Former Russian prisoners and criminals, returning to civilian life after fighting on the Ukrainian front, are protected by the authorities. But they are contributing to the increase in violence in the country.
Does participating in war really allow you to atone for your crimes? Among the prisoners enlisted by Russia to fight in Ukraine, we find Sergei Khadjikurbanov. A former special forces police officer, he was involved in the assassination of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya on October 7, 2006. Convicted by the courts for one of the most resounding murders of the Putin era (committed on the day of his birthday of the president). Sergei Khadzhikurbanov should have remained in prison until 2030.
But last year he was recruited to fight in Ukraine and when his contract ended, he was pardoned by the Russian president. He is free as air again. His lawyer announced it on Tuesday, November 14. The news felt like a slap in the face. “A monstrous and arbitrary injustice“, denounces the journalist’s family.
Prison recruitment launched by Wagner
This example is just one of thousands of others, because At the start of the war, the Wagner militia recruited “cannon fodder” in prisons. The contract is clear: after six months on the front, a return to civilian life is possible – you just have to survive.
In September 2022, then in January 2023, at least three videos show EVgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s leader, recruiting prisoners. On one of them, he is in a penal colony, 800 km east of Moscow: “We recruit from 22 years oldhe said. It is essential to be in good physical shape (…) We are only looking for fighters for the assault troops. (…) After six months, you will be able to return home. Those who want can stay with us. But returning to prison is not an option. (…) Do you know anyone else who can get you out of here in such conditions? There are only two people who can do it. Me and God. And I… I take you alive“.
It seems that this practice stopped in February 2023, due to a lack of volunteers: rumors about the harsh combat conditions in Ukraine and the very high mortality of Wagner’s mercenaries having reached Russian prisons.
But the Russian authorities are taking up – in a completely official manner – this principle of release in exchange for mobilization. Questioned on the subject on Friday November 10, Dmitri Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, again assumed it: “Those convicted, including those convicted of serious crimes, atone for their crime on the battlefield.”
Between 50,000 and 100,000 prisoners enlisted
How many assassins, murderers, rapists, criminals have been enlisted in this way? Between 40 and 50,000 depending on the independent Russian media Meduza. 100,000 according to Olga Romanova, an exiled former journalist who campaigns for the rights of prisoners and opposition activists in Russia. The Kremlin, for its part, never gave an official figure.
Many of course died. In January 2023, Meduza explained that more than 80% of these former prisoners were dead, injured or missing and that only 10,000 would remain on the ground. In March, “more than 5,000 were released following a pardon after the end of their contract with Wagner”announced Evgueni Prigojine in a message broadcast on Telegram.
Men returning to civilian life, their pay in their pockets and their patriotism slung over their shoulders, traumatized by the war but protected by their presidential pardon or simply by the law which prohibits “discredit anyone participating in the special military operation”.
Former criminals remain criminals
The consequences are sometimes dramatic. At the end of March, in the Kirov region, 600 km east of Moscow, an 85-year-old retiree was killed by Ivan Rossomakhin, 28, returned from the front, an ex-prisoner sentenced before the war to 10 years in prison . On his return, the inhabitants of his village, terrified, mobilized – without success – to obtain his removal. Examples of this type are numerous, generally reported by the local press.
On November 9, another independent media in exile, Aguentstvo, documented 17 cases of murderers returning to Russia and pardoned by the Kremlin. The newspaper The worldwho has gone through each of their stories, says that it is about “young girls raped then killed, psychopaths, drifting alcoholics, murders of children, bodies burned, decapitated or thrown into the river“At least three of them have started killing again since their return from Ukraine, often in equally barbaric circumstances.
Overall, the return of former prisoners leads to an unprecedented rise in violence in Russian society. Violence for which there are no official statistics.