Russia's war against Ukraine has turned the entire criminal justice system of the Russian Federation into a conscription tool, The New York Times reports. On the front lines in Ukraine, criminals have been used and continue to be used as cannon fodder.
The commander of the defunct Wagner PMC revealed that about 50,000 prisoners were drafted in Wagner alone, and a fifth of them had been killed in battle. Relatives of Wagner mercenaries say that most of the survivors are suffering from psychological torture and have general psychological problems.
Inability to sleep except with the help of alcohol. You have to understand: we need to have the courage to face the brutality of the battlefield," said one of the former criminals, referring to the sight of the shattered corpses on the battlefield and not being able to back down.
Relatives of these former prisoners in the Russian army complained that such heavy losses among these people were mainly due to the incompetence and corruption of high-ranking officers: "Whether they survive or not depends on who their commander is, which requires the commander to be able to respect human life".
The data show that the average age of former prisoner conscripts is 33 years old, mainly from small towns and villages. Their most common crime is the sale of drugs. On average, they spend five years in brutal prison conditions, which gives them the incentive to enlist in the army and get away with it.