The Wagner Group is owned by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as “Putin’s cook” because of his good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin recruited thousands of prisoners for the war against Ukraine in Russian prisons. He promised the prisoners that they would be released after the end of their contract, but threatened summary executions and mass executions if they tried to escape.
According to US information, about 50,000 Wagner mercenaries are fighting or fought in Ukraine. Among them are 40,000 prisoners who had just been recruited by Prigozhin from Russian prisons. The New York Times writes that this is the largest military deployment of prisoners since World War II.
Hired multiple killer and serial rapist
According to Ukrainian sources, recruited prisoners are used as cannon fodder. According to this Ukrainian information, which cannot be verified, around 30,000 prisoner mercenaries deserted, were killed or wounded. Some of the prisoners survive the operations after their arrival only hours or days, according to the “New York Times” with reference to human rights groups. “We were told: ‘Keep going until you’re killed,'” the newspaper quoted a prisoner who managed to escape from the front as saying.
According to the New York Times, most convicts are said to have been imprisoned for crimes such as theft and robbery. But documents that the newspaper claims to have seen paint a different picture. Multiple rapists and multiple murderers are said to have been among the mercenaries. If they survive, the agreement of release also applies to them.
release legal?
“There are no more crimes and no more punishments,” said Olga Romanova, head of the NGO Russia behind bars. “Everything is now allowed, and that has very far-reaching consequences for every country,” Romanova draws a gloomy picture in the “New York Times”.
At the beginning of January, the first recruited ex-prisoners were released. The Russian news agency showed pictures of Prigozhin shaking hands with former prisoners in farewell. The surviving prisoner mercenaries were also honored with medals. At the end of the ceremony, they also received their documents, which should guarantee them their freedom. However, it is unclear whether these papers are actually legal. Pardons go a long way in Russia. According to the Russian constitution, only the president, in this case Putin, can grant them, according to the New York Times.
Ticking time bombs
“Don’t drink too much, don’t take drugs and don’t rape women,” Prigozhin said to the former prisoners at the ceremony. You would have learned a lot, primarily how to kill the enemy. “But I definitely don’t want you to use this achievement in forbidden territory. If you want to kill enemies again, you come back,” said Prigozhin.
The New York Times doubts that this warning will work. The former prisoners, fearing harassment and retribution, do not speak about their horrific experiences at the front, the newspaper continues. However, this would also prevent the processing of the experiences. The ex-prisoners would become ticking time bombs in Russia. These are extremely dangerous people. By releasing the brutalized and traumatized prisoners, Russia is risking a future wave of violence in society. This is proof of the costs of the war the Russian President is willing to accept.
According to Wagner, he stopped recruiting prisoners for the fight in Ukraine. This procedure had been stopped altogether, Wagner founder Prigozhin said in response to a request from a Russian media company published on social networks at the beginning of February. According to media reports, hardly any more prisoners wanted to be recruited.
“mentally broken people”
The Wagner group was able to avoid oversight by exploiting the most marginalized group of Russians, the 350,000 male inmates of its harsh penal colonies, human rights activists and lawyers told The New York Times. Prigozhin, himself a former prisoner, understands prison culture, according to The New York Times. According to the newspaper, he cleverly combined punishment with the prospect of a new life in Russia during his recruitment tour.
“These are mentally broken people who come with a sense of
justice, believing that they killed to defend the motherland,” said Yana Gelmel, a Russian prisoner’s rights lawyer who works with recruited prisoners. “These are very dangerous people,” Gelmel said in the New York Times.
Sophisticated system
Insight into the fate of prisoners at the front is also given by the news addressed to other prisoners who remained in the labor camps and interviews the newspaper conducted with human rights activists, lawyers, relatives of recruited prisoners, but also deserters and prisoners.
They all described, according to The New York Times, an elaborate system of incentives and brutal punishment set up by Wagner to replenish Russia’s soldier ranks through questionable means and potentially illegal methods, the newspaper continues. Recruiting mercenaries is illegal, however, and for a long time it was even denied that the Wagner group actually existed. On paper, the detainees were only transferred to prisons or penal colonies near the Ukrainian border, according to the New York Times, citing inquiring relatives of detainees.
According to US information, Wagner is apparently becoming a rival of the Russian military and ministries. “We are seeing signs, including among the intelligence community, that tensions between Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry are increasing,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in late January.