Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

A bill introduced in the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] could expand the rights of adult children to receive a one-time payment of 5.16 million rubles [$63,100] following a parent’s death during military service. Currently, the law entitles the deceased's spouse, parents, grandparents who served as guardians for at least three years, minor children, children with disabilities and students up to 23 years old to receive the payment. The legislation proposes that in the absence of these family members, adult children would become eligible for the benefit. They do not currently possess this right, an exclusion that has often led to payment denials even though they are the nearest relatives.

Fall Conscription Campaign

Several Russian regions have announced their plans for the fall regular conscription campaign.

• The Moscow Military District's draft offices intend to send over 30,000 individuals to the armed forces.
• Authorities will conscript 12,000 young men from the territories within the Leningrad Military District, with approximately 3,000 of them coming from Saint Petersburg.
• The Yaroslavl region plans to draft more than 950 people, and the local draft office noted that it will issue both digital and paper draft notices to residents.
• In the Rostov region, officials expect to draft just over 4,000 young men during the fall campaign.
• The Krasnoyarsk region plans to conscript 4,000 individuals and will also use paper draft notices in addition to digital notifications sent through the Gosuslugi public services portal.

The campaign aims to conscript 135,000 men across the country, with deployments to military units scheduled to begin on Oct. 15.

In Yekaterinburg, massive queues have formed at the city’s draft offices. Most of the young people have brought certificates of enrollment and want to undergo a medical evaluation or register for military service. They fear they will receive draft notices before notifying the draft office of their right to a deferment.

Army Recruitment

Authorities in the Voronezh region have sharply increased the payment offered for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense to be sent to the war in Ukraine. Governor Aleksandr Gusev raised the amount from 505,000 rubles [$6,180] to 2.1 million rubles [$25,700]. Including national payments, the total sum now reaches 2.5 million rubles [$30,600]. Gusev noted that "this level of payment is planned only up to the end of 2025." The regional payout was last increased in May 2024.

In Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic] the payment of 1 million rubles [$12,200] for signing a contract has been extended until Oct. 31 by a decree signed by the republic’s governor Radiy Khabirov. Previously, the amount was set to expire on Sept. 30. From January to June, the republic paid 1.6 million rubles [$19,600] for contract signing, but the authorities later reduced the payment.

Politician Boris Nadezhdin posted a photo taken at a contract recruitment point in the city of Dolgoprudny in the Moscow region. A poster displayed above the door promises payments starting from 6 million rubles [$73,400].

In the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject], during a meeting with entrepreneurs, officials demanded that businesses "assist" with recruitment for the frontline. Employers were instructed either to encourage their employees to sign contracts or to contribute funds to a specially established foundation for recruiting men from other regions.

In the Ulyanovsk region, of the 36 people prosecuted for drug trafficking since the beginning of the year, two-thirds were released from criminal liability after signing contracts with the MoD and being sent to the war.

Chingis Tsyrenzhapov, head of the Yeravninsky district in Buryatia [Russia’s constituent republic], announced that, amid a criminal case against him for abuse of office related to school construction embezzlement, he is going to fight in Ukraine. According to investigators, Tsyrenzhapov and his deputy awarded a contract to an acquaintance with no experience or resources, who received more than 470 million rubles [$5.75 million] in 2022. However, the contractor’s work was so poor that by 2024 the building had to be completely demolished. The abuse-of-office investigation was completed in the summer of 2025.

Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts

On Sept. 19, a 32-year-old mobilized soldier from the 36th Motorized Rifle Brigade was found hanged in the armory of a military unit in the town of Borzya, Zabaykalsky region [Russia's federal subject]. Law enforcement officers claim he committed suicide after slitting his wrists. However, his family suspects murder, pointing to bruises on his head, broken lips and nose, and hematomas on his body, which may indicate beatings. Twenty minutes before his body was discovered, the soldier, while under the influence of alcohol, called his wife and said he was being transferred to a reinforced regime facility, without explaining why. The man was mobilized in October 2022, fought near Vuhledar in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, was captured in February 2023 and returned after a year through a prisoner-of-war exchange, after which he continued his service. In Borzya, he was undergoing a medical evaluation for discharge due to health reasons. His family rules out suicide.

