an act of sabotage on the railway. According to the prosecution, in April 2023, the young man posted a message looking for a job and received an offer to commit arson. He began preparing arson but was detained by the Federal Security Service officers. He was convicted under articles for preparation for sabotage and aiding sabotage activities.

The First Western District Military Court sentenced Aleksey Baranov, a resident of Saint Petersburg, to 18 years in prison for setting fire to two Ministry of Internal Affairs vehicles and attempting to set fire to a Rosgvardia [Russian National Guard] warehouse in the winter of 2023. He was charged with preparing to manufacture explosives, participating in a terrorist organization, committing an act of terror, attempting to commit an act of terror, and treason. Baranov was detained and placed under arrest in February 2023.

Yevgeny Mishchenko, a volunteer from the "Nemtsov Bridge" group, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of participating in a terrorist organization. The prosecution built its case against Mishchenko using recordings of his conversations with a police officer who had posed as a fellow "Nemtsov Bridge" volunteer. The prosecution had requested a 16-year sentence, but the court took into account mitigating factors, such as positive references from Mishchenko’s workplace and the fact that his wife, who has a disability, is dependent on him.

On Oct. 8, 40-year-old Ukrainian citizen Dmitry Kozhukhov was sentenced to five years and six months in a penal colony for allegedly aiding terrorists. According to law enforcement, on Oct. 2, 2016, at a checkpoint in the town of Marinka in the self-proclaimed "DPR," Kozhukhov agreed to provide information to an officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) about locations in the Donetsk region. The court claims that Kozhukhov later photographed a hotel building where "DPR" soldiers were stationed and sent the images to the SBU.

In the Pskov region, a mother and her son were detained on suspicion of high treason. According to SHOT, in 2023, the woman contacted a representative of a "public humanitarian project controlled by the Main Intelligence Directorate." She was allegedly planning to transfer funds to a Ukrainian account to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Her son learned of this and also began communicating with the representative of the humanitarian project, expressing a desire to join the AFU. The detainees pleaded guilty and were warned about the illegality of such actions.

Brothers Matvey and Timofey Melnikov, accused of planning to set fire to military vehicles under orders from the Freedom of Russia Legion, are now facing new charges of "state treason" and participation in a "terrorist organization." With these new charges, the 20-year-old brothers could face life imprisonment. The charges against 18-year-old Yury Mikheev, who is involved in the same case, remain unchanged—he is accused of "preparation for sabotage." Mikheev and Matvey Melnikov were detained on Nov. 10, 2023, after climbing over barbed wire at a military base in the Moscow region. On Nov. 22, Matvey's twin brother, Timofey, was also detained. At least two of the suspects were tortured after their arrest.

Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who was detained in the occupied territories, died in Russia during her transfer from Taganrog to Moscow. The Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed Roshchyna's death. According to Andrii Yusov, a representative of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, the journalist was on the list for a prisoner exchange. The 27-year-old Roshchyna died on Sept. 19, as stated in a report from the Russian Ministry of Defense. The document is dated Oct. 2, but her father received it only on Oct. 10. The cause and circumstances of her death were not disclosed. The Nastoyashсheye Vremya TV channel [Current Time, an editorially independent US-funded Russian language media outlet] reported that Roshchyna had gone on a hunger strike "due to inhumane treatment."

Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Vasilets, who refused to participate in the invasion of Ukraine, has been released on parole. Vasilets went to war in Ukraine in February 2022. He was granted leave after five months, during which time he went to Buryatia to see the relatives of a deceased fellow soldier. He later "embraced the philosophy of Buddhism" and refused to return to the front because of his philosophical convictions. In April 2023, he was sentenced to two years and five months in a penal settlement for failing to obey an order during an armed conflict. In June, his sentence was reduced by three months.

Miscellaneous

The Russian government will spend 2.5 billion rubles [$25.76 million] for projects by the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO) aimed at promoting war and traditional values. Next year, the RVIO, led by presidential aide and author of the unified history textbook, Vladimir Medinsky, will receive 810 million rubles [$8.35 million] from the government. In 2026-2027, the subsidies will exceed 900 million rubles annually.