Is Vladimir Putin Working With ‘Organized Crime Syndicate’ To Enlist Mercenaries In Ukraine War?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused on Thursday of working with organized crime organizations in order to boost the number of soldiers fighting in Ukraine, as he also revives an old Soviet award in an attempt to also increase the population.

A series of reports from multiple independent Russian media outlets claim that the Wagner Group and Kremlin-affiliated businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has been going around Russian prisons recruiting the people inside them to fight for Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the Daily Beast.

A witness called Ivan, who claims to be a staffer for the company, said that the group was going around looking for recruits for the war due to the belief that many of the soldiers in the Russian military could not cope with the war.

“He called his organization an organized crime group and talked a lot about the advantage of participating in war through them. Honestly, I thought it was a surrealistic dream,” Ivan said. “That gangsters are really in power and they don’t give a fuck about any human rights organizations like Gulagu.net or the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers.”

One prisoner said that they were only recruiting those who were convicted of murder and who were willing to murder again, and that they promised to return once they “run out” of inmates. They also were reportedly not being paid the compensation that they were promised.

Meanwhile, Putin has returned the Soviet-era “Mother Heroine” award which gives women who have ten children who survive the age of one an award of US$16,500 for their efforts, in what is seen as an attempt to alleviate a population and demographic crisis in the country, CNN reported.

This new order comes as it was reported that the Russian population plunged by an average of 86,000 people per month from January to May, with over 75,300 citizens fleeing the country since the start of the war. Putin appears to hope that the award would encourage women to give birth to more Russians to offset the diaspora.