A few weeks ago, the second wave of recruiting prisoners for the war against Ukraine began in Russian colonies. Representatives of the Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner again visit the colonies, including the one where politician Alexey Navalnyy is imprisoned.
However, now fewer people are willing to be recruited, Radio Liberty writes, citing the words of the founder of the "Rus sideashaya" (“Russia jailed”) foundation Olga Romanova. According to her, in colonies, where 200-500 people used to be recruited, now representatives of the PMC are "not welcomed well".
In one of the Ivanovo colonies, 24 people signed up for the war, but five changed their minds, so only 19 were sent.
"The bad news is that, unfortunately, they found other reserves. These are 2.5 thousand Ukrainian prisoners displaced from Kherson and Mykolayiv regions. They are distributed in about ten colonies. They are being blackmailed a lot," the founder of the foundation noted.
According to her, 35,000 people agreed to go to war during the first wave of "mobilisation" of criminals as of 1 December, and now this figure is not increasing. She also added that the enthusiasm of the prisoners decreased when it became obvious that the "Wagnerites" are mainly used as a "carpet" - " they are just being used to cover the minefields".
"Rus sideashaya" does not have general data on the losses of ex-prisoners who enlisted in the PMC, but it is known that from the first detachment, which was recruited in June in Yablunivka and Obukhiv, only one survived. From the seventh colony in Novgorod - also one, he no longer has his left hand, but he continues to be at war.
"We know about numerous episodes of extrajudicial executions," she added.
Russia is also forcing to fight Ukrainians from the temporarily occupied territories.