Russian penal military units
Prisoners in the Russian military / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia has recruited substantial numbers of prisoners into military units.[1][2]
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The Russian paramilitary Wagner Group widely recruited from prisons starting in 2022, growing their forces by an estimated 40,000.[2][3] According to the New York Times, Wagner's prison recruitment campaign began in early July 2022, when Prigozhin personally appeared in prisons around St. Petersburg and offered deals to the prisoners.[4] However, the Wagner Group lost access to the prisons in February 2023 amidst schisms with the regular Russian Ministry of Defense.[2][3] The Russian MoD itself reportedly began recruiting prisoners in October 2022.[3]
In April 2023, information emerged about the creation of the Storm-Z series of units by the MoD.[5] After receiving only ten to fifteen days of training,[6] these units are attached to regular Russian forces suffering from battle fatigue.[7] On June 24, 2023, Vladimir Putin signed a law on the recruitment of convicts to contract service with the Defense Ministry, disbanding Storm-Z and replacing it with the new Storm-V units.[8]