An ex-convict gave horrific insight into serving in the Russian army, saying his officers refused to collect the dead bodies of soldiers from the battlefield so that the Russian military wouldn’t have to pay their families, according to The New York Times.
In an interview, the soldier who served in one of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s convict units — who was identified as “Aleksandr” — told the Times he was ordered not to collect the bodies of his fellow troops.
He told the Times that officers could register the men as “missing in action,” meaning their families couldn’t collect compensation for them being killed in battle.
While officials have only admitted to losing 6,000 soldiers since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western intel earlier this year suggested the number was closer to 60,000.
Russia’s reliance on convict units grew as its conscripted soldiers were decimated in Ukraine.
While mercenaries with the Wagner Group were originally pulling incarcerated soldiers, the Russian Ministry of Defense took over the recruitment process in February, signing up thousands of inmates and promising them salaries and freedom at the end of their contracts.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
An ex-convict gave horrific insight into serving in the Russian army, saying his officers refused to collect the dead bodies of soldiers from the battlefield so that the Russian military wouldn’t have to pay their families, according to The New York Times.
In an interview, the soldier who served in one of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s convict units — who was identified as “Aleksandr” — told the Times he was ordered not to collect the bodies of his fellow troops.
He told the Times that officers could register the men as “missing in action,” meaning their families couldn’t collect compensation for them being killed in battle.
While officials have only admitted to losing 6,000 soldiers since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western intel earlier this year suggested the number was closer to 60,000.
Russia’s reliance on convict units grew as its conscripted soldiers were decimated in Ukraine.
While mercenaries with the Wagner Group were originally pulling incarcerated soldiers, the Russian Ministry of Defense took over the recruitment process in February, signing up thousands of inmates and promising them salaries and freedom at the end of their contracts.
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