Russian police are raiding gyms, sweeping up men for conscription and deportation
Last week, President Vladimir Putin signed an order to call up 160,000 men as part of Russia’s biannual conscription drive. Now, reports are emerging that police across the country are raiding fitness clubs in search of male gymgoers. According to a new report from Current Time, officers quickly divide those detained into Russian citizens and non-citizens. Citizens are then taken to enlistment offices, while non-citizens are often accused of minor offenses or immigration violations and deported. Meduza shares a translation of the outlet’s findings.
On March 30, police stormed a Spirit Fitness gym in southeast Moscow. Days later, they raided another location in the same chain. Witnesses said women were allowed to leave, while men were forced to the ground, separated based on perceived ethnicity or nationality, and asked for their documents. The officers were reportedly focused on one thing: the men’s eligibility for military service.
Spirit Fitness declined to comment. But employees at another gym chain said similar raids now occur regularly. Lawyers in two different regions told reporters that these sweeps are happening at least twice a month in nearly every major city. The pattern is consistent: Russian citizens are taken directly to military enlistment offices, while foreign nationals — many of them labor migrants — are sent to temporary detention centers, pending deportation.
“I was on the treadmill, watching [a show], minding my own business,” one gymgoer told the Telegram channel msk1_news. “Suddenly someone taps my shoulder. I get off the treadmill and see everyone lying face-down on the floor.”
“It wasn’t as rough for us — they didn’t make us lie down,” another man told Current Time. “But they asked every guy for his passport. Some were taken away — it turned out they were Russian citizens. They’d check the passport, flip to the military service page. If it said you were obligated to serve, off you went to the enlistment office — no matter what, just for ‘verification.’”
Many of those taken to enlistment offices were ultimately handed military summons, according to multiple witnesses. “My husband is in court now,” said Anastasia, who lives in a city just outside Moscow.
“They tried to issue him a summons illegally more than two years ago — even though he has an exemption. Now they’ve dragged him into the enlistment office again. I rushed over with documents, but they wouldn’t let him go until the lawyer arrived. They told him he had to show up again on the fifth. Of course he won’t go. He’s taken vacation just to avoid getting grabbed on the way to work. But that’s no solution. We have to figure something out. I’m scared they’ll come banging on our door.”
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Human rights groups say raids like these have taken place over the past month in at least four major Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, and Yekaterinburg. And in late February — well before the spring draft had been announced — armed officers in masks stormed a martial arts gym in Krasnodar. Children training inside were forced to lie on the ground; some were kicked. Parents waiting in the lobby were also forced to the floor. Witnesses believe the officers were looking for migrants.
Activists tracking the fates of detained migrants say many are being offered contracts to join the Russian military. Around a third are deported after refusing.
“These raids happen at least a couple of times a month,” said human rights lawyer Valentina Chupik. “They only detain people who aren’t ethnically Russian. Then they separate citizens from non-citizens. For the non-citizens, they falsify petty hooliganism charges and deport them. Since February 5, that’s all it takes — even if they’ve done nothing wrong. The citizens are taken straight to the enlistment office.”
Another human rights advocate, based in a different region and speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that such raids have become common in what he described as “ethnic gyms” — places popular among migrants and minority communities. In recent weeks, though, law enforcement has broadened its focus. Now, even “mainstream” gyms frequented by ethnic Russians are being targeted in what appears to be a growing effort to replenish the ranks. “Looks like the trend has shifted,” he said. “Now they’re more interested in people they can send to the enlistment office than in those they can deport.”
