Russian prisoners who agreed to fight against Ukraine will serve until the end of the war. Instead of a pardon from Putin, they receive a conditional release, according to an investigation by the Russian BBC.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of PMC Wagner, began recruiting prisoners from Russian colonies in the summer of 2022, and since February 2023, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has been engaged in this. Prisoners were initially promised money and amnesty after six months of fighting. In January, it became clear that those convicted of murder and serious crimes began to return to Russia from the front.
Journalists write that now those recruited from the colonies sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for one year, which are automatically extended. In addition, the convicts no longer receive amnesty from Putin and fight in the status of parolees. As the mass media remind, the norm about this appeared in the law recently, it is not about parole, because a court decision is required to obtain it. For conditional release, the decision of the colony or military commissariat, where the prisoners sign the contract, is sufficient. The participation of the President of Russia in this process is also not necessary.
Prisoners will be able to receive a full release and repayment of their criminal record only in the case of a state award or release due to the end of the war, loss of health or reaching the maximum age.
Journalists studied the messages of relatives of "Storm Z" fighters in chat rooms and came to the conclusion that the recruitment of prisoners by the special company had stopped in August of last year. Since September, prisoners have been enrolled in "Storm V" units.
According to data analyzed by the BBC together with the Russian publication "Mediazon" and a team of volunteers, as of January 23, more than eight thousand Russian prisoners died in the war against Ukraine. More than a thousand of them fought in the "Storm Z" or "Storm V" detachments.