Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Convicts who have fought for the Russian army in Ukraine say they have been abandoned by the state, left without arms, legs or the compensation they were promised. They say that arbitrary executions of convict soldiers are commonplace and life expectancy is only "hours". ⬇️

2/ Novaya Gazeta Europe has published an interview with former convicts who have returned home after receiving severe injuries in Ukraine. After January 2023, the Wagner Group was no longer allowed to recruit from prisons and the Russian Ministry of Defence took over instead.

3/ Thousands of convicts have been assigned to 'Storm Z' assault units for use in so-called 'meat assaults'. They were given six-month contracts which some have completed, though many thousands appear to have either died or have been too severely injured to continue fighting.

4/ Sergei Cherepanov from the Novosibirsk region lost his foot in a mine explosion near Soledar on 20 May 2023. He had only signed his contract three weeks earlier along with 150 other men, on 28 April, with nine months left of his six-year sentence.

5/ Cherepanov says that many men from his prison had previously signed contracts with Wagner. He signed up "out of strong love for Russia," with payments and pardons a secondary consideration. He was put in charge of a company of stormtroopers recruited in his prison colony.

6/ According to Cherepanov, "where Storm fights, life expectancy is hours." He says that when he brought his company to a front-line position, "after a day half of them were gone: some became cargo 200 [killed], and some became 300 [wounded]."

7/ Cherepanov comments that many professional criminals, the 'thieves-in-law' or vory, disdain military service as they consider themselves opposed to state authority. "The thieves don’t go to war, it’s not part of their principles, it’s unacceptable to them."

8/ "They say they are against the system and will not go hand in hand with them. Because they are shit, they are only capable of bending their fingers, but when it comes to business, they go into the bushes."

9/ "And those who are men, they went, but they still have a romantic view [about war]. They are quickly made to realise that it doesn't belong here."

10/ This may not be a universal attitude among the vory, as another convict, Denis from Kursk, comments. "I myself am one of the thieves and I've reconsidered my views. When you go to war, there are no [prison] distinctions, there is one whole.

11/ "If there is a normal commander, then no matter what kind of criminal you may be, you will listen to your commander and follow all his orders one hundred per cent."

12/ Some prison hierarchies continue into military service, in particular the treatment of raped convicts, who are known as the 'cocks', 'lowered', or 'offended'. They are treated as outcasts and untouchables, and sleep on the floor next to open toilets.

13/ "They are not taken to avoid excesses," Cherepanov says. "No one will have anything to do with the lowered." According to prisoners' rights activists, the 'lowered' often fight in separate units so that ordinary convicts do not have to mix with them.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1593042514109689856

14/ This replicates the treatment of the 'lowered' in the Wagner Group, which formed a 'cock division' to accomodate them. Russia's prison hierarchies appear to be so strong that they may supersede some normal military hierarchies even within the army.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1599360352403087360

15/ According to another convict soldier, Vlad Dyumin from Buryatia, some of the 'lowered' or 'cocks' were assigned to his own unit. They were likely fellow ethnic Buryats, serving in a unit specifically recruited from the Buryat convict population.

16/ This complicated his interactions with them: Russian prison culture deems that any interaction with a cock (other than rape) forever contaminates a man and makes him a cock too, even it happens outside prison. Dyumin would be treated as a cock if he ever returned to prison.

17/ "I've lived as a man all my life, studied, worked, and I have my own personal principles. We have 'cocks', and even being at the front, knowing that this is a person of such status, why should I share dishes with him, for example?"

18/ "A situation could arise where we would be left alone, but I tried to avoid this."

19/ Cherepanov's military career was cut short, along with his leg, when he stepped on a mine. However, like many prisoners, he was denied the compensation he was supposed to receive because the military authorities would not issue him a certificate of injury.

20/ Instead of receiving the 3 million rubles ($33,420) he was entitled to, Cherepanov had to make do with a 500,000 ruble ($5,570) payment from his regional government. He has been unemployed since his injury. Other convicts have made similar complaints.

https://x.com/Eric_Lecomte_/status/1750537795179876743

21/ He blames the lack of payment on "corrupt officials from the Ministry of Defence" who "want to deceive and gobble up this money." However, he doesn't assign any blame to Putin: "I would never believe that if he knew what was really going on, he would approve of it."

22/ Denis lost a leg to a mine and suffered shrapnel injuries to his other limbs. He was also not compensated and is bitter about it: "They promised mountains of gold and payments like an ordinary contract soldier, but in the end – nothing.

23/ "Instead of the promised 204,000 ($2,272) a month, they paid [me] 100,000 ($1,114), and some were not paid at all. I can’t understand what we are supposed to do then, just die on the battlefield, and that’s all?"

24/ Igor Kharaponov from Kaluga had five years of his sentence for murder remaining when he signed a contract in August 2023. He lost his right leg two months later in an artillery attack, and like the others he was denied a certificate of injury and compensation for his wounds.

25/ Kharaponov only received 100,000 rubles of his 170,000 ruble ($1,894) salary. He says he joined up to "clean up his biography and protect Russia", and thought there was "nothing terrible in war" – indeed, he enjoyed going on combat missions.

26/ According to Kharaponov, the war has erased hierarchies among the ordinary convicts. "There is no such thing in the Special Military Operation zone, we were warned straight away: forget about prison concepts. In the SMO zone, everyone is equal."

27/ He does not approve of cannibals being allowed to fight, as has happened on several occasions. He says they should either be "nullified" (killed) or be left to "rot alive on their bunks" as "they will certainly return to their old ways" if freed.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1727774486756237686

28/ On the other hand, ordinary murderers – like Kharaponov – are okay, unless they are repeat offenders. "Only those who have served their sentences at least twice cannot be released before the appointed time."

29/ Vlad Dyumin only lost two fingers, so he is expecting to go back to war soon. He was convicted of murder at the age of 15 and was serving a second sentence for attempted murder when he signed a contract on 14 October 2023.

30/ He received his injury during a presumably failed assault on a Ukrainian position. "We call it the 'zero [line]'. This is when there are only a few hundred to several tens of meters left to the enemy." His detachment was hit by mortar fire, which tore off two of his fingers.

31/ There was no evacuation. "It depends on your luck, but risking an evacuation group because of one, two, five [wounded] is expensive. It’s good if your legs are intact or your colleagues can carry you to a safer distance. I myself and four guys with me evacuated on our own."

32/ Denis had 11 years left of his sentence for murder, but he claims he had other motives for wanting to sign a contract. "I am a person who could not watch civilians, including children and the elderly, suffer."

33/ "And I have never understood those people who went there in order to be released as soon as possible."

He was made a platoon commander, in charge of 22 ex-convicts deployed as stormtroopers, despite his lack of military experience.

34/ During one assault, Denis was blown up by a mine and was dragged off the battlefield by his fellow soldiers. He says that the army takes a harsh disciplinary approach towards convict soldiers, using summary executions in the same way that Wagner used to.

35/ If ex-convicts are deemed to have disclosed information about the conduct of military operations or what is happening in their unit, according to Denis, "they are arrested and taken away for cancellation." This happens both with and without higher authorisation.

36/ "Do you know what cancellation is? They shoot you, that's what cancellation is. And then they are listed as missing, that’s how it is. In a neighbouring company, a guy filmed a video of an assault and sent it home – after he was found out, he was cancelled."

37/ "Cancellation happens for everything, even for filming at a position when storming an enemy stronghold." /end

Source:
novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/…