Recruiters from PMC "Wagner" continue the mass recruitment of prisoners in Russian colonies. As the journalists of the Nestka publication together with the Rus Sidyashaya Foundation found out, recruiters have already visited at least 17 colonies in 10 regions of the country and were able to gather more than a thousand people who agreed to go to war in Ukraine. As Olga Romanova, the head of Russia Sitting, told The Insider, the prisoners are sent to the vanguard on the first front line, in fact, to collect mines and the main fire.
According to Nestka, on the basis of IK-2 in Rostov-on-Don, a special training center was created, where those who agreed to go to the front are trained, training goes on 20 hours a day, 4 hours are allotted for sleep. The first group, trained in this colony, went to the front on July 20.
Recruiters have already visited the Tula region (IK-1, IK-4, IK-5), Yaroslavl (IK-2, IK-3, IK-12), Leningrad (IK-3), Ryazan (IK-3, IK- 5), Novgorod (IK-7), Arkhangelsk, Pskov (IK-6), as well as in the Republic of Komi (IK-19, IK-25), Karelia (IK-7) and St. -7). The information was confirmed to journalists by prisoners in these colonies.
There is also information about the visit of recruiters to the Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir, Smolensk, Vologda, Murmansk regions, the Republic of Tyva, Adygea and Mordovia, as well as the Perm Territory. However, the publication has not yet been able to confirm the information.
According to the data that the authors of the material managed to collect from prisoners and their relatives, most of the prisoners who agreed to go to war were in the Yaroslavl region (about 680 people). Another 400 people "Wagnerites" managed to recruit in the colonies of the Ryazan region. 270 people agreed to go to the front in IK-5 in the Tula region and about 250 people in the colony in the Arkhangelsk region, 130 people in Komi, at least 72 people in the Pskov region and at least 40 people in IK-7 in St. Petersburg.
Most often, recruiters visit strict regime colonies (14 out of 17). In two colonies, journalists were also told that those who first agreed and then changed their minds were sent to the ShIZO, they were put under pressure.
In the recruitment of PMC "Wagner" employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, sometimes high-ranking, help. In particular, Ivan Prokopenko, head of the UFSIN of the region, was present during the recruiters’ conversations with prisoners in IK-4 in the Tula region. According to Important Stories, from time to time FSB officers also take part in these conversations.
The convicts say that the PMC "Wagner" is freely allowed into the territory of the colonies with weapons at the ready. Prisoners are driven into the courtyard, built, after which the "Wagnerites" begin to call on them to "defend the Motherland" and promise payments – about 200 thousand rubles a month, payment of sick leave in case of injury of 300 thousand rubles and 5 million rubles "coffin" in case of death " . If they hold out for six months, they promise release. After that, consent gives about 20% in each colony, they say in Rus Sidyashchaya. Then the agitation is continued by other prisoners, "activists", who cooperate with the authorities of the colonies. Prisoners sign a contract with PMCs after completing the training and receiving the form. However, the details of the contracts are still unknown.
The PMCs who agree are subjected to a polygraph test, and questions are asked about their attitude towards the Russian authorities and whether they can escape to Ukraine.
Mediazona also reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin, co-founder of Wagner PMC, personally arrived in some colonies to recruit prisoners. This publication was told by two unrelated prisoners from different colonies. He told the prisoners that he represented the Wagner PMC and invited them to join there to take part in the war against Ukraine. Together with Prigozhin, seven people in civilian clothes arrived at IK-2. Three of them, armed with pistols, went to the parade ground in front of fifteen hundred prisoners driven into the yard.
