At the end of May, Russia released a group of women from prison to participate in combat operations in Ukraine. This may signal a new stage in the Kremlin’s use of war criminals.
About this informs The New York Times.
Journalists of the publication will note that military recruiters began visiting women’s prisons last fall, previously convicted women who entered military service remained incarcerated. Tens of thousands of imprisoned men have already accepted the offer and replenished the Russian forces, suffering huge losses.
“Military recruiters took several women from a prison outside St. Petersburg, said former inmates, whose names were not released to protect them from possible retaliation. It is unclear whether their release is an isolated incident, a pilot program or the start of a larger wave of recruitment of female inmates“, the publication writes.
The recruitment of women comes amid increasingly unorthodox schemes to recruit volunteers, including debtors, convicted criminals and foreigners.
Conditions in Russian women’s prisons, including forced labor and strict discipline, may encourage some women to serve in the military, despite the dangers. It is not known what duties women will perform at the front. Previously, recruiters offered the positions of snipers, combat medics and radio operators.
