The Chechen branch of the FSB is collecting information on local prisoners for further deployment to a combat zone in Ukraine.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported on this.
Correspondence of FSB officials requires providing the personal data of convicts, including names, home addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and IP addresses of devices used to access the "social and telecommunications network Internet".
They require information on those having suspended sentences, sentenced to imprisonment for crimes of minor and intermediate gravity; sentenced to imprisonment for serious crimes; sentenced to imprisonment for especially serious crimes.
According to Chechen opposition public figures, such actions have two purposes. Firstly, to replenish the human resources of units that have suffered significant losses in battles with Ukrainian defenders. Secondly, to suppress any protests in Chechnya itself.
"After all, the imprisonment of relatives of oppositionists is widespread there today. Now they are threatened with forced deportation to the hottest spots on the front. In particular, the brother of the well-known Chechen opposition leader Hassan Khalitov has already been taken to one of the units on the front line. Other relatives of Khalitov were abducted, and their whereabouts are unknown," the statement said.
In March, Ukrainian intelligence released the names of 667 Chechen soldiers fighting Ukraine. The motorized infantry division is stationed in the city of Shali.