Mobilization in Russia for Sept. 9-10, 2024 CIT Volunteer Summary

Recruitment and Military Service Advertising

Avito, Russia's largest classified advertisements website, now features job vacancies for contract soldiers to serve in the Kursk region. The ZOV Rodiny [Motherland Calls] account began publishing these at the end of August, seeking to recruit signallers and tank crews, among others. The addresses listed in the ads match those of draft offices in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. Candidates are promised an official contract with the Ministry of Defense, a 275,000 ruble [$3,040] monthly salary and "work in a team of highly qualified specialists." When contacted by the Vyorstka media outlet, the recruiter indicated that they were urgently seeking drivers, UAV operators and military personnel for artillery and repair battalions. Allegedly, the military service contract is concluded for one year "without renewal." At present, all hires are directed to the Kursk region. After the incursion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there, BBC News Russian found on Avito over 30 job vacancies for construction personnel to build fortifications for the "second line of defense" in the Kursk region.

Mechislav Buchinskiy, deputy mayor of Langepas, a town in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region–Yugra [Russia's federal subject], departed for war amid a scandal over an unfinished road that residents had been waiting for 10 years to be built. Buchinsky, who oversaw the road's construction, appears in a photo of contract soldiers leaving for the front published by the town's mayor, Sergey Gorobchenko.

Sergey Trigilyov, the former military commissar for Moscow’s Preobrazhensky district, is also planning to leave for the war. He has recently been charged with three counts of bribery. Although he claims to be innocent, his lawyer indicated that Trigilyov has already undergone a medical examination, passed an interview and concluded a military service contract. Meanwhile, investigators are looking into his involvement in other bribery cases and have found expensive real estate and a large sum of rubles and foreign currency among his property.

The cadets of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School will "practice" as officers at the frontline, as stated in a video presentation of the educational institution. This will be possible for students from the third year onwards.

In Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan [Russia's constituent republic], the workplaces of foreigners and individuals who have recently obtained Russian citizenship were raided by law enforcement officers, which is a regular occurrence. A total of 105 individuals were checked during the raid, four of whom were escorted to a draft office for military registration. Another raid targeting former migrants was conducted at a construction site in Rostov-on-Don, resulting in 13 workers with Russian passports being forced to undergo military registration.

Mobilized Soldiers, Volunteer Fighters and Contract Soldiers

The list of mobilized soldiers killed in the war has been updated to include Roman Chistyakov from the Vladimir region, Pyotr Makarov from the Rostov region and Aleksey Petrushka from the Stavropol region.

In Russia's constituent Republic of Buryatia, the mother of 21-year-old conscript soldier Nikita has managed to bring him back from the Russia-Ukraine border zone. In the summer of 2022, the woman buried another son who was a contract soldier in the 11th Air Assault Brigade. The younger son was conscripted in the spring of 2024. From the military unit in the town of Kyakhta, Buryatia, Nikita was sent to the Amur region, and a month and a half later, he was transferred to the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine. However, due to his mother's efforts, he was transferred back to the military unit in the Amur region.

A serviceman and father of three children is being denied rehabilitation after sustaining injuries and is being sent back to the frontline. Previously, while in a combat zone, Nikolay was involved in a traffic accident with soldiers from the Akhmat unit, resulting in the death of one of them. For this, he was sentenced to one and a half years in a penal colony. However, in March 2024, he signed a contract and returned to the war. In May, he sustained an injury to his left foot, and after being discharged from the hospital, he used crutches and then broke his arm. After Nikolay appealed to the Military Prosecutor's Office, he was withdrawn from the combat zone and referred to a military medical board. Despite this, he is now being sent back to a rear area of the "special military operation."

Soldiers from the 76th Air Assault Division recorded a video in which they complained about their command. The soldiers specifically mentioned that instead of referring them to a medical board, the commanders are sending injured and shell-shocked soldiers back to active combat zones. Some of these soldiers are reportedly unable to move independently.

Sentences, Legal Proceedings and Incidents

Another instance of looting by Russian soldiers was recorded in the village of Glushkovo, Kursk region. According to readers of the Astra Telegram channel, the soldiers allegedly looted a Wildberries [e-commerce retailer] pick-up point. The channel notes that it is not possible to verify the authenticity of the video or the exact time it was filmed. However, this is far from the first report of looting by Russian soldiers within Russian territory (1, 2, 3, 4).

The Mozhem Ob'yasnit [We Can Explain] Telegram channel calculated that the Investigative Committee had uncovered at least five murders of children by participants in the war, with most of the crimes committed in the third year of the full-scale war. The victims were girls aged 4 to 12, killed by servicemen.

