Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 12-13, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
If a new bill prepared by the federal government is passed, the bank loans and utility debts of veterans of the war in Ukraine and their spouses will be written off upon receiving a state award or being discharged at the end of their military service.
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel reminds students that the only valid draft notices they might receive during their studies are those summoning them for data check-ups. Draft offices are not permitted to issue conscription-related notices to students who have deferrals. For its part, the Sibir.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet reports that authorities are denying pacifists their right to alternative civilian service.
The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports that authorities in Moscow are sending out digital draft notices en masse through the mos.ru portal. It notes that these notices have no legal force and reminds readers of the steps to take to prepare for the launch of the digital Draft Register.
Starting from Sept. 15, residents of the Ryazan region who are registered for military service will start receiving notifications via the Gosuslugi public services portal, informing them that authorities are entering their data into the Unified Military Register [digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and serve draft notices], as part of its testing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India has reported that 45 Indian citizens, who were deceived into enlisting, have been dismissed from the Russian Armed Forces. Another 50 Indians remain in service, and Indian authorities are seeking their discharge. Earlier, TV Rain [independent Russian television channel] reported that some Indian citizens fighting against Ukraine had been withdrawn from the frontline and are preparing to return home.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Vladislav Drozdov from the Volgograd region, Anatoly Fedchenko from the Rostov region, Ismail Dursunov from Russia's constituent Republic of Kalmykia and Andrey Ivanov from the Krasnoyarsk region.
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 69,059 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 8,798 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list was supplemented with 1,048 soldiers, one of whom was mobilized. Mediazona points out a large influx of volunteer fighters, who, for the second consecutive week, represent the category of servicemen with the highest total number of casualties with 13,375 soldiers killed. Russian authorities continue to encourage people to sign up for contract military service by increasing regional payments. Money remains one of the main motives for voluntary participation in the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a 49-for-49 POW exchange. Among the returned Ukrainian citizens is Lenie Umerova, who had traveled to Russia to care for her sick father but was later detained and recognized as a political prisoner by Memorial [Russian human rights organization]. Also included were defenders of the Azovstal Steel Factory. On the Russian side, servicemen who had surrendered in the Kursk region were returned, though it remains unclear if conscripts were among them. According to a video released by the Hochu Domoy [I Want to Go Home] project, most of the returned Russian prisoners appear to be middle-aged men, likely border guards. The exchange is not yet complete, and it is possible that Russian conscripts may also be involved. A video published on the Nash Vykhod [Our Way Out] Telegram channel mentioned that the exchange would take place in two stages.
In August 2024, Russian citizens submitted 1,927 requests to Vladimir Putin concerning missing or captured military personnel, according to an investigation by Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet]. This marked the highest number of such requests since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine. The total number of inquiries since February 2022 has now reached nearly 20,000. The number of complaints surged during Ukraine's counteroffensive in the fall of 2022 and the assault on the town of Avdiivka, which lasted from October 2023 to February 2024. Since the Armed Forces of Ukraine began their offensive in the Kursk region, there has also been a significant rise in complaints related to conscripted soldiers, with 460 such inquiries processed by the presidential administration in August alone.
Sergey Gritsay and Dmitry Lysakovsky, who served as UAV operators in the 87th Regiment, were reportedly sent to certain death by their commander, Igor Puzik. Prior to their deaths, the soldiers were reassigned from their reconnaissance duties to an assault unit. In a series of videos recorded before their final mission, they accused their commander of covering up drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with Western intelligence. They claimed that Puzik deliberately ignored targets identified by their reconnaissance efforts and later dismantled their drone unit, which they said was considered one of the best. The soldiers believed that their transfer to the assault unit was part of a plan to eliminate them. According to pro-Russian war bloggers, both men were later confirmed dead.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
Aleksandr Bondarenko, a participant in the war pardoned by Putin, has been sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony for assaulting his ex-wife’s partner to death. During a drinking party, Bondarenko quarreled with the man because he "spoke negatively about convicts participating in the special military operation," and struck him at least five times on the head. When passing the sentence, the court considered the "immoral and unlawful behavior of the victim" as mitigating factors, as well as Bondarenko’s participation in the "special military operation," his injury and his "desire to continue participating in combat." This became Bondarenko’s third sentence for similar crimes.
In Moscow, two men who allegedly offered a participant in the war in Ukraine a discharge for money have been detained, the Investigative Committee reported. Both detainees are being charged with fraud. According to investigators, the detainees approached a military acquaintance in the combat zone and offered to assist in his discharge from service. They valued their services at 3 million rubles [$33,375].
The 235th Garrison Military Court in Moscow has arrested a serviceman for "confidential" cooperation with foreigners. The court refused to disclose the name of the arrested individual, citing that the case was behind closed doors. At the end of last year, the same court arrested former war participant Pavel Guguyev, who is accused under the same charge. Before his arrest, Guguyev had returned from Ukrainian captivity, where he gave an interview to Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Karpenko.
Soldiers from the West-Akhmat battalion are reported to have abducted the vehicle of volunteer Aleksandr Demidenko, who died in a pre-trial detention center in Belgorod. The man's family has filed a police report seeking the return of the Renault Duster in which Aleksandr was abducted. Witness testimony included in the case indicates that Kadyrovtsy [nominally National Guard and Police units loyal to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov] were seen kidnapping Demidenko and taking his car. Six months have passed and investigators have still not located the stolen vehicle. Moreover, the Investigative Committee is ignoring the Demidenko family's inquiries regarding the case files related to his death.
