The West has promised arms deliveries and especially battle tanks for the Ukraine war.
Putin now wants to use Russia's prisoners to solve his own supply problems.
Munich – After the announced deliveries of tanks from the west to the Ukraine, the direction from Russia for further action in the Ukraine war was clear: offensive.
Many experts are already fearing the major spring offensive in the war in Ukraine, which Putin's troops could launch in February or within a few days.
The tanks, with which the Russian army intends to counter western arms deliveries for the Ukraine, also play an important part in this scenario for the Ukraine war.
But while Germany, the US and other nations have agreed to supply Leopard and Abrams tanks, the exact timing is uncertain.
Some are scheduled to be delivered as early as spring, while a large proportion, as in the case of the older Leopard 1 tanks, will probably be available to Ukraine in the summer or even as late as 2024, according to media consensus.
War in Ukraine: Russia's tank production is faltering - Putin wants prisoners for weapons production
Actually good news for Russia and Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, to gain a decisive advantage in the Ukraine war, in order not only to counter the Leopard or Abrams with the mass of Russian tanks.
While business with Putin's blood diamonds is thriving despite EU sanctions, Russia's army is struggling with its own supply problems, mainly due to the lack of personnel in the Russian armaments industry.
According to estimates by British military experts, Moscow is likely to increasingly resort to prisoners as workers in order to close the gaps in arms production.
That's according to the UK Ministry of Defense's daily Ukraine war intelligence update on Friday (January 3).
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin could possibly use 400,000 prisoners to boost production in his defense industry for the Ukraine war.
© Sputnik
The approximately 400,000 prisoners in Russia are a "unique" resource for Moscow in the war of aggression against Ukraine, the statement continues, which refers to the current assessment of the situation in Russia with consequences for the Ukraine war.
Accordingly, their labor is particularly in demand for the manufacture of technically less sophisticated weapons, since the manufacturers are under pressure to increase production.
Russia's weapons production: prisoners soon also in demand in the armaments industry
It would not be the first time that Russia has resorted to prisoners.
A particularly prominent example: The famous and above all notorious Wagner group, which earned a dubious reputation in the Ukraine war, consists at least of parts of former prisoners who are fighting for the Russian special operation in Ukraine.
The mercenary troupe of "Putin's cook" Prigozhin plays an important role on the front line.
Now the prisoners could also play an important role away from the frontline in the war in Ukraine, in order to put Putin's plans into reality and to move the currently deadlocked situation in the Ukraine war forward again.
And that before the West puts its main battle tank deliveries into action.
(mst)
List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin Pool
