Russian penal military units during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia has recruited substantial numbers of prisoners into military units.^[1][2]

The Russian paramilitary Wagner Group widely recruited from prisons starting in 2022, growing their forces by an estimated 40,000.^[2][3] According to the New York Times, Wagner's prison recruitment campaign began in early July 2022, when Prigozhin personally appeared in prisons around St. Petersburg and offered deals to the prisoners.^[4] However, the Wagner Group lost access to the prisons in February 2023 amidst schisms with the regular Russian Ministry of Defense.^[2][3] The Russian MoD itself reportedly began recruiting prisoners in October 2022.^[3]

In April 2023, information emerged about the creation of the Storm-Z series of units by the MoD.^[5] After receiving only ten to fifteen days of training,^[6] these units are attached to regular Russian forces suffering from battle fatigue.^[7] On June 24, 2023, Vladimir Putin signed a law on the recruitment of convicts to contract service with the Defense Ministry, disbanding Storm-Z and replacing it with the new Storm-V units.^[8]

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense described the recruitment as part of a "broader, intense effort by the Russian military to bolster its numbers, while attempting to avoid implementing new mandatory mobilisation, which would be very unpopular with the Russian public."^[2]

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that the increase in Ministry of Defense prison recruitment in June 2023 came in "the wake of significant losses in Ukraine".^[9]

In a September 2022 speech to prisoners, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, said that recruits would be used as shock troops, who lead attacks and take heavy casualties.^[10] Experts and captured Wagner soldiers said that prisoner recruits were used as "little more than cannon fodder".^[2]

Thousands of Wagner convict soldiers played a key role in the Battle of Bakhmut, taking part in wave attacks against Ukrainian positions.^[11][12] Ukrainian media has said that the convicts are "dumped onto the front after 2-3 weeks of poor training and used as cannon fodder" by the more elite, well-trained Wagner group commanders.^[13]

In the September 2022 speech, Prigozhin also said that any prisoner who joined and then attempted to flee service would be "considered a deserter and shot".^[10] In March 2023, United Nations experts expressed concern over allegations that recruits are "regularly threatened and ill-treated by their superiors,", and said they had information that "several recruits have been executed for attempting to escape and, in other cases, seriously injured in public as a warning to other recruits." They described the tactics as human rights violations and said that they "may amount to war crimes".^[1]

By March 2023, the British Ministry of Defense said that about half of the recruited Wagner prisoners had been killed or wounded in Ukraine.^[2] In November 2023, British intelligence noted that Russian commanders would often punish soldiers who abuse drugs and alcohol by forcing them to fight in Storm-Z detachments.^[14]

Under the Wagner model, prisoners who survive a six-month term on the front are released into Russian society and given a pardon for their crimes.^[15][10] Many of the released men are hardened criminals. Russians fear that the released men will continue to commit more crimes.^[15] In August 2023, a convicted criminal freed after fighting with Wagner was arrested on accusations of stabbing six people to death in the town of Derevyannoye [ru] in Russia's Republic of Karelia.^[16]

Olga Romanova of Russia Behind Bars said that as a result of this policy, "There are no more crimes, and no more punishments. Anything is permissible now, and this brings very far-reaching consequences for any country."^[4]

While many of the Russian prisoners recruited by Wagner and Storm-Z were guaranteed release if they survived their six month term, those who join the new Storm-V units have to serve until the end of the conflict.^[17][18]

• Prisons in Russia
• Russian irregular units in Ukraine
• Shtrafbat