A court in Kemerovo has rejected the lawsuit filed by the mother of Viktor Petrov, a mobilized soldier, against his military unit. In early May 2023, Petrov was found hanged at a military base. Before his death, he had been hospitalized with broken ribs and had complained of torture by the military police. After his death, a criminal case was opened on charges of incitement to suicide but was quickly closed. Investigators revealed that Petrov had a mental illness that rendered him unfit for military service. His mother appealed to the chairman of the Investigative Committee, requesting the reopening of the investigation into her son's death, but received no response.
A doctor from Krasnoyarsk has been stripped of his citizenship due to evading military service. Journalists from Sibirsky Express [Siberian Express] identified the man as Mirzomukhammad Karimov, a resuscitator at the Krasnoyarsk Interdistrict Clinical Emergency Hospital. Born in 1996, Karimov obtained Russian citizenship in 2018. In 2023, the hospital’s HR department required him to register for military service, but he failed to respond to the draft notice. He was found guilty under Article 328 of the Russian Criminal Code and fined 60,000 rubles [$660]. Under a law signed by Putin, Karimov is now set to be expelled from the Russian Federation.
According to the Sota media outlet, Eldar Marchenko, a sports management instructor at RMA school, was arrested on charges of working for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On Aug. 1, Federal Security Service (FSB) officers searched Marchenko’s home. That same day, he was taken to Lubyanka [the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB], where he was tortured with electricity for about two hours until he signed a confession admitting to carrying out tasks for Ukrainian intelligence services. He was then subjected to repeated short-term administrative arrests: he would be released, only to be immediately detained again. Later, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months, charged with committing a terrorist attack as part of a group, which resulted in significant property damage. The specific accusations against Marchenko remain unknown, as the hearing was held behind closed doors.
According to journalists from the Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] media outlet, regional courts across southern Russia and the North Caucasus have processed approximately 40 criminal cases of high treason or espionage since the beginning of 2023. Additionally, a court has reduced the sentence of anti-war activist Angel Nikolaev from Khabarovsk by two months. On May 3, 2024, Nikolaev was sentenced to 15 years in prison on five charges: committing an act of terror, hooliganism, vandalism, two cases of desecrating military burial sites and two cases of desecrating the Russian flag. He was accused of setting fire to a draft office and damaging flags on the graves of soldiers who fought in the war with Ukraine.
A military court in Samara found a man named Komyshev guilty of "public calls for terrorist activities and justification of terrorism" and fined him 450,000 rubles [$4,970]. According to court files, Komyshev posted a video and text in a messaging app that called for the arson of draft offices and justified the attack on the Crimean Bridge on Oct. 8, 2022. In addition to the fine, he was banned from administering websites and channels for two years.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced the detention of four young men suspected of setting fire to relay cabinets at the Khrapunovo station on the Moscow Railway. The Ministry also released a video of a confession from one of the detainees. Earlier, the ASTRA Telegram channel had reported the arrests of these men.
In 2024, 93 minors were added to Russia's official registry of terrorists and extremists, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta], setting a record high in at least six years. Twenty teenagers on the list had not yet turned 16. The overall number of people on the list, including adults, has been growing twice the rate compared to the beginning of the war.
Children and Educational System
Russia has published its first school textbook on drones. Meanwhile, Mikhail Tretyakov, who fought in the war with Ukraine, has been hired as a shop and gym teacher, as well as a homeroom teacher, at a school in the Vladimir region, despite lacking formal education as a teacher.
Authorities have already spent at least 177 million rubles [$1.96 million] on purchasing models of weapons and gear for lessons on the "Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland," according to calculations by the Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel. The inventory will soon be replenished with hand-held machine guns.
The "Training Ground of your Opportunities" youth competitions have been held in the Novosibirsk region. The main program included conducting a military-tactical game in the field for five military specialties. The competitions cost 1.7 million rubles [$18,800].
The Ne Norma [Not a Norm] Telegram channel has reported on the first lessons of the new course "Family Studies," introduced in the 2024 academic year. The course aims to teach children the values of "large families and chastity."
Pro-war activists have begun filing complaints against school No. 6 in Chelyabinsk after the school council refused to install steles in honor of participants in the war with Ukraine. According to former shop class teacher Igor Dyshaev, who approached the school management with the proposal, the director responded that "we are not a cemetery."
Miscellaneous
The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) will start issuing combat veteran certificates to its employees. Meanwhile, officials from the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject] have proposed offering preferential mortgages to employees of defense enterprises.
In the Moscow region, free military training courses are being promoted. Offers to attend such courses, which include medical, tactical and engineer-sapper training, appeared on Tuesday in two urban districts. The courses are open to adults and teenagers aged 14 and older.
Longreads
The Govorit NeMoskva [NonMoscow Is Speaking] Telegram channel spoke with three medical workers who voluntarily went to the "special military operation." Two of them described their experience as a nightmare.
Nina Slobodchikova, who was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony in June for treason, gave a lengthy interview to Mediazona. She revealed that during a search, FSB officers stole her cat, promised to return it to her family, but never did.
The Consortium of Women's NGOs has shared the story of a woman from the Russian Far East who is being harassed by her ex-husband, a participant in the war with Ukraine.