Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 4-7, 2025 CIT Volunteer Summary
Army Recruitment
Russian military recruitment increased over the summer after a slowdown in May. The number of new contract soldiers reached nearly 35,000 in August. German economist Janis Kluge based the estimate on his analysis of Russian regional budget data. A new round of increases in regional sign-up bonuses began in June 2025, boosting payments in the Irkutsk, Omsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Tambov, Tver, Vladimir and Krasnoyarsk regions, as well as Sevastopol. According to Kluge’s tally, the average cost to recruit a contract soldier grew from 1.5 million rubles [$18,400] in January 2025 to about 2 million rubles [$24,600] by the end of the summer. That figure will likely climb to 2.5 million rubles [$30,700] by the end of 2025.
As Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet] discovered, ads for contracts with the Ministry of Defense for people with HIV and hepatitis have begun to appear openly on the largest Russian classified advertisements website Avito. Previously, no cases of open recruitment of people with HIV or hepatitis into the Russian Armed Forces were known. Recruiters confirmed that troops are now openly being staffed with volunteers with these diseases. Journalists found at least 30 such listings. Among the open positions are security guards, drivers, UAV operators, and artillerymen. At present, official recruitment of HIV-positive people is taking place only in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. According to a recruiter, a separate battalion for volunteers with this condition was recently opened. In theory, one can also pass the selection with HIV in other cities, but this would require paying a bribe. In addition, Nizhny Novgorod is also running a campaign to recruit volunteers with viral hepatitis (A, B, and C).
Patients with hepatitis are also being accepted on contract in other cities: Ufa, Vologda, Cheboksary, and Voronezh. According to the current order of the MoD, Russians with hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV, are not allowed to sign contracts. Pro-Russian propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova stated that servicemen with these diseases will be formed into separate units to carry out combat tasks in defense. However, she was referring not to the recruitment of new servicemen, but to those who had signed contracts with falsified medical certificates or who became infected already in the army. In August, she also drew attention to the epidemic of HIV and hepatitis C in the Russian army. According to her, servicemen do not receive treatment, and after being diagnosed they remain on the frontline. Voenno-meditsinskiy zhurnal [the Military Medical Journal] and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reported that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the number of HIV cases among Russian soldiers has increased by 2000%.
The Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel spoke with military lawyers who reported that only in 2025 they have received numerous appeals from servicemen with HIV, hepatitis, and other diagnoses who were denied discharge. Often the military medical board downgrades the fitness category, but even after a category "G" [temporarily unfit for military service] or "V" [partially fit for military service] is assigned, a commander does not dismiss the person, and sometimes, on the contrary, sends him to forward positions. Others are kept in units and denied access to treatment. At the same time, as noted by the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel, servicemen with socially significant diseases, including hepatitis and HIV, are not recognized as subjects of military crimes (such as going AWOL or failure to obey orders).
A 30-year-old man who, in early July, under the influence of alcohol, drove his car onto the sidewalk and crashed into a group of teenagers, killing a 15-year-old girl, has avoided punishment by going to war.
In the Saratov region, two former police officers signed contracts with the MoD to avoid criminal prosecution. Their former colleague received a seven-year sentence in a penal colony for kidnapping. According to the investigation, the victim of the kidnapping was 23-year-old Dmitry Metkin from the city of Balakovo, who was a witness in a criminal case against operative Vladislav Udalov. On Sept. 16, 2024, former police officer Vladislav Neboga brought Metkin to the town of Volsk and handed him over to Lieutenant Colonel Valery Panchurin. Panchurin placed the kidnapped man in an empty apartment, confiscated his phone, and locked him in. Metkin was forced to sign a statement confirming his safety. Eventually, Metkin managed to make a call and report the kidnapping, after which he was released. Neboga and Udalov signed contracts with the MoD, and the criminal case against them was suspended. Panchurin did not admit his guilt.
Moscow’s military commissar, Colonel Loktev, asserted that male students enrolled or applying to the city’s universities should no longer proactively visit draft offices or the Unified Military Recruitment Center to confirm their eligibility for a draft deferment. In a letter published by the Idite Lesom! [Flee through the woods/Get lost you all] Telegram channel, Loktev called on university administrators to ensure automatic submission of all student information into the Unified Register of Social Beneficiaries. Additionally, he wrote that students should report to a draft office only when summoned through an official draft notice. As a result, universities have begun to refuse to issue documents that were previously used to confirm a student's deferment status.
Mobilized Soldiers, Contract Soldiers and Conscripts
Based on open sources, Mediazona [independent Russian media outlet] and BBC News Russian, together with volunteers, have verified the names of 128,115 Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, including 13,803 mobilized soldiers. Over the past week, the list has grown by 2,434 soldiers, 228 of whom were mobilized. It is noted that 54% of those killed are volunteer fighters, mobilized soldiers and convicts released from penal colonies for their participation in the war, who were not affiliated with the army prior to the full-scale invasion.
A conscript from Magnitogorsk named Viktor, who in November 2024 was forced by his commanders—along with his fellow soldiers—to sign a contract immediately upon arriving at his unit and sent to the frontline, was killed in July. Prosecutors acknowledged that violations had indeed been found in the unit, but no changes were made. Viktor served for eight months and was never granted leave, his mother said. On July 17, he was killed in combat. According to her, the company commander regularly threatened her son and his comrades and demanded monthly payments from soldiers in exchange for not sending them on assault missions. She has filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office.
