Criminal Russians can exchange their prison sentence for six months of military service in Ukraine or negotiate a reduced sentence. Now the boss and founder of the private Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigoschin (61), is campaigning to send female prisoners to the front as well.
Women could “serve not only as nurses and radio operators, but also in sabotage groups and sniper pairings,” Prigozhin quoted The Moscow Times. The Wagner boss refers to a letter from Vyacheslav Wegner (63), member of parliament for the Russian region of Sverdlovsk. Wegner says he was approached by a group of female convicts from the city of Nizhny Tagil who were willing to serve in a “military special operation”.
“I think they can help our country,” Wegner continues. Prigozhin should therefore consider complying with the woman’s wishes. With his letter, the member of parliament hits open doors with the Wagner boss: he is committed in that direction, says Prigozchin. “There is resistance, but I think we will make it.”
The Wagner mercenaries are the largest private military company in Russia. Chief Prigozhin is a loyal follower of Russian President Vladimir Putin (79). He built up a considerable fortune as a caterer for the Kremlin and for the Russian army. The activity earned him the nickname “Putin’s cook”.
Prisoner rights activist speaks of 35,000 amnesty
Prigozhin caused a stir in prisons as early as September with his recruiting efforts. At that time, a video emerged that allegedly showed him surrounded by inmates at a prison in the city of Yoshkar-Ola. As Russian prison rights activist Olga Romanowa (56) explains in an interview with the US news platform “VOA”, some 35,000 prisoners have already been released early from prison and used by Wagner in Ukraine.
Imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny (46) also reports on Prigozhin’s efforts to recruit prisoners for military service in Ukraine. Prigozhin was recently taken to the prison camp where he is serving his sentence, according to a letter from Navalny published on Twitter. “About 80-90 people have agreed to go to war.” Then there was a second wave of recruitment. “Within 24 hours, murderers and robbers are released with long prison terms,” Navalny criticized the procedure.