Russia is using “poorly-trained convicts” to bolster its armed forces as Moscow’s assault on Ukraine continues, according to UK intelligence.
The former inmates have been enlisted by the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked mercenary group.
According to the latest intelligence report posted on Twitter by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), they are seen as “expendable” and threatened with “summary execution” if they fail to follow orders.
The MoD said the Wagner Group “continues to take a major role in attritional combat” in the Donetsk region.
“In recent months, it has developed offensive tactics to make use of the large number of poorly-trained convicts it has recruited,” the update said.
The fighters are given a smart phone or tablet and told to follow a pre-planned route using commercial satellite imagery.
“Wagner operatives who deviate from their assault routes without authorisation are likely being threatened with summary execution,” the MoD update said.
“These brutal tactics aim to conserve Wagner’s rare assets of experienced commanders and armoured vehicles, at the expense of the more readily available convict-recruits, which the organisation assesses as expendable.”
It emerged yesterday that Russia is sending opera singers, actors and circus performers to the front line in Ukraine in an attempt to boost their troops’ “fragile morale”.
UK intelligence have previously reported that Russian military chiefs have been hit by “factional tensions” over the country’s struggles in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin is also rumoured to have sacked a senior army boss amid growing concerns in Moscow at how the war is going.
In a further sign that the invasion of Ukraine is not going to plan for Russia, it emerged last week that Putin had cancelled his traditional end-of-year press conference.
It will be the first time in a decade that the Q&A - normally a fixture of the Moscow political calendar - has not gone ahead.
