According to journalists who checked the data of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, in September and October 2022, the number of prisoners in Russian correctional colonies decreased by 23 thousand people. This happened against the background of the recruitment of prisoners to the ranks of the Wagner.
Mediazona writes about this.
The reduction in the number of prisoners by 23,000 is a record figure. This did not happen even in 2015 and 2020, when mass amnesties were held in the Russian Federation.
According to journalists, all 23,000 people are men. The first reports of the recruitment of prisoners to the Wagner appeared in July 2022. By September, this process had become practically public — numerous videos were released on the Internet, in which the founder of the private military company Yevgeniy Prigozhin personally spoke in the colonies and promised freedom in exchange for participation in the war against Ukraine.
The figure of 23,000 missing prisoners generally coincides with the estimate of Olga Romanova, the founder of the Sitting Russia project. According to her calculations, by the end of October, the number of recruits to Wagner exceeded 20,000, and by the middle of November — 30,000.
- The Main Directorate of Ukrainian Intelligence confirms that due to significant losses in the war with Ukraine and a lack of people willing to fight, Russia is recruiting recruits in places of deprivation of liberty. All of them are promised amnesty after half a year of “service”.