Wagner chief says over 5,000 criminals pardoned by Russia after fighting in Ukraine war
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner group.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday (March 25) that over 5,000 former criminals were pardoned after finishing their contracts to fight in the group against Ukraine. In an audio clip posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said, "At present, more than 5,000 people have been released on pardon after completing their contracts with Wagner," the news agency Reuters reported. Prigozhin added that only 0.31 per cent of those pardoned after serving with Wagner go on to commit a crime, a figure he said was 10-20 times less than the standard indicators.
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Wagner, the Russian mercenary group, has played an important role in the Ukraine war after the Russian army suffered a series of humiliating defeats last year. Yevgeny Prigozhin emerged from the shadows and recruited thousands from prisons, offering them freedom for serving in some of the most dangerous battles in Ukraine.
The announcement of criminals being pardoned comes after Prigozhin told Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that the Ukrainian army was planning an imminent offensive aimed at cutting off his Wagner forces from the main body of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
In a letter to Shoigu on Monday, Prigozhin said that the large-scale attack was planned by Ukraine for late March or the start of April. He urged the defence minister to take all necessary measures to prevent Wagner from being "cut off from the main forces of the Russian army, which will lead to negative consequences for the special military operation."
This was the first time that the Wagner chief published such correspondence with Shoigu, whohe frequently criticised over the conduct of the war. Prigozhin also said on Monday that he was providing details of the Ukrainian plan and of his proposal to counter it in an attachment to the letter, Reuters reported.
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In separate comments published on Telegram, Prigozhin also said there was a "high probability" that the Russian city of Belgorod would be one of the targets of the coming Ukrainian offensive.
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