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REUTERS/Ramil Sitdikov
The Russian parliament approved a package of bills that will
allow the Defense Ministry to sign service
contracts with prisoners convicted under 11 additional criminal offenses,
independent Russian outlet The Moscow Times reported on July 22.
The bills, introduced to the State Duma July 17 by the government, come as contract recruitment has slowed and battlefield losses in Russia’s war in Ukraine have risen.
Under the new rules, people convicted or found guilty of crimes related to participation in banditry, membership in an organized criminal group, drug smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal handling or theft of nuclear materials will be eligible to sign military contracts.
Andrey Kolesnik, a member of the Duma’s defense committee, defended the change, saying, “In Russia, shame has always been washed away with blood, so we must give these people a chance to wash away their guilt.” He said those recruited would serve as assault troops, the “tip of the spear,” and added that they would have to pass a “certain filter” and that not all would return.
Analysts say the moves respond to personnel shortfalls. Estimates cited by Russian and Western sources put monthly Russian losses in the first half of the year at about 30,000 to 34,000, higher than the roughly 27,000 new contract soldiers recruited each month. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in early June that since the start of the full-scale invasion Russia had sustained about 1.4 million total casualties, including at least 450,000 troops killed.
Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Goremykin, who heads the Main
Military-Political Directorate, said the change would expand the pool of
potential recruits. He said those recruited under the new rules would serve in
special units separate from contract soldiers without such convictions.
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