Russia proposes to register prisoners for military service

The Russian Defense Ministry proposed to introduce military registration for prisoners.

Draft amendments to the regulation on military registration have been published on the official portal of legal acts.

The document proposes that people serving sentences in prisons should be registered for military service under a special procedure – directly in prisons, without visiting the military registration and enlistment office.

“Correctional facilities of the penitentiary system and military commissariats at the location of penitentiary institutions are conducting the special military registration,” the draft law says.

The prisons themselves will compile the lists of prisoners eligible for military service, and the data will be changed when prisoners are staged or released, and transferred to military commissariats.

At the moment, citizens serving a prison sentence in the Russian Federation are not subject to military registration.

In June, the State Duma passed two bills in two readings that regulate the conscription of prisoners and exempt Russian soldiers at war from criminal liability in cases of minor and moderate severity.

Since the summer of 2022, Russian prisoners have been actively recruited to participate in the war against Ukraine, promised pardons and monetary payments.

The Russian military leadership is trying to compensate for its losses in the war with Ukraine at the expense of prisoners.

The practice of involving prisoners in the war in Ukraine was actually initiated by the now late (according to the Russian authorities – Ed.) head of the so-called Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Back in 2022, it was reported that criminals were offered to expunge their criminal record after three months of service in units participating in hostilities on Ukrainian territory.

For repeat offenders or those convicted of serious crimes, this period was six months.