The Wagner mercenary group, linked to the Russian presidency, is recruiting Ukrainian prisoners who were transferred to Russian prisons to go to the front, The kyiv Independent newspaper reported on Wednesday.
“Russia is recruiting arrested Ukrainian citizens who were forcibly taken to Russian prisons. In Krasnodar, the active recruitment of these people is carried out by the Wagner private military company,” the newspaper said, citing the General Staff of the Ukrainian army.
According to him, the mercenaries are trying to recruit prisoners serving sentences for more serious crimes.
The American television channel CNN reported on Tuesday that the group of mercenaries sent thousands of Russian convicts to the front.
Many of these ex-prisoners – who agreed to go fight in the war in exchange for being released from prison – form, according to the Ukrainian secret services, the first line of attack and constitute 80% of the casualties registered by Russia.
The Russian prisoners’ rights organization Rus Sidiaschaya (RS) reports that around 40,000 prisoners recruited by the Wagner mercenary group were killed, left, wounded or captured as prisoners in Ukraine.
The Wagner group is a private group, created by the Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a trusted man of President Vladimir Putin, which is dedicated to combating conflicts in which Russia is an interested party.
It has become influential in Africa, where it has promoted Russian disinformation, building alliances with governments, and gaining access to valuable oil, gas, gold, diamonds, and minerals.
The mercenary group has established itself in recent weeks in eastern Ukraine, in the Dombass region, where, according to Moscow, it is making important progress for the Russian army.
Source: TSF
