The Russian Ministry of Defense is recruiting prisoners from women's correctional colony No. 2 in the village of Ulyanovka, Leningrad Region, for the war against Ukraine.
This was told to journalists of the publication Important Stories by former female prisoners from this correctional colony, who learned from friends serving time there.
Recruitment of female prisoners for war
Former female prisoners shared that representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense came to the colony several times, starting last fall.
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Women were offered a one-year contract. Possible positions include — snipers and attack aircraft. They must undergo two months of training before being sent to the front, and after the end of the contract they were promised a pardon.
According to journalists, from 20 to 50 women agreed, but so far none of them have been taken from the colony.
One woman initially agreed to go as a sniper, but after waiting three months, she finally refused. She thought that she would be quickly taken to war, but she had less than a year left in the colony.
— I said: you understand that you will be under fire? You will just be cannon fodder. The men don't survive. But they all want to go home, — noted the interlocutor.
This is the first specific case of recruitment of female prisoners from the Russian side known to journalists, although the actions of Russians were previously reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
For example, in March 2023, it was noted that a train with reserved seat carriages for transporting prisoners was observed moving towards the Donetsk region. One of them — with convicted women, with whom they tried to replenish the large losses of Russian personnel for the war against Ukraine.
