Russia reportedly recruits women from prisons as assault troops
Illustrative photo (Photo: Getty Images)
The Ministry of Defense of Russia has begun recruiting women from prisons and offering them to go to war against Ukraine as assault troops or snipers, reports Important Stories news agency.
It is noted that Russians are recruiting prisoners from women's penal colony No. 2 in the town of Ulyanovka, Leningrad region, for the war.
According to former prisoners, representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Russia visited the colony several times, starting in the fall of last year. Women were offered a one-year contract, particularly as snipers and assault troops. The training program was supposed to last for two months, and after the contract expired, they were promised amnesty.
The first case of recruiting women in the colony
The material writes that from 20 to 50 women agreed, but none of them had been taken from the colony yet.
"One of the women decided to go as a sniper, but, after waiting for about three months, she refused: she thought she would be taken away quickly, but now she has to sit for less than a year," journalists write.
A spokeswoman for Important Stories tried to dissuade her acquaintances in the colony by phone, telling the women that they would be used as cannon fodder. The article emphasizes that this is the first known specific case of recruiting women prisoners.
Russia recruits women for the war against Ukraine
In the fall, British intelligence reported that the Russian private military company Redut, supported by the state and associated with military intelligence, was recruiting women to send to the front.
