After male prisoners, why not female prisoners.
The paramilitary organization Wagner plans to recruit women detainees in Russian prisons and send them to fight in Ukraine, its leader Yevgeny Prigojine, reputedly close to Vladimir Putin, said on Wednesday.
“Not just as nurses or operators, but also in saboteur groups or sniper teams.
We all know that this has already been done massively, ”he said.
The leader of the Wagner group was obviously alluding to female snipers and those present in the partisan groups who fought in World War II and who were promoted by Soviet propaganda.
“We are working in this direction.
There is resistance, but I think we will overcome it, ”added Evguéni Prigojine.
Mass recruitment in prisons
He was reacting to a message from a Russian elected official from the Urals who claimed that women detained in a prison in the city of Nizhny Tagil asked him to be sent to the Ukrainian front to help the Russian army.
In recent months, Wagner has been suspected of recruiting male prisoners en masse from Russian prisons and then sending them to fight on the front lines in Ukraine on the promise of reduced sentences and attractive stipends.
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Since 2014, this group has been accused of serving the interests of the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the shadows and of committing abuses in many conflict zones, particularly in Syria and in African countries.