Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 8-9, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Authorities and Legislation

The federal government has clarified the rules for military personnel’s travel expenses. Service members, including military pensioners and family members, will be entitled to financial compensation if they use a personal car to travel on secondment or leave.

The government is also considering whether to subsidize the rehabilitation of veterans of the war against Ukraine and their relatives in fitness clubs. The National Fitness Association has proposed to amend the law, in order to allow service members, as well as members and their families to undergo rehabilitation in fitness clubs at the expense of the federal government and the Ministry of Defense.

Army Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

Between April and June 2024, authorities paid sign-up bonuses to 92,800 individuals, reports Vazhnyye Istorii [IStories, independent Russian investigative media outlet], based on the federal budget expenditure data. Consequently, the rate of contract soldiers’ recruitment has increased more than sixfold compared to the previous year. 26,700 Russians had enlisted in the first half of 2023, compared to 166,200 in the first half of 2024. Dmitry Medvedev [Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council] claimed that, by July, 190,000 individuals had concluded contracts since the beginning of 2024. Recently, we reported in collaboration with Vazhnyye Istorii that the number of new contract soldiers reported by the Ministry of Defense may be inflated by 1.5 times.

The authorities in Kursk placed an advertisement for contract-based military service featuring an image of a Ukrainian soldier holding a child, accompanied by the slogan "For Ours." The mayor of the city, Igor Kutsak, issued a reprimand to the head of the Committee on Architecture and Urban Planning, Dmitry Kazimirik.

Vladislav Astakhov, the lawyer for Aleksandr Matkheyev—a 26-year-old resident of the Irkutsk region diagnosed with mild intellectual disability and sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony in June for attempting to join the "Freedom of Russia Legion"—has refuted earlier reports that the young man would be sent to war in Ukraine as a cook. According to Astakhov, Matkheyev submitted at least one application to the Ministry of Defense. However, it is not known whether he received an answer, and if so, what it was. The lawyer was not able to confirm that Matkheyev did not sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel provides clarification on whether military personnel can challenge the conclusions of a military medical board and how to do so either through the court system or by appealing to a higher military medical board.

Military personnel from the 56th Airborne Troops Regiment, who were relocated from Crimea to the Kursk region, were reportedly housed in a cemetery. This information was shared by the wife of one of the soldiers in an open chat where relatives of the servicemen communicate. Another woman mentioned that, according to her husband, out of more than 100 soldiers in one of the regiment's companies, only 19 remain; the rest have either been wounded or killed.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

According to the Vot Tak [Like This] media outlet's tally, veterans of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine who have returned home have killed at least 15 people since the beginning of 2024. The youngest victims were a seven-year-old girl from the town of Chusovoy in the Perm region [Russia's federal subject] and an eight-year-old girl from the village of Olginskaya in the Rostov region. Open sources contain information about 33 former servicemen who broke the law between Jan. 1 and Sept. 4, 2024. The total number of criminal acts committed by them is at least 42. A total of 37 individuals, including seven minors, were affected by the actions of the veterans.

A court in Omsk has found Sergey Kozlov, a former Wagner Group mercenary, guilty of the murder of a pregnant young woman. He was sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony and ordered to pay the victim's family 1 million rubles [$11,100]. According to the prosecution, the 36-year-old soldier killed his 18-year-old partner Darya in December 2023.

In Russia's constituent Republic of Khakassia, an Abakan court has sentenced Andrey Ashcheulov, a former Wagner Group mercenary and a criminal group leader, to eight years in a maximum security penal colony for murder. In May 2024, Ashcheulov was detained on suspicion of murdering Anatoly Khokhlov, a 50-year-old father of four from the village of Bolshaya Irba in the Krasnoyarsk region. According to the victim's relatives, Khokhlov was riding by on a bicycle and made a remark about Ashcheulov's parked car when Ashcheulov under the influence of alcohol shot him in the head with a hunting rifle at point-blank range. In 2019, Ashcheulov was sentenced to 18 years in a high security penal colony, from which he was recruited into the Wagner Group and deployed to the frontline. After the conclusion of his service as a mercenary, he was pardoned and returned to the Krasnoyarsk region.

