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.
Investigations into the jail tell of regular beatings by guards, psychological torment designed to break inmates and even sexual assaults. Inmates are said to be woken up by a 6am alarm call of the Russian national anthem. Medical assistance is also not on offer unless inmates are extremely ill. Navalny himself went on hunger strike in protest against the lack of medical care given to him after reporting back pain.
Navalny himself likened the prison to a “friendly concentration camp” and while he had not seen beatings in the jail, said he would not be surprised by the reports of them. He is now at the similarly maligned IK-6 facility. Detained nationalist politician Dmitry Demushkin told a Reuters investigation he developed an abscess in his knee at IK-2, ignored by staff.
He claimed the medical bay was run by a woman who said: “Let him die in the barrack. He should have thought about his health when he committed his crime.” Other infamous jails include the ‘Black Dolphin’ jail, named after the statue of the sea creature placed outside.
Located near the border with Kazakhstan, the jail contains Russia’s worst prisoners including cannibals and serial killers jailed for life, according to Mirror Online. Inmates are blindfolded when they walk around outside and are forced to crouch when they are walked out of their cells.
While it is unlikely those from correctional colonies like Black Dolphin will end up on the front line, Russia has relaxed its rules in terms of prison recruitment. Originally open to convicts with a record of military service, the new scheme now appears to be open to all prisoners, apart from people serving 20 years or more for heinous crimes.
Vladimir Osechkin, exiled founder of human rights group gulagu.net said convicts “are openly told that they will have neither documents nor a badge, and their bodies will not be given to their relatives [in the event they are killed]”.
The prisoner-soldier scheme is reportedly being run by the FSB, Russia’s state security services. A family member of one convict said prisoners were being asked to attack ‘Nazis’ in Ukraine, the false claim put forward by the Kremlin about the war in Ukraine.
They said: “They talked to convicts and asked them to ‘defend Motherland’…. My relative was told this: ‘It is very hard to find Nazis, they are prepared very well. You will be in vanguard, help find the Nazis - this is why not everyone will return’.
“Those who survive are promised a reward of 200,000 roubles [£2,800] and an amnesty. And if he dies, they promise to pay the family 5 million rubles [£70,000]. But this is all words, it will not be recorded anywhere on paper.”
Reports suggest Putin’s war in Ukraine has not been going as well as he expected and the state has not updated the official death toll of troops killed since late March. It still stands at 1,351, despite the Kremlin admitting “significant” troop losses.
Estimates are hard to officially document due to the secrecy of the Russian state and the figures put out by Ukraine, who say 35,000 have been killed since war broke out, are likely exaggerated. In April, British officials estimated around 15,000 had been killed in the war.
The despot Russian leader is known for locking those up who disagree with him. As recently as 2021, the Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Centre records over 400 political prisoners behind bars in the country.
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