Gennady Vinogradov, a former deputy, businessman and gang leader, who was sentenced in 2022 to 15 years in a penal colony on murder charges, was spotted free in the city of Artyomovsky, Sverdlovsk region. Sources in law enforcement confirmed to the E1.RU [Yekaterinburg city online media outlet] journalists that the man had participated in the war with Ukraine and recently returned from the frontline "either on leave or permanently." For almost 30 years, Vinogradov's gang engaged in murders, robberies and arson, benefiting from the patronage of local law enforcement officers. Now, those who testified against Vinogradov in court fear for their lives.

In Adygea [Russia's constituent republic], Sergey Shenshin, a former Wagner Group mercenary who fought near the town of Bakhmut, has been sentenced to 10 and a half years in a maximum security penal colony for armed robbery, dangerous to life and health, and intentional grievous bodily harm that led to death by negligence. When passing the sentence, the court considered Shenshin's "For Courage" medal, "For the Capture of Bakhmut” award and his "painful mental state" as mitigating factors. The court emphasized that Shenshin had previously been convicted. In 2021, he was sentenced to four years in a penal colony for evading administrative supervision, theft, driving under the influence of alcohol and robbery.

A court in Novosibirsk sentenced Private Nikita Kolomoyts to six and a half years in a penal colony for repeated AWOL. In just two and a half years of war, the soldier “skipped” about a year of service.

The Arkhangelsk Garrison Military Court sentenced contract soldier Konstantin R. to six years in a penal colony for four episodes of AWOL. As noted by the Voyennye Advokaty [Military Lawyers] Telegram channel, although judicial practice shows that courts impose punishment of five to six years of penal colony for prolonged AWOL, in this case the repetitiveness of the AWOL led to the imposition of the maximum possible punishment of 10 years of imprisonment.

Igor Panov, a St. Petersburg resident who is suing the Ministry of Defense over the termination of his contract, has been put on a wanted list by his military unit. On Sept. 10, military police came to Panov's home and told him that the unit had put him on the wanted list. The man was not detained, but went to court to file a complaint. Earlier, Panov had been sentenced to two years' probation for AWOL. The young man disagreed with the sentence and filed an appeal. The military unit, in turn, is trying to get the serviceman to serve his sentence in a penal colony.

In the Kemerovo region, four teenagers were detained on suspicion of setting fire to a diesel locomotive. According to law enforcement officers, on the night of July 27, the teenagers intruded on the railroad yard with a flammable liquid and set the locomotive on fire, recording their actions on video. The damage from the fire is estimated at around 4 million rubles [$44,200]. A criminal case for "deliberate destruction or damage to property" has been initiated against the teenagers.

The Saratov Regional Court sentenced Lyudmila Tulskaya to three years in a penal colony for "confidential" cooperation with a foreign state. According to investigators, in the spring, the woman allegedly contacted the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). She discussed the possibility of her relative switching to the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Her relative was in a penal colony and planned to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense to go to war.

Sergey Krasyuk was sentenced to three years in prison for "defamation of the Russian Army" that caused disruptions to work. Krasyuk worked as an engineer in the Raduga Design Bureau, specializing in developing cruise missiles. According to investigators, in the winter of 2024, Krasyuk wrote the phrases "Glory to Ukraine," "Victory will be Ukraine’s," and "Putin is a thief" on the tags attached to keys for storage lockers used for mobile phones. After the inscriptions were discovered, the head of security ordered a full evacuation of the plant's employees. The resulting downtime amounted to 50 minutes and caused 237,000 rubles [$2,620] in damage. This led to his prosecution under a more severe part of the article.

The Primorsky District Court of Arkhangelsk has decided to transfer Yegor Balazeykin to an adult penal colony, since on Aug. 6 he turned 18 years old and, as his support group stated, he wrote a statement requesting the transfer from the juvenile penal colony, where he could have stayed for another year, to an adult one under pressure. Previously, Balazeykin was sentenced to six years in a juvenile penal colony for attempting to set fire to a draft office.

Assistance

In the Magadan region, convicts will be sent to weave camouflage nets because "own resources are insufficient." A regional parliament deputy, Eduard Kozlov, reported that the convicts allegedly expressed such a desire themselves.

The Saint Petersburg government will additionally spend 5.1 billion rubles [$56.30 million] on payments to war participants and their families. In July, the city increased the sign-up bonus for signing a contract to 1.8 million rubles [$20,900]. The amount includes the federal component of 195,000 rubles [$2,270].

Longreads

The Ostorozhno, Novosti [Beware the News] Telegram channel told the story of a man from a small village in Russia's constituent Republic of Tatarstan, who agreed to sign a contract to avoid becoming a criminal case suspect after a street conflict, but never ended up in the army as he was hidden by the village women, who did not want to let him go to war.

The Okno media outlet detailed the story of 308 war participants who won in the recent elections and found out whether they have become the "new elite" allowed into power.