MERCENARIESHow a Notorious Mercenary Company Scours Siberian Prisons for Soldiers to Fight in Ukraine

Published 25 November 2022

Desperate to replace dead and wounded Russian troops in Ukraine, the Kremlin, in addition to mobilization, has also turned to less traditional methods to bolster troop numbers. That includes loosening age and other physical requirements for newly mobilized soldiers, as well as outright recruitment of new volunteers. And since at least July, that effort has included recruiting some of the estimated 470,000 inmates in the custody of the Federal Penitentiary Service. Leading that effort is the Vagner Group, the private company owned by a Kremlin-connected businessman.

A man wearing military fatigues, a balaclava, and a special forces insignia showed up at Correctional Colony No. 29 in the Russian coal-mining region of Kemerovo on October 3.

During that evening’s inspection, with several hundred inmates lined up in one of the prison’s outdoor yards, the unnamed man made a public offer: Sign up “for a trip to Ukraine,” according to one inmate who spoke by phone with Siberia Realities, a regional unit of RFE/RL’s Russian Service.

About 200 expressed interest, said the inmate, who participated and even recorded a video of the encounter but asked to remain anonymous, fearing punishment from prison officials.

By month’s end, however, interest had waned, the inmate said. That’s when recruiters from the notorious private mercenary company Vagner showed up.

On October 26th they cut off communications, as they always do when the ‘Vagnerites’ arrive,” he said, referring to prison authorities. “The jammers were reconfigured, so everyone was sitting around without any communications those days.”

And they began to show films about Vagner,” he said. One was called The Best In Hell.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine lurches into a new, uncertain phase, Russian authorities have turned to the country’s sprawling prison network to replenish the units depleted by nearly nine months of grinding conflict.

The Kremlin’s mobilization of military reserves, announced on September 21, targeted 300,000 men to be sent either into battle and or other supporting roles in Ukraine. Thousands are already believed to be in some frontline positions: in the Kherson region, where Russian troops beat an embarrassing retreat earlier this month; and in the Donbas, where fighting is intensifying.

The overall casualty figure Russia has suffered since the February 24 invasion is unclear. Western officials, however, say between 80,000 and 90,000 troops have been killed or wounded.

In addition to mobilization, officials have also turned to less traditional methods to bolster troop numbers. That includes loosening age and other physical requirements for newly mobilized soldiers, as well as outright recruitment of new volunteers.

And since at least July, that effort has included recruiting some of the estimated 470,000 inmates in the custody of the Federal Penitentiary Service.

Leading that effort is the Vagner Group, the private company owned by a Kremlin-connected businessman whose fighters have been credibly implicated in war crimes in countries including Syria, Libya, and the Central African Republic.