Bandits, gang members and drug traffickers: Russia expands recruitment of convicts for war
Russia's State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) has expanded the list of convicted criminals whom Russian authorities will be able to recruit into the Armed Forces during mobilisation, martial law or wartime.
Source: Interfax, a Russian propaganda news agency; The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet
Details: Russian MPs passed the bill in its first reading and in full on 22 July.
From now on, contracts with Russia's Defence Ministry can be signed by, among others, individuals convicted of banditry, participation in an organised criminal group, drug trafficking and organising illegal migration.
The list also now includes those convicted of illegal handling or theft of nuclear materials, smuggling weapons, ammunition, explosive, radioactive and pathogenic substances and the loss of documents containing state secrets.
Alongside this, the State Duma passed amendments to Russia's Criminal Code providing for the exemption of such individuals from criminal liability upon signing a contract or completing military service.
According to The Moscow Times, the Russian government submitted the relevant package of bills to the State Duma only a few days before the vote.
Andrei Kolesnik, a member of the State Duma's defence committee, said convicts should supposedly be "given a chance to wash away their shame with blood". According to him, they may be sent to assault units.
He also said such recruits will go through "a certain filter" and admitted that "not all of them will come back from there".
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Viktor Goremykin said the expanded list will allow the Russian forces to "increase the pool of potential candidates".
He said the recruits will be kept in separate units rather than mixed with contract soldiers who have no criminal record.
The Moscow Times links the Russian authorities' decision to slowing contract recruitment and heavy losses sustained by the Russian army in its war against Ukraine.
Background:
- CNN reported earlier that Russia is increasingly struggling to replenish its forces for the war against Ukraine, which could drive its leadership to consider unpopular measures such as forced mobilisation and exit bans.
- In May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the regime of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has been tasked with increasing the contingent of Russian forces, which shows that Moscow has no real intention of engaging in peace talks.
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