Vladimir Putin is deploying soldiers to the front line in Ukraine from notorious Russian prisons with a fierce reputation. Criminals from jails will bolster the ranks of the invading forces with the promise of almost £2,800 and their sentences scrapped if they comply.
Russian prisons are historically brutal places and while they are not quite as extreme as in the days of Soviet gulags filled to the brink by murderous dictator Joseph Stalin, conditions are reported to be difficult, particularly in specialist correction colonies.
IK-2 Male Correctional Colony east of Moscow was home to opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He has locked away after publicly opposing Putin, embarrassing the state with tales of bungled assassination attempts with Novichok, the lethal substance used in the Salisbury poisonings in 2017.
