In Kirov, several enterprises were fined after failing to recruit enough employees on time into a mobilization reserve tasked with guarding factories against possible drone attacks. Verstka drew attention to an appellate ruling in one of these cases that was later removed from public access.
On June 2, justice of the peace court district No. 61 fined the electrical engineering plant Lepse 50,000 rubles under a protocol for failing to comply with a decision by the regional operational headquarters. In late December 2025, the Kirov headquarters added the plant to a list of strategic sites considered especially vulnerable because of the threat of drone strikes. Such facilities were to be protected and defended by employees drawn from a mobilization reserve.
According to the defense, Lepse’s management failed to find the required number of workers in time because outreach among employees proved ineffective. The company later managed to fill the quota.
Mediazona found that at least two more factories in Kirov’s Leninsky district were punished on similar grounds: Selmash and Mayak. Selmash was initially fined 100,000 rubles, while Mayak was fined 50,000 rubles.
An appellate court later reduced Selmash’s fine to 50,000 rubles, while Mayak’s penalty was left unchanged. Selmash’s defense argued that the regional operational headquarters had no authority to set employment quotas and that the plant should not force employees to join the reserve, because this would violate Article 37 of the Constitution on freedom of labor. By the time the appeal was heard, the plant had nevertheless filled its quota of 10 people, which became the basis for reducing the penalty.
Representatives of Mayak, like Lepse’s defense, said they had done everything possible to recruit reservists but were unable to meet the quota within the one-month deadline. The plant also argued that the fine created financial risks and could lead to payment freezes and missed deadlines under the state defense order.