The State Duma adopted in the third reading a law that allows the mobilization of citizens who have an unexpunged or outstanding conviction for committing some serious crimes – judging by the list of exceptions, murderers and rapists will be sent to war in Ukraine. According to RBC, the bill implies a change in the paragraph of the law "On mobilization", according to which persons with an unexpunged or outstanding conviction for a serious crime could not be mobilized.
According to the bill, those who are convicted under the following articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will not be able to mobilize: violation of the sexual integrity of minors, crimes related to terrorism, hostage-taking, treason, organizing an illegal armed group, organizing and financing an extremist community and public calls for extremism, hijacking an aircraft ships, illegal handling of nuclear materials, cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state or organization, espionage, encroachment on the life of a statesman, violent seizure of power.
Despite the fact that the law was adopted in the final reading just now, it was known earlier that those convicted under serious articles were joining the war in Ukraine – they were taken to the front illegally. In September, a video was published on the Internet in which Prigozhin recruits prisoners from IK-6 of Yoshkar-Ola to participate in the war against Ukraine. In the video, he stands in front of the prisoners and tells them about the conditions of service. At the same time, he had previously repeatedly sued those who publicly called him the head of the Wagner PMC, but later admitted that he was its creator.
The convicts told The Insider even before the video appeared that the recidivist felon Prigozhin personally recruits prisoners in Russian colonies, offering release in six months for participation in hostilities in Ukraine. Prigogine himself was tried for theft, fraud and involvement of minors in criminal activities. His mercenaries are involved in many operations abroad, in many cases (as in the invasion of Ukraine) under the direct command of the GRU. He earned the nickname "Putin's chef" because he organizes Kremlin dinners. Also, one of the founders of the PMC finances the "Internet Research Agency" – the largest "troll factory" in Russia. In February 2018, the U.S. District of Columbia Federal Court charged a "troll factory" with interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.