The relatives of inmates who serve time in the regions of Ryazan and Stavropol have told IStrories* that Russia’s Defence Ministry recruits convicts for Ukraine War.
Representatives of the ministry have visited two penitentiaries in the regions of Ryazan and Stavropol several times in September. Both facilities imprison former law enforcers; they were offered to sign 6-months contracts to join a military unit that would be sent to Ukraine in exchange for money and potential free pardon.
“Some men from the Defence Ministry visited the Stavropol penitentiary on 27 September. My brother told me earlier that the prison’s administration was making ‘preliminary lists’ of people interested prior to this. Then some servicemen arrived, and they looked like generals, but only convicts who were on such a list were invited. The generals did not introduce themselves, one of them simply said ‘you may call me Andrey,’ without telling anyone his position or rank,” says a relative of one of the convicts.
The first group of recruited inmates left the Stavropol penitentiary on 11 October. Gulagu.net also confirms that convicts are being recruited. The media outlet also reported on 4 October that MoD representatives had visited another penitentiary for former law enforcers in Nizhny Novgorod, citing an anonymous source.
“Men from the Defence Ministry came to visit us. They gathered us in a hall and recruited us to go to Ukraine.
They said that those who would refuse to sign a contract will instead be recruited by Prigozhin’s men, calling this option ‘a one-way ticket.’
The MoD guys also said they were forming a unit called Storm for convicts, offering the same conditions as PMC Wagner (a salary and free pardon). The only difference, they say, is that joining them has a better chance of survival as they do not use such units in leading echelons. There were three of them: a general, a military attorney, and a man from the FSB. Dmitry Dotsenko, the prison warden, was also there, he said that they had a quota of 300 convicts. If there are no volunteers, he says, inmates will be sent to war by enforcement, objectors will be sent to solitary confinement for the rest of their term or be subject to other punishments,” the source says.
There are at least two units referred to as Storm in the Russian military, IStories say. One of them is an assault battalion formed in the so-called ‘LPR’ in July 2022 “for more effective assault action in residential and industrial areas. The second one is a joint detachment of volunteers from North Ossetia.
A video in which a man resembling the alleged head of Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, recruits prisoners of a Russian penal colony for the war in Ukraine, appeared online in September. Mediazona also reported Prigozhin recruiting convicts in early August. Over 1,000 inmates were recruited by PMC Wagner as of early August, Verstka reports.
*The Russian government considers Verstka an “undesirable” organisation. Reposting this news article in Russia may lead to a fine. A repeat offence could result in criminal charges.