Russia and Ukraine conducted a POW [prisoner of war] exchange, with 185 military personnel and 20 civilians returning to Russia, and 185 Ukrainian military personnel and 20 civilians returning to Ukraine. Among those returned to Russia was mobilized soldier Yevgeny Kovtkov, the civil partner of Irina Krynina, a coordinator of the Ukrainian project Nash Vykhod [Our Way Out], which provides information assistance to relatives of Russian soldiers held captive. Two years ago, Krynina traveled to Ukraine to bring her husband back to Russia, but he refused to leave.

Aleksey Lavrov, a 35-year-old war participant elected as a member of the United Russia party [Putin’s ruling party] in the Primorsky region, has been detained and is set to be redeployed to the frontline. Following the September elections, Lavrov won a seat in the Terney district Duma [regional legislative body]. However, according to his wife, the command of Lavrov's military unit is refusing to discharge him despite his new status as an elected member of the United Russia party and his family situation: his wife suffers from a spinal fracture, and they have two young children.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Yevgeny Lyubichev, a 22-year-old war veteran from Teploozyorsk in the Jewish autonomous region, is suspected of the rape of a girl born in 2012. The crime occurred in August, when Lyubichev raped the teenage girl in a vehicle. It is known that prior to his deployment to the war, he had been twice convicted of theft, and most recently, in 2023, he was also charged with repeatedly having sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years of age, and likely avoided punishment by going to the war in Ukraine. Lyubichev's detention has not been reported, although in March of this year he was placed on a wanted list.

A court in Saint Petersburg has begun reviewing the criminal case of serviceman Maksim Vorobyov, accused of desertion involving robbery, murder for financial gain and attempted murder, robbery involving grievous bodily harm, as well as theft. The 26-year-old native of Medvezhyegorsk in Karelia had previous convictions and signed a contract in June 2024. On Aug. 5, 2024, Vorobyov went AWOL and traveled to Saint Petersburg. According to investigators, on Oct. 2, he committed several thefts in grocery stores totaling more than 57,000 rubles [$700]. Vorobyov was detained on Nov. 13, 2024.

The Kursk Garrison Military Court has begun reviewing the criminal case of serviceman Ramazan Gadzhimuradov, who on Feb. 7, 2025, in Belgorod caused an accident involving an ambulance that killed two paramedics. The serviceman, while intoxicated, ran a red light at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour and rammed into the ambulance. He was detained in April upon his discharge from the hospital. Gadzhimuradov faces charges for violating traffic rules resulting in the death of two or more persons, committed while intoxicated by a person without or deprived of the right to operate motor vehicles.

The Dalnerechensk District Court of the Primorsky region [Russia's federal subject] dismissed a criminal case on large-scale drug possession that had been opened against war participant Aleksandr Aksyonov. The case was submitted to the court in October 2024, after which the defendant signed a contract with the MoD—at that point the criminal proceedings were suspended. Later, the unit commander petitioned the court to have his subordinate cleared of charges, since he had been awarded the Medal "For Bravery," second grade. The court agreed.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced 33-year-old Azov Brigade serviceman Dmytro Remez to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of participating in a terrorist organization and receiving training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activity. Until 2017, Remez had served as a police officer in the Zaporizhzhia region, where he was born. Since July 2023, he has been held in Russian captivity.

In Saransk, another captured Azov Brigade fighter, 26-year-old Andriy Ostapchuk, was sentenced to 17 years in a penal colony on charges of participating in a terrorist organization and undergoing training in terrorism.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced 40-year-old Kyiv businessman Oleksander Hladchenko to 17 years in a maximum security penal colony on charges of financing and aiding terrorism. Ukrainian registries show Hladchenko once owned and managed several construction companies but was dismissed from one position in spring 2025 after being mobilized into Ukraine’s armed forces. He has been on trial in Russia since July. The exact charges remain unclear.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced mass detentions in 75 regions and occupied Ukrainian territories, citing the spread of "neo-Nazi and terrorist ideas" on Telegram. Authorities said they searched 325 administrators and users of "destructive resources," detaining more than 50 people including minors. Those arrested included at least six teenagers from Bashkortostan as well as the Chelyabinsk, Orenburg and Bryansk regions. The charges range from alleged plans to burn a railway relay cabinet to posting a video deemed terrorist propaganda. In Orenburg, a 15-year-old was accused of joining a banned group and preparing arson attacks. The FSB further claimed that five Russians were plotting mass killings in Krasnoyarsk, Oryol, Donetsk and Mariupol. Charges include preparing terrorist acts, belonging to a terrorist organization, illegal possession of explosives and public calls for terrorism and extremism. Authorities said more than 250 people were released after "preventive measures," while investigators are still considering cases against another 58.

