A law passed at the end of March allows suspects to escape conviction if they choose to go fight on the front lines in Ukraine.
One could only guess at Oleg Orlov's surprise when the prison administration handed him the following deal in mid-March, a few days after his conviction for "discrediting" the military: Instead of serving his two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, he could join the army to fight on the Ukrainian front. Neither the age (70) of the human rights advocate and co-founder of the famous NGO Memorial, which was dissolved in December 2021, nor his status as a fierce opponent of the war discouraged recruiters. The official Russian press claimed the procedure was perfectly regular and that the contract was offered to each detainee.

The decline of the Wagner mercenary group, which made a specialty of prison recruitment, has not eradicated the practice. Even before the death of its founder and leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in August 2023, this method had been taken on by the defense ministry. Since then, prison recruitment has been established through a number of regulatory texts.

The law also sets in stone a practice observed for several months in the field: There is no longer any question of a presidential pardon obtained after six months' service, but of a "conditional early release" endorsed by a judge, which can only be translated into a definitive release at the end of the war. On this point, the detainees are now on an equal footing with civilians called up in September 2022, to whom no prospect of return has been offered.

Only prisoners who have been awarded a medal, or whose wounds prevent them from continuing their service, can hope to return home. Experts say the practice is open to corruption, pointing to a vague wording of the law: nowhere is it specified that the criminal must go to the front, but only that he must sign a contract. So those with the right connections can stay behind.

Several civil servants, local councilors and entrepreneurs accused of corruption have already said they want to "redeem their guilt with blood," as Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov put it in November 2023. The husband of a famous blogger accused of tax fraud, Elena Blinovskaya, announced his commitment to "rehabilitate" his wife and obtain leniency from the judges. It turned out that he had joined one of these VIP units and was assembling drones.

Rapists and murderers welcome

Russia's use of prisoners to feed war machine is widespread

Russia's use of prisoners to support its war effort in Ukraine has become widespread, with the practice continuing even after the death of Wagner Group's founder in August 2023. The defense ministry has taken over prison recruitment, offering contracts to inmates, including those convicted for 'discrediting' the military. The law passed in late March 2024 allows suspects to avoid conviction if they fight on the front lines. This practice is open to corruption, with some prisoners potentially staying behind due to connections.