Another conscript, Artyom Fedorov, said he was coerced under psychological pressure from an officer into signing a contract with the 35th Engineer-Sapper Regiment. A lieutenant allegedly told him that without signing, "no one would need him" after his statutory military service ended. Fedorov said he now wants to terminate the contract but was told it cannot be done. He has appealed to the authorities to investigate his case and help him terminate the agreement.
In the Khanty-Mansi autonomous Region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], police declared a soldier who had been killed more than a year ago a deserter and circulated a wanted notice for him. According to the Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel, on Sept. 5 police in the city of Yugorsk posted an announcement outside the local police department searching for 28-year-old Vladislav Sh., who was allegedly listed as having gone AWOL. His fellow soldiers told his mother that he had been killed by a direct hit from a UAV, but since his body has not been officially recovered, he is classified as missing in action. Initially, he was declared AWOL, but his mother later succeeded in having his status changed to "missing in action." Similar reports have surfaced of commanders declaring fallen soldiers deserters.
Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents
In the Altai region [Russia’s federal subject], 37-year-old war veteran Viktor Krivoshey (according to Mediazona) has been detained while on military leave on suspicion of raping and murdering 18-year-old Valeria Sukhanova, a student at the Altai Agricultural Technical College. Authorities have confirmed that Krivoshey has a prior criminal record, including four previous convictions.
The number of criminal cases involving Russian military personnel charged under statutes related to illegal arms trafficking has tripled, according to an analysis by the Vyorstka media outlet. Defendants include both recently mobilized soldiers and career servicemen with years of experience. Prior to the full-scale invasion, Russian courts handled between 24 and 41 such cases annually. In 2023-2024, that figure has surpassed 100. Court records indicate that service members have smuggled a wide range of weaponry from the frontlines—including Makarov pistols, Kalashnikov assault rifles, grenades, and grenade launchers—and attempted to sell them for sums ranging from several thousand to several hundred thousand rubles. More than 60% of published verdicts have resulted in suspended sentences or fines. Meanwhile, darknet vendors and forum users report that the war has led to a decline in the overall availability of weapons on Russia’s illegal market, even as prices have risen.
A contract serviceman from a military unit in the Stavropol region has been sentenced to two years in a penal colony for going AWOL. On May 23, 2025, the man did not return to duty, and 19 days later, on June 11, he appeared at the military investigation department. A criminal case was initiated against him. In court, the serviceman pleaded guilty to the charges, but he was still sentenced to a real term of imprisonment.
In the Leningrad region, three men suspected of fraud with regional payments for signing a contract with the MoD have been detained. According to investigators, they "submitted a set of documents containing false information to enlist under a contract" in order to receive a "sign-up bonus from the regional budget." One man received 300,000 rubles [$3,690], and the other two received 200,000 rubles [$2,460] each, but they never went to the war.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) for the Orenburg region has initiated a case on sabotage and attempted sabotage against an employee of the "Krasnoe&Beloe" chain of stores. According to investigators, following instructions from an anonymous telegram channel for a promised reward, the man set fire to a battery cabinet on a railway and collected information to set fire to a cell tower.
A court in the Krasnodar region has ordered the arrest of a 15-year-old boy on terrorism charges. According to investigators, in August 2025 he set fire to transportation infrastructure near the main station and the Kuban stadium in Krasnodar. He was allegedly following instructions from an unidentified Ukrainian intelligence operative who had promised him payment through Telegram.
In Komi, Russia’s constituent republic, police detained a 23-year-old resident of Usinsk for an attempted arson of a cell tower transformer and taking a video of a railway station. He was charged with attempted terrorism and preparing an act of sabotage and was placed in pretrial detention. The FSB said the man had been tasked by a Ukrainian handler on Telegram with disabling the cell tower, but no damage or service disruption occurred. Investigators also alleged that he had filmed the station, its tracks and a transformer with the intention of later setting fire to trains.
Also in the Krasnodar region, a 17-year-old from Slavyansk-on-Kuban was arrested on charges of involvement in a terrorist organization. Prosecutors said that in July 2025 he exchanged messages with an unidentified contact who instructed him to distribute leaflets in Novorossiysk on the night of July 26. The leaflets, according to officials, promoted terrorist ideology and called for violent acts.
In Voronezh, a local resident has been arrested on charges of treason. According to the FSB, he transferred cryptocurrency to a Ukrainian organization "for fighting the political regime in Russia and for purchasing weapons." The man was detained in his apartment courtyard while walking his dog. On camera, he confirmed making the transfer on Oct. 26, 2022. His identity has not been disclosed.
Two Ukrainian citizens, Lina Smirnova and Artyom Matveyev, from the Russian-occupied part of the Luhansk region, were sentenced to 16 and 17 years in a penal colony, respectively, on espionage charges. Prosecutors alleged that from December 2022 to May 2023, Smirnova gathered information on the Russian temporary base in the occupied part of Luhansk region and passed it to the Ukrainian side. Matveyev was likewise accused of collecting information on Russian soldiers in the region and transmitting it in January 2023. Both Smirnova and Matveyev insist they only shared such information in private conversations with relatives.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old pharmacy student Georgy Voronkov was sentenced to 25 years in a penal colony on charges of treason, illegal possession of explosives, public calls for terrorism and justifying terrorism. He was detained in September 2022 after allegedly retrieving components for a homemade explosive device from a hiding place. According to investigators, he planned to carry out two explosions on a gas pipeline in Voronezh under the direction of "a nationalist organization designated as terrorist in Russia," and that he had also posted messages on social media supporting Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate. In his final statement to the court, Voronkov said he partially pleaded guilty but added that he had nothing to repent for.