Russian parliament in favour of allowing criminals to fight in Ukraine war

As Russia gives warning signals to Ukraine for a new offensive, the country's parliament is vying to lend its support to bring in convicted criminals to fight in the Ukraine war which has been going on for over a year now, as per Reuters.This comes as Ukraine kicked off its counteroffensive and has claimed that it has captured seven villages from Russian occupancy.

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As per reports, Russia's lower house of parliament may soon carry out a vote on a law Wednesday that will give a green check to the country's defence ministry to be able to sign contracts with suspected/convicted criminals to join the war in Eastern Europe.

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Though initially it was thought that Russia will wipe out Ukraine in a matter of months, it turned out that with the backing of weapons provided by the West and the perseverance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, none of the sides has been able to win the war.

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Russia has been calling the war in Ukraine a special military operation even if many Western nations have condemned the conflict, even calling it a massive human rights violation carried out by Russia.

The dragged-on 15-month war has substantially dealt a heavy blow to Russian forces and the country is now ramping up its efforts to draw in more fighters on the battlefield in what is Europe's largest land war since World War Two.

What is the contract all about?

As per the upcoming changes, the criminals who are to be included will not be the ones on whom the legal system has already taken action. In fact, the contract will be applicable to those who are still under investigation for a crime or whose case has beenheard in a court of law.

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These details about the contract are as per the database of Russia's lower house of the State Duma (Parliament).

Who is barred from signing up?

Though the law will permit criminals to fight on Ukraine's battlefield, the legislation still has put up some bars as to who can be included among these convicted/suspected criminals.

Thoseconvicted of sexual crimes, extremism, treason, or terrorism are not allowed to sign up for the contract.

Once their contract is over or awarded for their combat prowess, these convicted criminals will not have to serveany other liability later.

Not the first time...

It is not the first time that Russia will be recruiting criminals as Wagner mercenary group had permitted to recruit convicts from prisons to fight in Ukraine.However, the group later said that they ceased the recruitment in February.

Those serving not included

According to prison rights activists, the Russian defence ministry has taken over the process of recruitment and was looking to overhaul the procedure. The contract does not cover the recruitment of people who are already serving their sentences. However, the Russian defence ministry has not made any comments yet.

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