The Interior Ministry department for Russia’s Penza region has commented on reports of mass roundups targeting men in the area. The agency said publications about alleged large-scale raids were untrue, but confirmed that police officers provided assistance in locating men who had obtained Russian citizenship and had not registered for military service.
Reports of large-scale detentions in Penza emerged on June 18. According to the outlet Govorit NeMoskva, military enlistment office staff were accompanied by men in balaclavas. In several parts of the city, security officers stopped cars and public transport, and in the Sputnik residential district they reportedly went door to door.
Journalists described panic among local residents: people warned each other about the locations of the checks and complained that major city public pages were not reporting on the actions of the security forces and enlistment office staff.
That evening, Mediazona published a video filmed near one of Penza’s military enlistment offices showing women trying to pull men away who had allegedly signed contracts under pressure. Regional military commissar Andrei Surkov told a Mediazona reporter that the video was staged.
“If you watched the video carefully, the men who were taken, seated, and sent away are sitting there smiling at this comedy you staged,” Surkov said.
In its statement, the Interior Ministry said such raids are routine and are periodically conducted across the region. The agency also urged media outlets, bloggers, and social media users to rely on trustworthy sources and avoid spreading unverified information.
At the same time, the outlet Agenstvo reported that in recent days at least 18 men in Penza region had been detained and forced to sign military contracts. According to the publication, enlistment office staff were looking for people with loan debts and criminal records. Relatives of the detainees said the men were beaten and told they would be sent to war anyway, either “like convicts” or “voluntarily.” Some of those compelled to sign contracts are reportedly already in Rostov region and Mariupol.