Vladimir Putin’s spokesman was responding to a question about Vladislav Kaniouss, a man sentenced to 17 years in prison for the dirty murder of his ex-partner and, according to some Russian media, released after fighting on the Ukrainian front. The Vladislav Kaniouss affair caused great emotions among the country’s women’s defense organizations.
In recent months, the local Russian press has reported several cases of released prisoners who committed serious crimes, including murder or rape, after leaving the army following amnesty.
The example of Wagner
In fact, since last year, tens of thousands of repeat prison offenders, including some convicted of murder or rape, have been recruited to fight in Ukraine for several months in exchange for an amnesty. This strategy was implemented in parallel with the mobilization of several hundred thousand reservists, i.e. civilians, in autumn 2022.
According to Olga Romanova, an exiled journalist who advocates for the rights of prisoners and opposition figures in Russia, Moscow has recruited a total of 100,000 prison fighters. The Kremlin, for its part, has never given an official number. But this strategy can prove dangerous for society when these habitual offenders return from the front, NGOs are already warning.