Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 23-24, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

Russia plans to increase defense spending from 10.4 trillion rubles [$113 billion] budgeted for 2024 to 13.2 trillion rubles [$143 billion] in 2025, wrote Bloomberg after reviewing a draft of the federal budget for the next three years. Accounting for about 40% of government spending, the expenditures under "National Defense" and "National Security and Law Enforcement" will exceed the combined allocations for education, healthcare, social policy and the national economy. The budget adopted in 2023 had anticipated a reduction in military spending to 8.5 trillion rubles [$92 billion] by 2025, but the new draft postpones that decrease. Under the new plan, defense spending would drop from 6.2% of GDP in 2024 to 5.6% in 2026 and 5.1% in 2027. A graphic by The Bell shows how Russia's military expenditures have changed over the past 12 years. Thanks to new tax revenues, the projected budget deficit by the end of 2025 is expected to be 0.5% of GDP, almost half the 1.1% deficit planned for 2024.

In consecutive second and third readings, the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] passed a bill that would allow the suspension of criminal proceedings during wartime, martial law or mobilization for defendants who sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense to participate in the war. The bill was introduced at the end of August. The State Duma also approved a bill to allow defendants to sign contracts at the trial stage, which would suspend the proceedings against them. Criminal cases could be dropped altogether if defendants receive a state award or are discharged from military service.

The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel reports that the Ministry of Defense has drafted amendments to federal laws that would reduce the pay of service members while they are held in extrajudicial detention facilities. The law, passed in August, grants commanders the authority to send their subordinates to detention facilities for serious disciplinary offenses, such as speaking to the press or using smartphones, without the need for a court decision.

According to Meduza [an international Russian-language online media outlet], citing sources within the Russian government, no additional mobilization is planned in the near future. Sources speaking to the outlet’s journalist Andrey Pertsev do not see any clear signs of preparations for mobilization and doubt that authorities will announce it "anytime soon," meaning within the next two to four months. Furthermore, officials believe that "there are enough soldiers on the frontline." According to sources close to the Presidential Administration, senior law enforcement officers support a new wave of mobilization, while civilian officials are opposed. However, the reliability of Meduza's information based on government sources has been questioned, as reported in detail by Proekt [an investigative media outlet].

Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that since the beginning of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ incursion into the Kursk region, 56 civilians have been killed and 226 others wounded. He noted that this is a "small part" of what is "reliably known."

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports that in the Oryol region, NGOs receiving regional subsidies have been pressured by authorities to provide volunteer fighters for participation in the war. The number of required people is directly proportional to the size of the subsidies received. Organizations that fail to meet the quota face fines. Some NGOs, confronted with such demands, are considering closing down, as they find it unacceptable to be involved in combat-related activities.

In Russia’s constituent Republic of Bashkortostan, the Ministry of Transport has established a sign-up bonus of 400,000 rubles [$4,330] for those who sign a contract with the MoD to participate in the war. Previously, Bashkortostan authorities had introduced a payment of 505,000 rubles [$5,470] for convicts who signed contracts with the MoD.

In the Olyokminsky district of Russia’s constituent Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the local police department published an order on its Telegram channel instructing local administrations to remind the population about the increased payments for signing a contract with the MoD. The order recommends placing particular emphasis on individuals perceived to be living "meaningless" lives or those who consume alcohol.

In the forthcoming fall regular conscription campaign, draft notices will be sent to 22,000 residents of Saint Petersburg, with approximately 3,000 expected to be conscripted. In the previous fall campaign, 30,000 people were subject to conscription, though the results of the campaign remain unpublished.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Aleksandr Rybalkin from Russia’s constituent Republic of Buryatia.

Additionally, another conscript soldier, 21-year-old Matvey Yakovlev from the Pskov region, has been reported killed in the Kursk region, with the circumstances of his death remaining undisclosed.

Aleksandr Kots, a pro-Russian correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda, reported that a Ministry of Defense investigation found no wrongdoing by the commander of the 85th Rifle Regiment, who had sent his subordinates, Sergey Gritsay and Dmitry Lysakovsky—both UAV operators in the regiment—into an assault following an internal dispute. Both men were killed during the operation. After a video of the soldiers, recorded before their deaths, was published by pro-Russian propagandists, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov ordered an inquiry into the incident. Investigators reportedly found no evidence of drug use within the regiment, and the decision to send Gritsay and Lysakovsky into the assault was deemed justified by the tactical circumstances.

