Russian Mobilization Database Presentation Leaked Online
11 November, 2024 Slide from the presentation. Photo credits: Meduza A presentation of a potential new database for mobilizing Russian citizens was leaked to the public, according to the Russian media outlet Meduza.
The presentation was reportedly created in a pirated version of Microsoft Office by a user named "GVC-2," which matches the abbreviation for the Main Computing Center of the Russian Armed Forces, under the General Staff. One of Meduza's readers shared a link to the presentation, which was posted on a public platform for online PPT file viewing. After examining the document, journalists suggested it likely contains screenshots of a new database designed to collect information on Russians eligible for mobilization.
However, Meduza notes that there is no definitive proof of the presentation's authenticity.
Slide from the presentation. Photo credits: Meduza
According to the metadata, work on the presentation began on the morning of Thursday, May 30, 2024. And it ended on Tuesday, June 4, in the afternoon.
And on the same day, in late afternoon, the document was published online. The website where the reader found the materials enables viewing PowerPoint presentations even without an office suite installed. Meduza reports that Russian military personnel have complained over the lack of such software and the restrictions on installing it due to security protocols.
The "GVC-2" is a prototype of the interface of a certain "Citizen Information Card." Apparently, this is an independent database or part of an updated database with information about all Russians who can be potentially mobilized. According to the media, in the fall of 2022, soon after Russia began its "partial" mobilization, military enlistment offices encountered major challenges in tracking the records of those eligible for military service, often due to outdated information. To address this, the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate suggested granting these offices access to databases from the Civil Registry Office, the Vybory State Automated System, and the Federal Tax Service.
Vladimir Putin ordered the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Federal Tax Service, with the participation of the Ministry of Defense, to create a single resource with information on persons liable for military service in 2024. In fact, the new database contains all the information that should be in the state information system "Unified Register of Information on Citizens Subject to Initial Military Registration, Citizens on Military Registration, and Citizens Not on Military Registration but Obliged to be on Military Registration". At the same time, in September 2024, a register of electronic summonses for citizens was launched in Russia in a test mode.
Statistics data.
Photo credits: Meduza
The slide titled "Organizational Mobilizational Department Statistics" stands out, as it may have inadvertently disclosed an estimate of Russia's mobilization reserve due to its public availability. It contains data on the number of persons liable for military service registered with the organizational and mobilization departments of the headquarters of all five military districts of the Russian Federation:
- 13218679 people in the Central Military District;
- 9167697 - in the Moscow Military District;
- 5436221 - in the Southern Military District;
- 3147578 - in the Leningrad Military District;
- 1955281 - in the Eastern Military District.
The total figure shown is around 33 million people. However, it remains unclear if this data is accurate or merely illustrative.
If authentic, its relevance is uncertain, given that in September 2022, Russia's then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had estimated the mobilization reserve at 25 million.