Russia has allowed individuals convicted of organized crime and drug smuggling to be drafted into the military

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has signed a law expanding the list of individuals eligible to enter into a contract with the Ministry of Defense during mobilization, martial law, or wartime.

The right to enlist has been granted to individuals convicted of or suspected of banditry, participation in a criminal organization, smuggling drugs, weapons, and cash, organizing illegal migration, as well as the illegal handling of nuclear materials, compromising the security of fuel and energy complex facilities, and the loss of documents containing state secrets.

Source: Official Legal Information Portal of the Russian Federation.

Casualties among the personnel of the Russian occupation forces in the full-scale war against Ukraine have begun to exceed the pace of mobilization efforts in the Russian Federation. 

As previously reported, the recruitment of prisoners in the Russian Federation has been taking place since 2022 in penal colonies across Russia; They were promised 100,000–200,000 rubles per month, additional payments in case of injury, approximately 5 million rubles to their relatives if the recruit was killed, as well as amnesty after six months of war. But then Putin deceived the prisoners, who had agreed to fight in exchange for their release, and stopped signing amnesty decrees.