ChrisO_wiki Profile picture
Mar 21, 2023 15 tweets 3 min read Read on X
1/ The Russian Ministry of Defence is reportedly coercing convicts to join the Russian army by threatening them with being incarcerated alongside men who are available to be raped, regarded as untouchables in Russian prison culture. ⬇️ Image
2/ Russia's prisons operate a brutal caste system based on a sexual hierarchy, where some prisoners are treated as available to be raped by anyone. These men are known as the "cocks", "offended", "lowered", "forced" or "crests", and are made to sleep next to the toilets.
3/ Importantly, "cock" status is treated as being contagious. They are literally untouchable: interacting with "cocks", sharing their food, touching them or their possessions (unless you are raping them) is regarded as being enough to make you a "cock" as well.
4/ The Wagner Group's head Yevgeny Prigozhin (a former convict himself) has explained this distinction and established a separate "cock division" within Wagner for convicts who can't interact with other convicts.
5/ However, according to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, the Russian MOD is exploiting this untouchability to force non-cock prisoners to sign up for mlitary service. The channel explains:
6/ "First, the inmates are persuaded by ex-convicts who allegedly survived the war, and then they are threatened, even to the point of joining detachments with the "offended".
7/ "According to our source, a certain brigade is “touring” in various Russian prison colonies, the members of which are represented as prisoners who were allegedly recruited into the Wagner PMC, went through the war and were released.
8/ "The 'Zeks' describe how long they had to serve in prison, but thanks to the war they are already free and have money. After this, the convicts are offered not to sign up in the Wagner PMC, but as contract employees of the Ministry of Defence.
9/ "However, according to the source, there are very few people willing to volunteer, since everyone knows that it is virtually impossible to return from the war. The administrative resource is used to its maximum capacity.
10/ "For example, in Tula Region's penal colony No. 1, the prisoners are strongly advised to go to war, fearing that they will soon begin to “turn up the regime” there and it will finally be “red” [i.e. become a 'strict regime', with far tougher conditions].
11/ "At the same time, ordinary prisoners are allegedly being forcibly mixed in with the "offended", who are now being held separately. They threaten in the colony that those who want to avoid this need to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defence."
12/ This follows earlier reports that Wagner has been barred from recruiting prisoners, which was in any case resulting in far fewer volunteers due to news of their catastrophic losses reaching Russia's prisons.
13/ The Russian MOD has reportedly sought to create penal battalions for prisoners, but with voluntary enlistment. It's likely that the results have been disappointing, leading to a change to a more coercive approach.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with ChrisO_wiki

ChrisO_wiki Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ChrisO_wiki

Apr 1
1/ The Russian IT sector faces being crippled by new, harsh penalties for using VPNs. The Russian public also faces an imminent ban on the use of foreign AI systems, which developers say will wreck Russia's development of its own AIs. ⬇️ Image
2/ Russia's Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media has put forward a bill on state regulation of artificial intelligence, which essentially outlaws the use of foreign AI systems such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
3/ Although they are officially blocked in Russia, foreign AI systems are widely used via VPNs. 51% of Russians – and 81% of those under 34 said in a 2025 TASS poll that they had used AI in the past year, with ChatGPT and Deepseek accounting for 47% of the Russian market.
Read 16 tweets
Apr 1
1/ Russians fighting in Ukraine are now unable to buy Chinese-made drone jammers due to Internet blocking, according to one Russian soldier. His account illustrates the practical – and quite possibly lethal – frontline impact of the Kremlin's Internet restrictions. ⬇️ Image
2/ 'Marmot of the Burning Prairie' writes:

"I had the dubious pleasure of experiencing whitelisting firsthand. I was stunned.

Without the skills to bypass blocks:
- no Telegram
- no LiveJournal
- VK hasn't changed much, just as slow
- no IMO"
3/ "But that's just mere lip service. There are no Google services, no Apple, which means some modern phones will turn into outrageously expensive phone apps.
Read 8 tweets
Apr 1
1/ With losses escalating in Ukraine, a Russian region has ordered businesses to send their employees to fight. Varying recruitment quotas have been set depending on the size of the business. The 'voluntary-compulsory' scheme appears to be a de facto form of mobilisation. ⬇️ Image
2/ 'Military Informant' publishes the text of the decree:

"The Governor of the Ryazan Region has established a plan for local businesses to recruit contract soldiers into the military."
3/ "According to a published decree by regional governor Pavel Malkov, all business entities in the Ryazan Region will be required to recruit candidates for contract military service in the Russian Armed Forces from 20 March 2026 to 20 September 2026: Image
Image
Read 8 tweets
Apr 1
1/ Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has proposed that Russia should shift to a 12 hour working day and 6 day working week to halt the country's deepening economic crisis. This has not gone down well with Russian commentators, who compare it to slavery and feudalism. ⬇️ Image
2/ Writing on his personal Telegram channel, Deripaska argues that "in difficult times, we know how to pull ourselves together and work more. And the sooner we switch to this new schedule—from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., including Saturdays—the faster we will undergo this transformation."
3/ Gennady Onishchenko, the former head of Rospotrebnadzor (Russia's national consumer rights agency) and academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has gone further: he says that Deripaska's proposal must become mandatory and enshrined in law.
Read 29 tweets
Mar 31
1/ An ongoing list of the times that Donald Trump has declared victory in the war in Iran (this will be expanded over time): Image
2/ March 7th: "We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!"
3/ Also on March 7th: "We're winning the war by a lot. We've decimated their whole evil empire."
Read 9 tweets
Mar 31
1/ The City of London bank Peel Hunt has warned investors that Donald Trump "may have lost control" of the Iran war, raising the "real risk of an inflationary recession" globally. Prolonged higher interest rates are forecast to be a significant possibility. ⬇️ Image
2/ The bank has issued a briefing note to investors drafted by its chief economist, @KallumPickering. He writes:
3/ "Donald Trump may have lost control of the situation, which makes a quick (unilateral) resolution harder and increases the risk that the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked even once fighting ends."
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(