With Russian prisoners, who have been recruited by the Russian Defense Ministry since February 2023, they began to conclude 18-month contracts, Olga Romanova, head of the Rus’ Sedentary Foundation, said in her Telegram channel. According to her, she learned about this practice in the Sverdlovsk and Yaroslavl regions.
As Romanova clarified, before that, contracts were signed with prisoners for only six months. In particular, in March 2023, the founder of PMC Wagner Evgeny Prigozhin declaredthat since the summer more than five thousand prisoners have been released, who have worked their contract with the PMC.
According to Romanova, the increase in the terms of the contracts may be due to the fact that the Russian authorities assume that the war will continue until 2024.
“That is to say, they also expect to fight next year,” she said.
The recruitment of prisoners to participate in the war in Ukraine became known in the summer of 2022. Most of the time this was done by PMC Wagner. In winter, according to the Rus’ Sedentary Foundation, up to 50,000 prisoners were recruited.
In February 2023 Evgeny Prigozhin declaredthat his PMC has stopped recruiting prisoners. In the same month, Olga Romanova reported that the recruitment of prisoners in the colonies was continuing, but the people leading it began to say that they represented the Ministry of Defense.