Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 26-27, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising
This fall, authorities in the Sverdlovsk region plan to call up 3,000 individuals in the course of the regular fall conscription campaign. Region governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev has signed a decree establishing the draft board. The campaign will take place between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31.
The draft office in Petrozavodsk sends letters to companies requesting to allocate vehicles to "support the mobilization of human and transport resources." Notably, officials are asking for imported vehicles for this purpose, rather than vehicles produced domestically. It should be noted that the distribution of such letters is a routine procedure and does not indicate preparations for a new wave of mobilization.
The Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel reports that male users of the Gosuslugi public services portal have begun receiving electronic notifications about "data check-ups" related to the Unified Military Register [digital system to identify citizens subject to military service and serve draft notices]. Residents from various cities have informed human rights activists about these notifications. Ivan Chuvilyaev, the project’s spokesperson, notes that these notifications are coming from more regions than the three currently piloting digital draft notices. He suggests that the purpose of these notifications is to lure potential conscripts into a draft office. Idite Lesom! emphasizes that such notifications, as well as digital draft notices, have no legal force until the Unified Military Register is launched nationwide. Experts from the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel agree with this assessment.
In Saint Petersburg, conscripts are receiving SMS text messages demanding that they report to the draft office for a data check-up. These messages threaten the recipients with police action if they do not comply. However, these messages have no legal force either.
Additionally, in Saint Petersburg, a roundup of worshippers at a mosque in the municipal town of Krasnoye Selo has been conducted. During the roundup, all men under the age of 35 were detained to force them to sign up for contract military service to participate in the war with Ukraine. The number of detainees was not reported.
The OVD-Info independent human rights project has compiled instructions on what to do if detained during the fall conscription campaign.
The Ministry of Defense has deployed Vitaly Shatalov, a 49-year-old resident of Volgograd who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for murder and attempted cannibalism, to the war. He signed a contract in June 2024 but has been missing in action for approximately two months already. In January 2023, Shatalov, while under the influence of alcohol, had murdered his neighbor by stabbing him more than 40 times.
Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers
The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Ivan Aseyev from the Tula region.
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 71,057 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 9,000 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has been supplemented with 935 soldiers, while the number of mobilized men has decreased by 23. Journalists note a shift in the region with the highest rate of losses. For a long time, the Krasnodar region held the lead, however, in the late spring and early summer, Russia’s constituent Republic of Bashkortostan took the top spot. Additionally, a disproportionately large number of obituaries come from the neighboring Russia’s constituent Republic of Tatarstan.
According to the Lyudi Baikala [People of Baikal] independent media outlet, two battalions of conscripts from the Sverdlovsk region are soon expected to be deployed to the Ukrainian border. Meanwhile, parents are covering all necessary expenses for their sons out of pocket. The minimum amount cited for these purchases is 17,000 rubles [$180], with the maximum around 50,000 rubles [$540]. Relatives believe that appealing to the military prosecutor's office is futile.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
During the war, the number of cases of kidnapping and extortion has risen sharply. Criminal cases related to extortion have increased by 39% since the beginning of 2022, reaching 1,389, according to the Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel, which reviewed statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Over the same period, kidnappings rose by 17%. Meanwhile, crimes committed by organized criminal groups surged by 76%, reaching 16,900 cases in the first five months of this year, compared to the same period in pre-war 2021. The number of robberies, murders, and armed crimes in the border regions increased by 5 to 17 times.
A court in Yekaterinburg sentenced soldier Aleksandr Naumov to five years in a penal colony for the torture of a child. Naumov was also stripped of his rank of sergeant. In June 2023, the body of six-year-old Daler Babiev was found in a garage near the home where Naumov and his wife Veronika, the boy’s foster parents, lived. Veronika had reported the boy missing several days before his body was discovered, but forensic experts determined he had been dead for several months. She allegedly concealed his death to continue receiving social benefits. Investigators claim she first tortured Daler and, in December 2022, assaulted and drowned him in a bathtub. Up until June 2023, Aleksandr Naumov maintained that he had been in the "special military operation" zone and was unaware of what had happened. However, other reports suggest he had returned home on leave during the winter and could not have missed the boy’s disappearance. During the trial, Naumov stated he planned to divorce his wife and claimed he was a suspect due to "false" testimony from the other children. He did not admit guilt. Investigators, citing witness testimony, assert that Naumov was involved in the crimes. He had previously indicated that after sentencing, he intended to return to the frontline by signing a new contract.
Aleksey Patrushev, a former Wagner Group mercenary, is accused of attempted murder and robbery in Chita. According to investigators, in April 2024, a drunken Patrushev attacked a woman, stabbed her several times and attempted to steal her car. The accused denied his guilt, stating that he approached the woman after hearing cries for help. In 2014, Patrushev had already been sentenced to 23 years in a penal colony for double murder, rape and attempted murder. He was recruited into the Wagner Group from the penal colony to participate in the war.
The Southern District Military Court has upheld the sentence of Konstantin Zhurba, a serviceman from Adygea [Russia's constituent republic], who was sentenced to seven years in a maximum security penal colony for going AWOL and desertion. According to the official version, Zhurba failed to report to the temporary deployment point of his unit in the occupied territories of Ukraine and was living in Maykop before surrendering to the police. During the investigation, he was assigned to a military unit but fled from there as well. The court considered his participation in the war, guilty plea and agreement to continue service on the frontline as mitigating factors.
