"Russia's Prison Population Declines as Convicts Join Military Efforts"
Russia has released up to 100,000 prison inmates and sent them to fight in Ukraine, a much larger number than previously known. The drop in the prison population indicates that the Defense Ministry continued to recruit convicted criminals even after blocking access to prisoners by the Wagner mercenary group. The convicts have become crucial to Russia's military forces, with the promise of pardons for their service. The recruitment strategy was initially pioneered by the late Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who recruited convicts to fight in Ukraine. After Prigozhin's death, the Defense Ministry took over the strategy and began recruiting prisoners to supplement the regular military. The prison population in Russia has dropped to a historic low of about 266,000, down from an estimated 420,000 before the invasion of Ukraine.