like Wagner, the Russian Ministry of Defense recruits widely in prison to supply the front line

A taboo has fallen in Russia. The Duma and the Council of the Federation have in turn adopted two texts on the sending of prisoners to the front, Wednesday, June 21. They offer detainees the possibility of signing a contract with the Ministry of Defence, with the hope of being pardoned at the end of their mission. The entire prison population is concerned, with the exception of those convicted of terrorism, rape, extremism, treason and espionage.

The provision, in fact, regulates a practice that has already been in effect for several months. So far, detainees mobilized to go to Ukraine have benefited from a presidential pardon, in complete discretion – which Vladimir Putin confirmed in person, according to comments quoted by the Russian agency Tass.

Recruiting in prison was previously the prerogative of the Wagner group, which enlisted 50,000 detainees between July 2022 and February 2023, according to the NGO Russia Behind Bars. These unskilled men were often sent to Bakhmout, in the front line, for “reconnaissances by fire” in small groups. A servile workforce threatened with death in the event of a rebellion. The leader of Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, had declared the end of this recruitment campaign on February 9, without giving reasons for his decision. Several independent media then highlighted recruitment difficulties, due to unfavorable word-of-mouth.

A criminal record like new

The regular army is no exception. She is behind a second wave of recruitment, which began in February. The mission was entrusted to the staff of the Federal Penitentiary Service, which identifies the volunteers and investigates the cases. This campaign dangled detainees with a six-month contract at 200,000 rubles a month (2,200 euros), with an optional year, and, above all, a waiver of sentence and a criminal record as good as new. Five million rubles (55,000 euros) are also provided for relatives in the event of death.

Until “two or three Ilyushin II-76 aircraft arrived at Rostov-on-Don airport every day”, according to Vladimir Ossetchkine, director of the NGO Gulagu.net, which specializes in the prison system. The detainees were then transferred to the occupied regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. In total, the Ministry of Defense has already recruited around 15,000 prisoners, according to Russia Behind Bars. Most in April, according to the director general of the NGO, Olga Romanova: “It seems they were all volunteers. They really want to go to war.” Since the integration of these fighters was not easy, the recruitment rate fell sharply in May, “because the officers are not able to deal with all these prisoners”.

“Preference was given to those who had committed violent crimes and were not afraid of blood.”

Olga Romanova, director of the NGO Russia Behind Bars

at franceinfo

These men, often repeat offenders, are not “unprepared for civilian or military life”, summarizes Olga Romanova. They are therefore mainly integrated into volunteer battalions with their own rules, on the model of the Wagner group. Russia Behind Bars regularly publishes portraits of these men, when they are captured by Ukraine. Example with Andreï N., convicted in 2021 for concealment of counterfeit banknotes and recruited in April, then integrated into the “Veteran” militia.

“Storm-Z” units are officially attached to the 71st Motorized Rifle Regiment. Sent to the front line, they are almost exclusively made up of fighters from the prison system. Living conditions are spartan, with camps set up in the forest and makeshift shelters, as evidenced by a video seen by franceinfo. “In any case, their life is not important in the eyes of the Kremlinobserves Vladimir Ossetchkine, and at the same time it saves the lives of more experienced soldiers.”

The Ministry of Defense takes over

“Representatives of the ministry offered us to atone for our crimes by defending the fatherland, on the front line”explained the deputy commander “Tambov”, at the beginning of May, in a report byArguments & Factsa propaganda publication. “Wagner also came, but I preferred a ministry contract.” The independent media Verstka then discovered that this man, whose real name is Pavel Alekhin, had been sentenced to 26 years in prison for the murder of a nonagenarian in January 2022, and for rape in 2009.

In order to reassure public opinion, Evguéni Prigojine and Vladimir Putin have in turn asserted that these former prisoners, returning from the front, had lower recidivism rates than the others. In the short term, Olga Romanova fears the release “of people suffering from a prison psychotraumatic syndrome, coupled with a post-traumatic syndrome linked to the war”. She also denounces a form of “legal nihilism” in the indulgence granted to mercenarism, which is prohibited in Russia. “Judges, prosecutors and the police know full well the value of these new ‘heroes’. Their decisions and investigations are reduced to dust.”

The formalization of the recruitment of detainees was voted when the battalions of volunteers received the obligation to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, by July 1, in order to supervise their activities. The Russian government “takes the initiative, which is logical. A private army is not intended to take precedence over the regular army”estimates Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev to franceinfo. “What is certain is that [cette loi] very suitable for Vladimir Putin, because it encourages competition and maintains a certain balance” between Evguéni Prigojine and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Moscow also sees an economic and political interest in it.

“Involving prisoners in the fighting avoids decreeing a new mobilization and makes it possible to spare employees in sectors deemed vital for the state.”

Konstantin Kalachev, Russian political analyst

at franceinfo

The ban on mobilizing detainees had already been canceled for certain serious crimes in the fall, but the new text opens up completely different recruitment prospects. As of January 1, the Federal Penitentiary Service counted more than 430,000 prisoners in the country. It remains to be seen how many will agree to take up arms, especially since the new law provides that these new contracts will be valid throughout the mobilization, and no longer for six months only. As several observers have pointed out, the next inmates recruited will now have to wait until the end of the “special operation”, win a reward in combat or be injured.

The prison movement “Thieves in the law”, which brings together Russian criminal figures who are systematically hostile to the state, has circulated a letter to denounce these recruitment campaigns. “This war is not ours”mentions a handwritten note obtained by Vladimir Ossetchkine, and shared on Gulagu.net. “I published it to help inmates stay in prison, he concludes, because I understand that a new recruitment will soon be in preparation.”