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By Isabel van Brugen
News Reporter
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Russia has resorted to recruiting prisoners with infectious diseases as soldiers to make up for its combat losses in the war, according to Ukraine's military intelligence agency.
The press service of the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine said on Tuesday that the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit close to the Kremlin, has started to recruit large numbers of prisoners who are suffering from serious infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.
"This practice has become widespread. For example, over a hundred inmates with confirmed diagnoses of HIV or hepatitis C have been 'mobilized' to the Wagner Group from one penal colony," the intelligence agency said.
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The prisoners are reportedly given colored bracelets to differentiate them from other soldiers—red bands if they have HIV, and white bands if they have hepatitis—and are not provided with medical care by the Russians if they are wounded, the agency alleged.
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The report said that Ukraine has captured Russian soldiers who have such infectious diseases.
Newsweek was unable to independently verify the agency's assessment and has reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment.
The Wagner Group is also recruiting in penal colonies in far-flung regions of Russia, according to Olga Romanova, head of the prisoner advocacy group Russia Behind Bars.
Romanova told Russian news outlet Agentstvo ("Agency") last week that the mercenary unit had recruited 5,000 prisoners in a week, mostly from penal colonies east of the Ural Mountains, which divides Russia's European and Asian regions.
She said the Wagner Group previously only sent representatives to the European part of Russia for recruits, and that now, it is looking to draft soldiers among citizens of the former Soviet Union, including Belarus and Tajikistan.
Russia has also sought to recruit volunteers for Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine from a mental health unit in St. Petersburg, offering cash incentives and more to encourage people to fight.
Last month, the website of the Psychoneurological Dispensary No. 2 in St. Petersburg displayed a poster calling for military recruits for the volunteer battalions "Kronstadt," "Neva" and "Pavlovsk" on its homepage.
According to the ad, which later appeared to have been removed, volunteers who sign contracts of at least six months are promised lump-sum payments, compensation for housing and communal services, the right to receive the status of a combat veteran, the right to enter universities without competition and one-time material assistance.
It comes amid a larger recruitment drive after Putin declared a "partial mobilization" in the country on September 21. Putin said on October 14 that "all mobilization activities" in the country would be completed in about two weeks.
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