The letter was signed by Konstantin Korsik, vice president of the Federal Notary Chamber, The Sunday Times reported. It states that temporary measures may be applied to citizens to ensure they report to a military commissariat when summoned.

According to the publication, notaries were effectively instructed to take military registration data into account when performing a range of legally significant actions. Men of conscription age may be denied mortgages, the purchase or sale of real estate, and registration as a business owner if they fail to present military registration documents.

The letter cites Article 22 of the federal law "On Military Obligation": male citizens aged 18 to 30 who are on or required to be on military registration and are not in the reserve are subject to conscription for military service.

The Sunday Times reported that the letter was sent to all regional notary chambers in Russia, but the publication was unable to independently confirm its receipt anywhere other than the Kaliningrad region.

Earlier, the human rights organizations School of the Conscript and the Movement of Conscious Objectors reported complaints about notaries in Moscow and the Samara region refusing to issue powers of attorney to conscripts to represent their interests at military commissariats and draft boards. At least three Russians encountered this.

An acquaintance of one of the conscripts said he was required to log into the summons registry and show that he had no summonses. According to him, the conscript was also told that notaries are obliged to notify military commissariats about services provided to men of conscription age.

The mother of an 18-year-old conscript from Samara called the Federal Notary Chamber's hotline. She was told there that no such instructions had been given and was advised to contact the regional chamber. Providing an extract from the summons registry, she said, did not resolve the problem — notaries refused to include powers to deregister from military registration and to represent interests during a medical examination in the power of attorney.

Former St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputy Sergei Gulyaev told The Sunday Times that the letter shows the state is desperately in need of recruits, and that the authorities are imposing restrictions on people's lives to prevent them from leaving the country and to force them to sign up for military service.

Russian authorities officially deny the existence of plans for a new wave of mobilization.