The National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardia) started hiring former mercenaries from the so-called Wagner PMC from among pardoned ex-prisoners.

The Russian publication Vazhnye Istorii reported on this.

Messages about possible recruitment to the National Guard of the Russian Federation started to appear in the private chats of the Wagner PMC mercenaries’ relatives.

Several relatives of the ex-prisoners shared that after their contracts ended, the mercenaries were invited to serve in the Rosgvardia, but before that, they were tested.

They are not hired “for leadership positions or even as mid-level officers.”

The journalists conducted an investigation and reached out to several units of the National Guard of the Russian Federation under the guise of mercenaries.

The 2nd Battalion of the Moscow Rosgvardia reported that it was possible to join their unit even without experience in the regular military, but it would all depend on the nature of the crime committed and how long ago the candidate was imprisoned.

In Rostov-on-Don, a candidate was offered to sign a contract and be deployed to guard “strategic facilities” in the occupied part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The law enforcement service in Rostov-on-Don itself is not available to former prisoners.

In early September, the Russian Defense Ministry proposed to the government that prisoners be registered with the military. In June, the Russian president legalized an amnesty for prisoners who signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense.

Suspects, defendants, suspended prisoners, and convicts can now be released after signing a contract during mobilization or martial law, if they have not committed crimes of a “terrorist”, “extremist”, or anti-state nature, or been accused of pedophilia.

In addition, according to the Russian law “On Military Duty and Military Service,” citizens with expunged or cancelled criminal records are eligible to serve in paramilitary structures.

As previously reported, the National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardia) will also receive heavy weapons, including tanks.