The FSB detained two residents of the occupied Kherson region on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-appointed "governor" of the Kherson region, claims the detainees joined an unnamed military formation in Ukraine in August of last year. A criminal case has been opened against them on charges of undergoing training to commit terrorist acts. Saldo did not disclose further details or the names of the suspects.

The Moscow Regional Court sentenced 49-year-old Ukrainian citizen Tetyana Omelchenko to 12 years in a penal colony on charges of treason. According to prosecutors, between 2023 and 2024, she made 16 money transfers totaling 6,600 Ukrainian hryvnia [$180] to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Omelchenko had been living in Kyiv in recent years and obtained a Russian passport in 2021, regularly visiting family in Russia. She was detained at Sheremetyevo airport in September 2024 after border control officers discovered the transfers in her banking app. She pleaded guilty, saying she viewed the donations as charitable support amid her husband’s illness and the constant air raid alerts in Kyiv.

The Supreme Court reduced the sentence of Oksana Gladkikh, a Ukrainian native previously convicted in Russian-occupied Melitopol, from 14 to 13 years in a penal colony for treason. According to investigators, Gladkikh "passed information to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate about the locations of personnel and equipment, as well as the coordinates of engineering and fortification barriers and defensive structures intended to secure transportation infrastructure." Gladkikh herself has maintained that the case was fabricated after a photograph was found on her phone. She also told the court that she suffers from health issues; the hearing was held behind closed doors. Gladkikh is the mother of four children, three of whom are minors.

According to the independent human rights project OVD-Info, two women remain in custody in a pre-trial detention center in Sochi after being detained upon returning from trips to Turkey and subjected to what activists described as "carousel arrests." Elizaveta Ostroukhova, who arrived from Istanbul on July 17, was told by an FSB officer that she had "shown a certain interest in and taken steps toward joining the ranks of the AFU." She was immediately detained and placed in custody on charges of disobeying a police officer, a detention that has since been extended eight times. Her son suspects she may have fallen victim to false flag attacks orchestrated by the FSB, after unknowingly communicating with a fake account online. On Aug. 21, another woman, Viktoria, was detained in Sochi after returning from Istanbul. According to her son, authorities cited unspecified donations as the reason. Since then, she too has been held in the detention center: every 15 days she is briefly released, only to be immediately issued a new charge of disobeying a police officer and taken back into custody.

According to the independent human rights project OVD-Info, two women remain in pre-trial detention in Sochi after being subjected to what activists described as "carousel arrests" upon returning from Turkey. Elizaveta Ostroukhova, detained on July 17 after arriving from Istanbul, was accused by the FSB of seeking to join the AFU. She has since been held on repeated charges of disobeying a police officer, with her detention extended eight times. Her son suspects she may have fallen victim to an FSB false flag operation after unknowingly communicating with a fake account online. On August 21, another woman, Viktoria, was detained in Sochi after returning from Istanbul, reportedly over unspecified donations. She has since faced the same cycle of 15-day detentions and immediate re-arrests.

Miscellaneous

In Surgut, the family of 19-year-old Nikita Novikov, who was killed in the war with Ukraine in June 2022, launched the cosmetics brand NikitA in his memory. His relatives, who own the New Face clinic, produce shampoos and skincare products for the face and body. Previously, they made gift sets for the wives and mothers of killed soldiers. The collection’s description includes a monologue written from the perspective of Novikov. His mother stated that the brand should "preserve memory and remind people of the war." The brand’s website also states that it is "dedicated to all the soldiers killed in the special military operation."

Longreads

Meduza [international Russian-language online media outlet] spoke with three conscripts who applied for alternative civilian service but ultimately faced criminal prosecution.

Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] published an article explaining why the current regular conscription campaign is the most dangerous and why it has become more difficult to avoid.