Money, pardon: How Russia is luring prisoners to fight the war in Ukraine

Russia has been reportedly hiring prisoners to fight its war in an attempt to compensate for the acute shortage of personnel fighting in Ukraine.The name of a private agency has come to the fore that has been recruiting these inmates, who face serious charges like murder and loot.

According to the Guardian, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, and the reported head of the Wagner group—a private military company and often described as a network of mercenaries—has been sending these convicted felons to the battlefield.

Though there is no official number available as to how many have been hired, a US official on Monday said that Wagner was trying to recruit more than 1,500 prisoners.

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A video had gone viral last week on Russian social media showing a man closely resembling Prigozhin telling inmates at a prison 500 miles north of Tambov that they would be freed if they served six months with his group.

This isthe first time that the enlistment process had been captured on camera.

The Guardian spoke to several prisoners and close family members of inmates across different penal colonies inRussiawho all gave similar accounts of how Prigozhin was personally conducting recruitment in prisons, and how they are promised freedom and money in exchange for their services.

One of the inmates, Ivan, told the UK daily that around 120 inmates joined the group and were now fighting in Ukraine after a one-week training course.

All the prisoners interviewed said they were promised a presidential pardon after six months and a salary of 100,000 rubles (£1,400) a month.

Last month, Pentagon said that Russia has lost around 80,000 soldiers since its invasion of Ukraine began.

(With inputs from agencies)

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