Russia Introduces New Wartime Civil Defense Rules as War Casualties Approach 1.4 Million

Russia’s National Guard, Rosgvardia, has proposed updating its civil defense protocols to include preparations for threats during mobilization, martial law, and wartime for the first time, amending a 2018 order to align with a 2025 law.

The draft regulation comes as Western intelligence and defense assessments estimate Russian casualties in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine have reached around 1.4 million killed and wounded by mid-year, amid reports of possible autumn mobilization efforts that rumors suggest could involve up to 1.2 million people, as reported by The Moscow Times on July 21.

The draft document, published on Russia's official portal for normative acts and highlighted by the investigative outlet Agentstvo, updates regulations that govern civil defense across Rosgvardia forces. Under existing rules, the agency plans in advance to protect its personnel, civilian staff, workers at affiliated entities, family members, and property.

The new amendments explicitly add protections "from dangers arising during mobilization, under martial law, and in wartime." Rosgvardia is also expanding its operational tasks in civil defense.

An explanatory note states that these updates are required to align agency rules with national civil defense legislation updated in 2025. That updated law redefined civil defense as a system to protect the population from dangers during mobilization, martial law, and wartime, replacing older phrasing focused on emergency situations or military actions.

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The procedural update follows warnings issued in February by the US-based Institute for the Study of War, which noted that contract recruitment rates were failing to cover front-line losses.

Over the summer, pro-war Russian social media channels circulated rumors alleging an October mobilization targeting up to 1.2 million personnel. Human rights advocates state that more Russian men are receiving mobilization notices when attending military enlistment offices for routine record updates.

Previously, the Kremlin had issued strict regional directives to increase the enrollment of contract soldiers, prompting local authorities who failed to meet their assigned quotas to intensify the operations of military enlistment offices and security services.

Those most affected included individuals with significant debts listed in enforcement databases and former prisoners under administrative supervision, who were being detained on a large scale and coerced into signing contracts with the Russian armed forces.

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