Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 24-26, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Authorities and Legislation
The Federation Council [upper house of the Federal Assembly] has passed two bills related to criminal defendants who agree to participate in the war. The first bill allows for the suspension of criminal proceedings during wartime, martial law, or mobilization for defendants who conclude contracts with the Ministry of Defense. The second bill establishes procedures for exempting these individuals from criminal liability. Earlier, the State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly] had approved both bills.
Authorities and Relatives of Mobilized Soldiers
On Sept. 21, a protest by the wives of mobilized soldiers took place outside the Ministry of Defense building in Moscow. The protest was disrupted by provocateurs, one of whom has now been identified as 20-year-old Alina Belyaeva. One of the women to call themselves the "real wives of mobilized soldiers," Belyaeva is a student at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. She is a member of a VKontakte group associated with the Volunteer Squad of Combat Brotherhood and has participated in campaigns to write letters to military personnel. Previously, another provocateur, Ilya Kulikov, was also identified as a member of the same organization. The independent media outlet Bumaga reported that the organization receives multi-million-ruble grants from state funds, including 8 million rubles [$86,500] for volunteer work in the occupied regions of Ukraine, and organizes events where participants are paid 500 rubles [$5.41].
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
Residents of the Ryazan region have begun to receive notifications via the Gosuslugi public services portal about their inclusion in the Unified Military Register [digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and serve draft notices]. The region is one of three regions where authorities have launched Draft Register pilots. The first messages, sent on September 25, instructed recipients to log in to their personal accounts on the Draft Register website and request an "extract from the Unified Military Register" to access military registration information. However, attempts to do so have resulted in "data not found" errors. According to Novaya Gazeta [independent Russian newspaper], no similar notifications have been reported in the other two test regions, Sakhalin and the Republic of Mari El [Russia's constituent republic].
Authorities in the Kaliningrad region have increased the sign-up bonus for concluding military contracts from 100,000 rubles [$1,082] to 500,000 rubles [$5,410]. To support this initiative, the regional government has allocated 400 million rubles [$4.33 million] from the reserve fund. Based on the size of the transfer, it can be inferred that the region plans to recruit an additional 1,000 contract soldiers by the end of the year. The total sign-up bonus in the region could reach up to 1.15 million rubles [$12,400].
In the Yaroslavl region, the sign-up bonus for concluding a contract with the MoD will be increased from the 510,000 rubles [$5,520], as set at the beginning of August, to 700,000 rubles [$7,570]. With national payments included, the total bonus will amount to 1.1 million rubles [$11,900].
Roman Busargin, Governor of the Saratov region, has extended the duration of the increased sign-up bonus for concluding contracts with the MoD. In July, the regional payment was increased tenfold to 500,000 rubles [$5,410], initially applying to those signing contracts between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. Now, the increased payment will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2024. According to an officer at the military recruitment office in Saratov, the higher payment has allegedly led to a tenfold increase in the number of people willing to fight in Ukraine. The officer claims the primary motivation of citizens is to defend the Motherland. Meanwhile, the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports that recruitment for the frontline by the Federal Bailiff Service is ongoing in the region.
In the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject], authorities plan to close penal colony No. 7 in Chusovoy and penal colony No. 38 in Berezniki. While each facility is designed to hold 400 convicts, only about 100 remain—allegedly, the rest have gone to the frontline. Meanwhile, from a penal colony in the Vladimir region, at least seven organizers of drug labs have decided to go to war. Collectively, they produced over 300 kg of mephedrone.
Another raid targeting migrants and former foreigners who obtained Russian citizenship but failed to register for military service took place in Saratov. Reports indicate that more than two dozen former migrants were detained and taken to draft offices at their places of registration to be put on military records. Administrative protocols were drawn up against five of them. A similar raid occurred in Rubtsovsk, in the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], where military investigators sent four individuals with acquired Russian citizenship to enlistment offices for registration.
The Idite Lesom! project received an appeal from the sister of a Cuban man who signed a contract with the Russian MoD in 2023. She reported that her brother, along with other Cubans, was sent to Kursk. According to her, their documents and passports were confiscated, along with the payment of 3 million rubles [$32,400] for being at the forward positions. Additionally, they are regularly subjected to physical and psychological abuse by Russian soldiers.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Dmitry Tarasov from the Nizhny Novgorod region, Aleksey Pavlyuk from the Tula region, Sergey Mesilov from the Sverdlovsk region, Aleksandr Babin from the Volgograd region and Aleksandr Denisov from the Perm region [Russia's federal subject].