The police in Rostov have not initiated a criminal case regarding the assault on a lawyer representing soldiers from the 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade. The lawyer herself reported this to 161.RU [Rostov-on-Don city online media outlet]. It is worth noting that on the evening of Aug. 16, a man in military uniform attacked the lawyer. The victim believes the attack is connected with her professional activities and the recent publication by the Astra Telegram channel that featured stories from her clients. The decision to initiate a criminal case was supposed to be made by Sept. 6, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs extended the investigation period until late September.

Social media spread information about 23-year-old wanted contract soldier Daniil Sabinin from the Yaroslavl region. The soldier did not return to his unit near Pskov after taking leave due to an injury sustained during the war back in 2022. In February 2023, he was put on a federal wanted list for going AWOL, but it appears he still hasn't been found.

Lieutenant Colonel Artur Zaripov is believed to be AWOL. According to the officer, he is currently undergoing a 60-day recovery course after being injured in the war. However, he has been labeled a deserter by command order, and his pay has been suspended.

In Nizhnevartovsk, a doctor who helped conscripts avoid statutory military service will stand trial. According to investigators, between 2020 and 2023, while working at a city clinic, the man provided the head of the military medical board at the draft office with medical reports based on which conscripts were declared unfit for service in exchange for money. The case materials have been submitted to the court.

The Second Court of Appeals in Saint Petersburg hasrejected the appeal against the sentence of scientist Anatoly Maslov for treason. In May, the 77-year-old physicist was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony (more details). The hearing was held behind closed doors. Last week, the Moscow City Court sentenced 57-year-old Aleksandr Shiplyuk, director of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to 15 years in a penal colony for treason. Shiplyuk called Anatoly Maslov his mentor. According to a BBC tally, over the past six years, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested at least 12 Russian scientists working on hypersonic technologies on charges of treason.

In the city of Donetsk in the Rostov region, FSB officers have detained a local female resident on suspicion of passing information about the location of a Russian temporary base to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). A criminal case on treason has been initiated against her. According to law enforcement officers, in March, the woman passed information that "could have caused damage to one of the critically important military infrastructure facilities" to the SBU. In exchange, she was allegedly promised entry into Ukraine and citizenship.

Elections in Russia

According to the results of the "voting" that concluded in Russia on Sunday, 308 participants in the Ukraine war, nominated by United Russia, secured mandates in elections at various levels. In total, 423 war participants registered as candidates, as tallied by the 7x7—Gorizontalnaya Rossiya [Horizontal Russia] news outlet. Notable winners include Sergey Sechenov in Tomsk, Colonel Yevgeny Chintsov in Nizhny Novgorod, and Yury Novopoltsev in Salekhard, who will be unable to attend sessions as he's returning to the frontline. In the city of Cheboksary, Andrey Shakulov, who spent only 4 months on the frontline with the Kaskad military unit, secured a victory. In the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], Dmitry Aksyonov, commander of the Yugra battalion, won a seat in the regional parliament. In 2022, before his deployment to the frontline, Aksyonov demanded "blood" from his subordinates and urged them to "kill the enemy."

Overall, in most regions, the "elections" were won by incumbent heads or acting officials, the majority of whom represent the United Russia party [Putin's ruling party]. The Vyorstka media outlet summarizes the campaign and explains why the September elections in Russia cannot be considered democratic or their results legitimate.

Children and Educational System

In Russian schools, students have begun studying Iran's economy, the colonization of Africa, and "geopolitics as a science." These changes, introduced by the Ministry of Education to the geography curriculum for grades 5-11, were highlighted by Vazhnyye Istorii.

In Pskov, teachers of the new subject "Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland" will be trained at the training range of the 76th Airborne Assault Division of the Airborne Troops. The training will be held by instructors from the Voin [Warrior] center, who themselves have been trained at the Special Forces University in Chechnya [Russia's constituent republic]. It was previously reported that participants of the war in Ukraine would be involved in the training.

Sergey Golitsyn, a participant in the war against Ukraine, organized a "tour" across Chuvash schools. In the course of its investigation, the Ne Norma [Not a norm] Telegram channel found out that since Feb. 24, 2022, Golitsyn who has two previous convictions and fought as part of the Akhmat unit, has spoken in at least 30 schools in Chuvashia [Russia's constituent republic].

A military training center has been opened at Perm National Research Polytechnic University. Students there will be prepared for military service, mainly in UAV operations.

Longreads

The Sever.Realii [part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] online media outlet tells the story of how relatives of soldiers who went missing or were declared dead without actual confirmation of death, sometimes after waiting for more than two years, are forced to bury empty coffins.