Russian authorities pardoned the first wave of former convicts who survived six months at the front in Ukraine, making good on a promise made to them by mercenary tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has sent thousands of troops to fight in the Kremlin’s invasion.
Prigozhin, head of the Wagner military contracting company, announced the pardons and hailed the roughly two dozen survivors as “warriors” in a meeting with them from the southern Krasnodar region near the Ukrainian border, according to the state-run RIA Novosti agency, which published a brief video showing him clad in fatigues. A second clip showed him at an apparently separate event with wounded fighters, including several who had lost legs.
A longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin has emerged as one of the most prominent supporters of his war, providing tens of thousands of troops, both contractors from Wagner and convicts. The latter program started around June, with the former catering tycoon personally visiting prisons to offer inmates who lasted half a year at the front pardons, but threatening those who surrendered or deserted with death.
