Vladimir Putin is enlisting convicted murderers and jailed spies to fight on the frontline in his war in Ukraine, it has been claimed.
Russia has reportedly stepped up the recruitment from prisons which is now taking place in a rising number of regions.
Among those said to have been recruited are jailed ex-GRU military intelligence agents and other former special forces personnel with previous military service.
But there are now reports that murderers are being taken into the ranks as Putin seeks more frontline soldiers.
Earlier, such prisoners serving sentences for the most heinous crimes were rejected.
In some jails, hundreds of inmates are said to be ready to enlist on the promise that they will be amnestied from their sentence.
Yet the recruitment drive is seen as a sign that Putin is short of troops ready to be deployed in the frontline despite having a one-million-strong army.
Convicts are selected and then give two weeks training before being flown to the war zone and placed in “assault groups” on the frontline by Wagner, a private military company, working closely with the Russian defence ministry.
“Some were chosen by penal colony chiefs,” a source told Russian opposition Telegram channel SOTA.
“They were taken off prison camp jobs, against their wishes, and ‘invited’ to have a chat.
“These were former participants of war service, or those with reasonably senior military ranks.
“Others were just told by a duty officer: ‘Whoever wants to go to war, go put your name forward’.”
Recruitment has taken place from Bor in Nizhny Novgorod where a batch of 1,200 possible recruits include many convicts who served in special forces and the prison service.
Some 300 here want to join, it is claimed.
“They explain it by their desire to have an amnesty and live normally after coming back, for the sake of their families and their children.” said a relative.
At least one convicted murderer is known to have been sent to Donbas to fight, with a promise to quash their criminal record after six months service.
They are promised almost £3,000 payment to fight in the war.
If they are killed their relatives will receive £64,000.
Recruitment is also underway in jails in St Petersburg, named Yablonevka, Obukhovo, and Fornosovo.
The FSB security service - once headed by Putin - is also reported to be involved.
The convicts are told they will be put in assault groups on the frontline to hunt down “Nazis” in Ukraine in an arrangement that suggests they will be deployed as cannon fodder.