Yelena Pimonenkova, a 37-year-old female nurse who had signed a contract with the MoD while serving in a penal colony in the Leningrad region, has been reported killed in the Belgorod region as part of an assault platoon. According to 47news [Leningrad region news outlet], Pimonenkova was among the first group of female convicts recruited from the Leningrad region. In total, about 60 women expressed interest in joining the war effort, of whom ten were selected. In May, the Agentstvo [Agency] independent media outlet, citing Olga Romanova, Executive Director of the Rus’ Sidyashchaya [Russia Behind Bars] civil rights movement, reported that the MoD had stopped recruiting female convicts for the war.
Andrey Lazhiev, a conscript soldier from Russia's constituent Republic of Karelia, who died in November 2023 in a Sevastopol hospital under unclear circumstances, was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. The official cause of death, which followed the conscript's arrival at the hospital with visible signs of beatings, was cerebral edema caused by "Ulysses syndrome." Lazhiev’s father believes that the family is being silenced, as the parents are filing complaints with military authorities and have hired a lawyer to pursue a criminal investigation into their son’s death.
Twenty-one-year-old conscript Pavel Shcherbakov from the Orenburg region went missing on Aug. 10, 2024, near the town of Sudzha in the Kursk region, according to his mother Svetlana. In his last text, sent to her on Aug. 3, he wrote that he would be out of reach from that point onward. On Sept. 20, Svetlana was informed that her son was declared missing in action, but the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment he served with refused to provide further details. The Astra Telegram channel reports that at least 44 conscripts have gone missing since the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
A contract soldier with the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade 29-year-old Artur B. from Chelyabinsk has filed a complaint with the Investigative Committee, reporting being beaten by his commander for making an error in the documents, which allegedly led to an overstatement of the unit’s fuel consumption by 53 gallons. The commander also threatened to execute B. or make his death look like an accident unless he remained silent about the mistreatment.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
The Vyorstka media outlet has collected violent crime statistics related to Russian soldiers returning from the war in Ukraine. Over the last two and a half years, war veterans have committed 242 homicides and severely injured 227 individuals. Most of these cases occurred in the domestic context, with alcohol-induced aggression often targeting family members or friends. In total, the sample included 246 pardoned ex-convicts and 180 regular service members. Notably, the crime rate among ex-convicts is higher than the crime rate among other personnel, especially with regard to violence against women. Moreover, the veteran or active military status is almost always recognized as a mitigating factor by the court when sentencing. In 292 cases reviewed in court, only 15% of defendants were not offered a reduction in their prison terms due to their participation in the war.
A Kazan resident who returned from the war attacked his friend with a knife out of jealousy. Criminal cases have been initiated against the suspect for "grievous bodily harm" and "attempted murder."
According to Astra, 34-year-old serviceman Maksim Zhulev committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with an assault rifle. The incident occurred at the location of the 10th Tank Regiment on the territory of a mine in Donetsk. Previously, there have been multiple reports of torture against servicemen in abandoned mines in the Donetsk area.
A man born in 1989, who had a prior conviction for rape, has been detained on suspicion of murdering a 43-year-old woman near the village of Edemskoye in the Vladimir region. He has been arrested on charges of murder.
The Orenburg Garrison Military Court has found a serviceman guilty of a gross disciplinary offense and sentenced him to 10 days of disciplinary arrest with detention in a guardhouse for using a smartphone during combat duty. The law permitting detention in a guardhouse for smartphone use was adopted in early August.
The Southern District Military Court has sentenced Valigulla Magomedov, a mobilized soldier from Chechnya [Russia's constituent republic], to two years in a penal settlement for failure to obey an order. According to the case files, in January 2024, Magomedov refused to leave his unit to go to war, citing a scheduled surgery due to a concussion he had previously sustained on the frontline.
A court in the Arkhangelsk region has sentenced contract soldier Sergey S. to five years and two months in a penal colony for going AWOL. It was noted that the soldier refused to return to the combat zone.
Authorities in the Moscow region are searching for 19-year-old conscript soldier Danila F. from Ryazan, who reportedly fled from a shooting range in Moscow’s Patriot Park with an assault rifle and ammunition. According to sources from the Baza Telegram channel, he headed towards a nearby forest.
