Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that allows the mobilization of people who have committed serious crimes. This was reported by the Ria Novosti news agency, specifying that the measure also affects people with sentences in the course of execution.
Instead, the law excludes those who have been convicted of child sexual abuse, treason, espionage or terrorism. Those convicted of attempted murder of a government official, hijacking of an aircraft and illegal handling of nuclear materials and radioactive substances are also excluded. Putin also announced that Russia has so far mobilized 318,000 people in its armed forces, beyond the target of 300,000 set by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The statement, as Rio Novosti reports, during a flower-laying ceremony at the monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow.
Previously it was illegal to admit to the army people who had suffered a sentence “not canceled or pending” for a crime considered serious “, but a quick correction was enough to change things. To confirm the version is also the Interfax agency, specifying that the ban remains for those who have been found guilty of sexual offenses such as child abuse.
In reality, the modification of the guidelines for enrollment is only the latest step in a process that began months ago. Some will recall the videos of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian oligarch chief of the Wagner private militia and known as “Putin’s cook”, addressing the crowd of inmates in the courtyard of a prison promising them discounts if they agreed to serve in the war. The choice of a recruiting campaign had already been opened in August as reported by gulagu.net and as also reported by the Kyiv intelligence.
Putin unleashes Prigozhin: he enlists inmates to fight in Ukraine in exchange for amnesty
Recruitment campaigns took place in the penal colonies of numerous Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, Tver, Ryazan and Smolensk, Rostov, Voronezh and Lipetsk. For example, in the Republic of Adygea in southern Russia, 300 prisoners have agreed to join Russian forces in Ukraine. Also according to gulagu.net, the gathering of the recruits would have taken place in a military training camp near the village of Molkino, in the territory of Krasnodar, usually used by the Wagner Group.
The prisoners, however, are not the same as their “free” comrades. Once transferred to the front, they will receive an identification code that will indicate their status. Gulagu.net has announced that it has this information as it has been contacted by prisoners who have received the offer of enlistment, as well as by their relatives. The report points out that, in addition to the pardon after 6 months of service, the contract provides for compensation to families in the event of death during the conflict. This measure is actually for all Russian soldiers, but there are many reports of families of the fallen in Central Asia who have not been compensated even a cent by the Moscow government. The reason is very simple: the Russian military commands at the front do not register the deaths of all their soldiers, and this serves the Kremlin to literally limit the losses to the population at home.
The connection of the recruiting operations to the Wagner group is not only well founded, but it has also been admitted by its boss the oligarch Prigozhin who has published an online post in which he seems to admit the accusations that his private military company has changed his standard and recruited Russian inmates suffering from serious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis C: It seems strange considering that the militias composed of mercenaries usually rely on highly specialized units in the use of weapons, strategies and combat means. What is lacking in Russia now, however, is quantity. Such a long war has occupied the army of conscripts so much that the private and manless militias will not be able to continue the offensive for much longer.
The intelligence of the British Ministry of Defense writes on Twitter in its daily report on the situation in Ukraine.
Prigozhin, very close to President Vladimir Putin, recently discussed plans to create a 200-kilometer long defensive “Wagner Line” in eastern Ukraine. This feat requires a large workforce, British intelligence notes