Russia promises inmates freedom if they join the struggle in Ukraine. The fatal bet is being taken by many

Overcrowded prison cells

Inmates are promised freedom and wealth while confined in overcrowded prison cells. Family members and potential acceptees start making panicked phone calls to one another. The detainees then disappear, leaving their families to comb through news accounts of the injured being brought to hospitals.

In Russian prisons, this is a common daily occurrence. After nearly six months of a disastrously executed and brutal invasion of Ukraine, the regular army is stretched thin, and there is rising evidence that the Kremlin is making terrible choices in its ugly war by recruiting Russia's inmates to fight.

Mordovia for the frontlines in Ukraine

In the course of a month-long investigation, different news channels spoke with inmates, family members, and acquaintances of those caught up in Russia's latest recruitment scam. Activists say hundreds, even thousands, of inmates in dozens of jails around Russia have been approached. Some were even removed from the same Russian prison where prominent American prisoner Paul Whelan is being kept. According to a statement released by his brother David in July, eleven volunteers had already left IK17 in Mordovia for the frontlines in Ukraine.

Despite the chance of death

After reviewing dozens of conversation logs between family members, news channels found disturbing details about the allure of fighting in Ukraine despite the significant chance of death. According to recent Western estimates, as many as 75,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since the invasion began (a claim the Kremlin has denied).

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Crimes

A fan perched on top of an old television sought to chill the air between the tightly barred windows as one inmate spoke to media from his squalid jail cell. To detail the terms on offer, the inmate, who has been locked up for several years for drug-related crimes, spoke on the condition of anonymity while using a contraband smartphone, which is common in Russian prisons.

Rostov region of southern Russia

Those who commit murder will be welcomed, but he said, "rapists, pedophiles, radicals, and terrorists will not." In six months, you can receive amnesty or a pardon. Someone mentions a monthly salary of 100,000 rubles, while another mentions 200,000.

The whole world has changed. According to him, the offer was made by unnamed personnel, thought to be from a private military contractor's organisation, who visited the prison in the first half of July, and if accepted, the inmates would receive two weeks of training in the Rostov region of southern Russia. He had served for two years, but he asserted that military experience wasn't required by the recruiters.

The inmate said, "If it's real, then count me in." For me, the difference between being locked up for nine years and being out in six months is substantial. Well, that's if you strike it fortunate. A quick return to the kids is all I care about at this point. If this is an option, then why not take it?

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Incarcerated man

According to the incarcerated man, despite reports of 400 applicants, just 50 inmates were chosen for recruiting and quarantine. Since the beginning of July, activists for prisoners' rights in the Russian prison system have reported receiving numerous calls from throughout the country from worried loved ones wondering what became of their loved ones who were incarcerated.

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Vladimir Osechkin

According to Vladimir Osechkin, the director of the prisoner advocacy group Gulagu.net, "in the last three weeks [in July], there is a very huge wave of this initiative to recruit thousands of Russian prisoners and send them to the war." Osechkin said that some people had a $82,000 (five million ruble) death benefit promised to their families. However, it was possible that this benefit would never be paid out. No assurances are made, and the contract is not binding. 'It's against the law,' he proclaimed.

Osechkin’s claim

Osechkin claimed that, similar to the replies seen by media from certain inmate families, some inmates and their families seemed eager for the recruitment to go ahead.

When the Ukrainian army detects them, they strike first. The Russian troops allegedly find out where the Ukrainians are hiding and then bomb the area. When the Russian troops locate the Ukrainians, they bomb the area.

Yevgeny Prigozhin

Due to concerns that such a strategy would be controversial, the Kremlin has stated that there would be no general mobilisation in Russia. Russia's largest military contractor is Wagner, which operates worldwide and is headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as Putin's chef. According to activists and inmates, Wagner, a private military contractor that is not bound by the Russian military's restriction on employing criminals, is in charge of prison recruitment. An "accountant" phoned the mom and said he'd bring her son's paycheck in cash. Putin denied sending in any conscripts, but they were nonetheless sent.