The State Duma has authorized the recruitment of individuals convicted of banditry and organized crime for military service

The Russian State Duma passed a package of bills in three readings, allowing individuals convicted under 11 additional serious criminal charges to enter into contracts with the Ministry of Defense. 

The changes were adopted amid a slowdown in the recruitment of contract soldiers and rising casualties on the front lines in Ukraine. From now on, individuals convicted or charged with banditry, participation in an organized criminal group, drug smuggling, organizing illegal migration, as well as the illegal handling and theft of nuclear materials.

Kolesnik, a member of the Duma’s Defense Committee, stated that such recruits will be assigned to assault units. According to him, the recruits will have to undergo a screening process, and not all of them will return. According to estimates by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in the first half of the year, the Russian Armed Forces’ monthly losses in Ukraine ranged from 30,000 to 34,000 personnel, which exceeded the rate of recruitment of new contract soldiers. In total, since the start of the war, Russia has lost approximately 1.4 million personnel—killed, seriously wounded, or missing in action—of whom at least 450,000 were killed.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Goremykin noted that the new categories of convicts will make it possible to expand the pool of candidates for military service. He emphasized that recruits enlisted under the new law will serve in special units separate from military personnel without similar criminal records. The practice of enlisting individuals with criminal records has been in effect since the fall of 2022, when the recruitment of citizens with convictions for most serious crimes was permitted, and the rule was later extended to include those under investigation and on trial.