Moscow police detain about 200 people in Kitai-Gorod raid, including minors, and hand out call-up notices

The night operation

Police detained about 200 young people in an evening operation in the Kitai-Gorod district of central Moscow, close to the Kremlin, according to the Baza Telegram channel cited by Deutsche Welle. A separate Telegram channel, Ostorozhno Moskva, reported about 300 people taken to police stations, so the two figures stand side by side. The raid took place on the evening of Saturday, 7 November. Relatives of those taken said officers pulled in everyone on the street without explaining why, and the police vehicles drove off towards precinct stations. Baza reported that detainees, including minors, were mostly taken to the Basmanny and Taganskiy district police departments.

What detainees say happened

Several detainees described rough treatment. One 15-year-old said he was grabbed, pressed against a wall and asked to show his backpack, and then seized by the neck and hit, according to the Ostorozhno Novosti service. The same account said a fellow detainee who vomited and collapsed while waiting for parents received no help. A mother whose son was detained told RBC that the boy offered brief resistance and was hit twice in the stomach. Another detained woman said officers used violence against them. Detainees also said police smashed their phones, photographed their passports and faces, and denied them access to a toilet. One man said several people were beaten in a police station toilet after arguing with officers, a claim that rests on his account alone.

Call-up papers and charges

Adults who were detained said officers handed them summonses to military enlistment offices, and some said they were pressed to sign military service contracts. The notices reportedly reached students who hold deferments from conscription. Baza reported that at least 17 detainees received administrative protocols for drinking alcohol in a public place, and other records cite appearing in public while intoxicated and disobeying police orders. Police stations began releasing detainees late on 7 November, according to Deutsche Welle, and parents collected the minors. At the time Ostorozhno Novosti published its report, it was not clear whether all detainees had been let go.

Official line and the wider recruitment drive

The main directorate of the Interior Ministry in Moscow said officers had carried out "preventive measures" to keep public order and stop administrative offences, including drinking alcohol in public places. Russian authorities are seeking to draw young people and students into drone forces, human rights organisations say, and many who sign up end up in assault units where mortality is very high. The independent portal Mediazona counts at least 350 recruits killed since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, although they cannot theoretically serve on Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian and Western sources cited in the reports put Russian casualties at more than 40,000 a month as the defence ministry struggles to replace its losses.