The mother of deceased conscript Valentin Shumilov, from the Yaroslavl region, wrote several letters to Vladimir Putin, demanding an explanation for why conscripts, who "are not supposed to be fighting," are "dying." Shumilov, who served in the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment, was killed on Sept. 17 near the village of Karyzh in the Kursk region during an artillery strike.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

A court in Saint Petersburg has sent 28-year-old military academy cadet Nikolay Tikhonov to a pre-trial detention center. Tikhonov is accused of beating to death a 41-year-old hearing-impaired woman whom he met at a nightclub. He mistook the sound of her hearing aid for a recording device and suspected her of "working for the AFU." Tikhonov has been charged with murder.

The Garrison Military Court in Nalchik has fined serviceman Ahmed Kerimov 100,000 rubles [$1,080] on charges of large-scale fraud. According to the verdict, while in a combat zone in Ukraine, Kerimov recorded a video address on behalf of his unit requesting a vehicle. The video reached the administrator of a pro-Russian channel, who responded by purchasing an SUV with his own funds. As a result, Kerimov kept the vehicle for himself, registering it in his mother’s name.

The Naro-Fominsk Garrison Military Court has sentenced contract lieutenant Eduard K. to two and a half years in a penal settlement for failure to execute orders. The officer refused to execute an order to be deployed to the combat zone due to personal beliefs that prevented him from continuing military service with weapons in hand. Earlier, he had submitted a report to his command requesting a transfer to alternative civilian service; however, the report was rejected as the legislation does not provide contract soldiers the right to replace military service with alternative civilian service.

Konstantin Goncharov, a resident of Stary Oskol, has been detained for desertion. In 2022, he joined the war as a volunteer fighter. Before signing a contract, Goncharov was deployed from the draft office to a training range in Valuyki, from where he went home. However, in September 2024, his family received a letter stating that he was allegedly missing in action on the frontline. When Goncharov visited the draft office, he discovered that someone had signed a contract with the MoD on his behalf. Two days later, on Sept. 19, Goncharov was detained by military police and taken to Valuyki.

A criminal case for sabotage has been initiated against the teenagers who set a Mil Mi-8 military helicopter on fire in Omsk. The court has remanded them in custody for two months, and law enforcement has confiscated all of their electronic devices.

In Birobidzhan, the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a local resident allegedly for planning to set fire to a draft office and commit sabotage on railway tracks. The man is being charged with preparing an act of sabotage, terrorist attack and high treason, facing a potential life sentence. According to law enforcement, he had been conducting surveillance on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine.

In Udmurtia [Russia's constituent republic], law enforcement officers detained a Ukrainian citizen. The FSB claims that the arrested individual had been in contact with "representatives of a Ukrainian nationalist organization recognized as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation." A criminal case has been initiated against the detainee under the charge of participating in terrorist activities, which carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in a penal colony.

The "Supreme Court of the LPR" has sentenced 28-year-old Ukrainian citizen Viktor Soldatko to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony. Soldatko was accused of espionage and found guilty of revealing locations of Russian troops in the Novopskovsky district of the occupied part of the Luhansk region to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine.

In an act of twisted clemency, the court reduced the sentence initially imposed for Aleksandr Dimitrenko who was convicted of treason, attempted sabotage and illegal possession of explosives. Instead of 23 years, Dimitrenko will have to spend 22.5 years behind bars. According to the FSB, Dimitrenko was planning to blow up a railway station.

Miscellaneous

Several war veterans are currently engaged in the "Time of Heroes" internship program, launched within a division run by the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Kirienko. It also appears that Artyom Zhoga, the "chairman of the parliament of the DPR," will be appointed the presidential envoy to Russia’s Ural Federal District. Zhoga, along with his son Vladimir, joined pro-Russian separatists to fight with Kyiv back in 2014. Following his son’s death, he was promoted to commander of the Sparta Battalion. In May 2024, Zhoga was selected for the first cohort of "Time of Heroes" and is being mentored by the head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino.

Longreads

The mother of conscript Kirill Poluyanov told The Insider [independent Russian investigative media outlet] about the lawlessness in the military unit where her son was found dead. Kirill received a draft notice and was called up for military service in the spring of this year. But a few days before taking his oath, he was found hanged in the forest. Prior to his death, he had spoken about hazing and bullying in the army. More than 1,100 people have signed a petition demanding an investigation and accountability for the killers of Poluyanov.

Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] detailed the story of Kamil Kasimov—a contract soldier who fled the Russian Army and was kidnapped by Russian law enforcement in Astana in April 2024. In early September, a court in Russia sentenced him to six years in a maximum security penal colony for desertion during wartime.

The Insider correspondent visited Baymak, where mass protests took place in January 2024 over the sentencing of eco-activist Fail Alsynov, and found out how the "Baymak case" turned life upside down in the small town. Six months later, defendants are facing beatings, and their relatives are receiving threats. Despite this, the residents of Baymak remain unafraid to criticize the authorities and discuss environmental problems.