Residents of Bashmakovo, a small settlement in Russia’s Penza region roughly 169 kilometers (about 105 miles) west of the regional capital, have formed a 250-person civilian patrol aimed at protecting local men from forced military recruitment. Cases of coercive recruitment have resurfaced, independent Russian outlet 7x7 reported on Tuesday, July 28, citing Bashmakovo blogger Stanislav Morozov and local sources from the Bashmakovo district.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. According to them, residents in Bashmakovo organized what they called a “people’s patrol” after recruitment teams began seizing men from the streets, forcing them into signing contracts with Russia’s Defense Ministry. Morozov published two videos that appear to show residents intervening to free men from recruiters, while other sources confirmed to 7x7 that similar incidents of forced recruitment have been occurring in the district since at least spring 2026. Beatings and a fatal case reported Locals claimed that, when recruiters occasionally detain minors by mistake, they simply beat them and leave them in the forest. Another local said that her relative, Viktor Balashov, was taken to the military enlistment office serving Penza’s Oktyabrsky and Zheleznodorozhny districts roughly six weeks earlier, where he was beaten and forced to sign a contract, 7x7 reported. According to 7x7, a local animal welfare activist described a separate case involving Sergei Milkin, a resident of the village of Podgornoye. She said local administration employees removed Milkin from his home on March 3, while he was intoxicated, and sent him to the front despite his heart condition. According to a post from his wife, Elena Pavlova, he was killed just 3 weeks later, on March 27.