The "Supreme Court of the LPR" has sentenced two Ukrainians, 51-year-old Aleksandr Sokolov and 28-year-old Viktor Soldatko, finding them guilty of espionage. Soldatko was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony. According to the prosecution, in January 2023, he voluntarily collected data on the movements and locations of Russian soldiers in the "LPR" territory. He allegedly transmitted this information to Ukrainian intelligence services via messengers. Sokolov was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony and was also charged with "public calls for extremism."
Law enforcement officers detained a resident of Novosibirsk who allegedly attempted to join the "Freedom of Russia Legion" for money, where he was reportedly offered the task of targeting crowded public places. Authorities said the man was given an official warning that if he did it again, he could face up to eight years in prison.
In Crimea, law enforcement officers detained two men on suspicion of espionage and "working for Ukrainian intelligence services." One of the detainees is said to be a 45-year-old local resident who allegedly provided the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with information on the geographic coordinates of air defense installations in Kerch. The other detainee is reportedly a foreign national who agreed to cooperate with the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine in Sevastopol.
The appellate court upheld the sentence of 21-year-old artist Tatyana Laletina, who is accused of treason and will remain in a penal colony. In July this year, the Tomsk Regional Court sentenced her to nine years in a penal colony. Details of the case against Laletina remain unknown, but according to a friend, she was detained for donating “$30 in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Assistance
The Russian State University for the Humanities will collect monthly funds for the fighters of the Sparta Battalion and provide social, cultural, legal and psychological assistance to the fighters and their families through relevant university departments. In return, Sparta fighters will supply the university with "materials of Ukrainian propaganda." It is noted that the University has already raised 1.3 million rubles [$14,000] for Sparta, most of which was used to purchase UAVs; six drones have already been delivered to the battalion.
Separate rooms have been set upin Vladimir region clinics to provide priority service to war veterans and their family members. Additionally, the regional government has allocated nearly 800,000 rubles [$8,640] for a project to support "veterans" of the war in Ukraine, citing their difficulties in finding employment.
Authorities in the Perm region [Russia’s federal subject] will provide an additional 20.8 million rubles [$224,700] to purchase equipment and medical supplies for war participants.
In the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], authorities will provide free land plots to war participants, their families, and the families of the deceased soldiers on a priority basis. The new support measures will also apply to volunteer fighters of the National Guard Forces.
Children and Educational System
A "police" class has been opened at a school in the village of Bagdarin, Buryatia [Russia's constituent republic]. The curriculum includes children from the age of eight going on excursions to the police station, learning drill training, and listening to police officers during class hours.
Former Wagner Group mercenary Ilya Ponomarev has been appointed head of the United Russia party’s [Putin’s ruling party] youth wing in Kurgan. He fought in Ukraine from October to December 2022, but is now being presented as a volunteer fighter who participated in the "special military operation." He conceals his previous association with the Wagner Group. Meanwhile, war veteran Maksim Krayn held a "lesson of courage" for ninth-grade students at a school in Komi [Russia's constituent republic].
The final of the All-Russian military-patriotic game Zarnitsa 2.0 took place in Volgograd. Two teams of 300 schoolchildren competed in firearms handling, tactical medicine, sapper tasks, and piloting UAVs for 24 hours.
On Teacher's Day, celebrated on Sept. 30, during the "Talking About Important Things" [a compulsory lesson held every Monday in schools across the country], students will be taught about the annexation of the "DPR," "LPR," Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The first "Hero's desk" was opened in a school in the village of Yantal, Ust-Kut district of the Irkutsk region [Russia’s constituent subject]. The desk is dedicated to 11 residents of the village killed in the war with Ukraine. Yantal’s population is around 1,500.
Starting Oct. 1, the schools in Kursk and Kurchatov will switch to a hybrid format of face-to-face and distance learning. Children in nine districts of the Kursk region will continue to study remotely. Meanwhile, in the Belgorod region, school buses will be equipped with electronic warfare systems.
Miscellaneous
Russian authorities will spend at least 11 billion rubles [$119 million] on protecting airports from drone attacks. Anti-drone protection will be installed in 31 major airports by 2028.
The Russian Red Cross has received 5,000 requests to search for missing relatives in the Kursk region. The organization notes that the number of requests does not correspond to the number of missing people, as more than one request can be submitted for a single missing person.
In Chuvashia [Russia’s constituent republic], a local resident Yevgeny Kozlov organized a religious procession in support of the "special military operation," but no one attended.
Longreads
The Okno [Window] independent journalists' website reported on how recently exchanged Russian conscripts from the 488th Motor Rifle Regiment are being forced to sign a contract under threats of criminal prosecution and physical violence.
BBC News Russian explained why former prisoners, who fought in Ukraine, are suing the Ministry of Defense. Court decisions indicate that the ministry did not formalize contracts with the ex-convicts but hired them into Storm-Z units based on their "written consents," enlisted for six months as an assault force with no insurance for death or injury and no status of volunteer fighters. Now, survivors are not issued military IDs, injury certificates, or combat veteran certificates.
The founder of the Idite Lesom! project told Novaya Gazeta Europe [European edition of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta] about what to do if you receive an electronic draft notice, how the Unified Military Register will work, and what legal options there are to avoid joining the military. Watch the new video from the Vyorstka media outlet to learn more about how silent mobilization works, the effects of electronic draft notices, and what you can do to avoid being drafted into the army this fall. Learn about how the silent mobilization is proceeding, the impact of electronic draft notices, and what to do to avoid being drafted into the army this fall from the new video by Vyorstka.
The Kavkaz.Realii [Caucasus.Realities, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] media outlet released material on how residents of Russia's southern regions are suing the MoD after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.