Russia is recruiting prisoners to fight in war
Russian prisons are actively seeking volunteers to fight in Moscow’s war on neighbouring Ukraine, according to human rights activists.
Suspects and defendants were being recruited with the promise that in exchange, the authorities would drop criminal proceedings, said Olga Romanova.
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A Russian civil rights activist based in Berlin, in a Facebook post, citing examples from pretrial detention centres in the Moscow area.
“But I think it has started everywhere,’’ said Romanova, a specialist on prisoners’ rights in Russia.
Moscow depends on volunteers as general conscription has not been introduced to fill the ranks of its armed forces fighting in Ukraine, in the invasion that began in February.
The fact that in many areas, officials are posting street advertisements for people to fight in the war may indicate a shortage of personnel at the front.
Cities and regions are currently forming their own battalions.