The Supreme Court upheld the six-year sentence of 17-year-old Rostov resident Mark Borzenko, who was convicted of attempting a terrorist act and sent to a juvenile penal colony. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the teenager was involved in an organization designated as a terrorist group in Russia. On Aug. 24, 2022, he threw 13 Molotov cocktails at a district military enlistment office in Rostov-on-Don.
A court in the Rostov region has sentenced local resident Ivan Svistov to one year and eight months in prison for setting fire to a draft office. According to prosecutors, on the night of Nov. 6, 2023, Svistov threw three Molotov cocktails at the draft office in the town of Morozovsk. The fire was quickly extinguished, and no one was injured. Svistov was arrested shortly afterward.
A court in Yekaterinburg has sentenced 19-year-old Vladislav Partalokha, a resident of Samara, to five and a half years in a penal colony for planning to set fire to a relay cabinet on the Kuibyshev railway. Partalokha was found guilty of preparing an act of terror. The FSB reported that the young man was arrested back on Nov. 15 and described him as a supporter of the "Freedom of Russia Legion."
The FSB has reported the detention of six people, including three minors aged 15 and 17, in the Irkutsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara regions on suspicion of arson on railways and communication facilities. According to law enforcement officers, the arsons were carried out "on assignments from Ukrainian intelligence services" for between 10,000 rubles [$110] and 15,000 rubles [$160]. It is claimed that the suspects confessed. One of the detainees allegedly planned to blow up an aircraft, while another intended to target a train. Terrorism-related criminal cases have been initiated against the detainees, and a treason investigation is also underway. Collectively, they face sentences ranging from 12 to 20 years and potentially life imprisonment.
A court in Kemerovo has sentenced an elderly woman, Elena Sharova, to two years on probation after she attempted to set fire to a draft office in the fall of 2022 under the influence of phone scammers. Sharova was detained, placed under arrest and added to the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring) list as a terrorist. Several months later, it was revealed that she had been released from the pre-trial detention center, and her name was removed from the terrorist register. Her charges were reduced, and she was ultimately convicted under the article for deliberate destruction or damage of property. According to Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet], this is the only known case where charges against a draft office arsonist were reduced from terrorism to arson.
In Russia’s constituent Republic of Dagestan, the FSB has detained five people on suspicion of aiding phone scammers from Ukraine. According to the agency, the suspects used fake documents to sign contracts with telecommunications operators for multi-channel IP telephony services and provided Ukrainian citizens access to these services. It is alleged that the scammers used these purchased numbers to call Russian citizens, posing as law enforcement officers and bank employees. The preliminary damage from their actions exceeded 100 million rubles [$1.08 million]. Over 190 criminal cases have been initiated.
The Second Eastern District Military Court has sentenced 19-year-old Danila Yakovlev from Biysk to 15 years of imprisonment on charges of treason and financing terrorism. The young man was arrested in January of this year. According to investigators, last year he made three unsuccessful attempts to transfer money to a "terrorist organization" account for the purchase of drones and "military equipment for combat operations against the Russian Federation." According to the Kommersant daily newspaper, Yakovlev "collaborated" with the "Freedom of Russia Legion" and donated "several thousand rubles" in cryptocurrency to the organization.
In the city of Luhansk, former Sochi Mayor Aleksey Kopaygorodsky has been arrested. The exact charges against Kopaygorodsky are unknown. In May, he announced his resignation due to "moving to a new position" and shortly thereafter went to the war with Ukraine. According to the Kremlin-aligned news outlet Mash, a search was conducted at Kopaygorodsky's home, and the Investigative Committee questioned his wife. Kopaygorodsky may be involved in the case of former Sochi Mayor advisor Roman Pischur, who is suspected of illegal sale of cemetery plots. The court has ordered Kopaygorodsky to be held for two months on charges of embezzlement and property theft on a particularly large scale.
Norway has denied political asylum to Russian national Pavel Suetin, who fled mobilization, citing Putin's statement that mobilization had ended. Suetin left the Murmansk region for Norway on Sept. 22, 2022—the day after mobilization began and following a visit to his home by people in military and police uniforms, to whom he did not open the door. He sought asylum, but two years later, the Norwegian Immigration Department (UDI) denied his request.