Vladimir Putin orders prisoners to fight in the war in Ukraine or face brutal punishment

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Laggards were previously offered freedom deals if they joined the invasion, but the notorious Wagner mercenary group has moved on to more recruiting tactics brutal

Russian soldiers patrol the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in Ukraine (

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Thousands of Russian convicts are pressed to fight in Ukraine with threats of longer sentences, crippling beatings or worse if they refuse.

The population of Russia's penal colonies has plummeted by 23,000 in just two months, as Moscow desperately tries to fill huge gaps in its regular assault troops on the front line.

Laggards were previously offered freedom deals if they joined the invasion, but the notorious Wagner mercenary group, founded by former special forces colonel Dmitry Utkin, has moved on to more brutal recruitment tactics .

Those who refuse to fight are either unable to walk or have disappeared, while those who are recruited risk dying very soon after joining the front line as poorly trained and ill-equipped soldiers.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin at the SCTO Summit in Armenia (

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Getty Images)

In just two months, more than 500 ex-prisoners have been killed in Ukraine after being forcibly recruited or “volunteering” in exchange for their freedom.

The recruitment drive was pushed to extremely remote detention centers in Siberia and the Russian Far East, including Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk inside the Arctic Circle, and Yakutia.

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These isolated camps are out of reach for many relatives living in European Russia, making it easy to erase prisoner records.