Wagner Group chief: more than 5,000 convicts in Russian released after serving in mercenary company

Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief and financier of the Wagner Group, has claimed that more than 5,000 convicts were released in Russia after completing their contracts with the private military company.

“The share of people who reoffend within one month is 0.31%. This is 10-20 times lower than the average number before the special military operation,” he noted.

The businessman added that former convicts generally batter “people who openly support the Kyiv regime and oppose the goals set as part of the special military operation”.

Prigozhin is certain that his mercenary group has decreased crime rates in Russia by manyfold and trained former convicts better than various Soviet-era practices focused on children.

In February, reports emerged that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally pardoned Wagner Group convicts to send them to war. Andrey Medvedev, former Wagner commander who fled to Norway, told The Insider that convicts recruited by Prigozhin write pardon pleas prior to being sent off to the frontlines.