The Kremlin reacted Friday to a backlash after Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned a high-profile assassin for his involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, explained why Vladislav Kanyus, a man convicted of murdering his 23-year-old ex-girlfriend, was pardoned to fight in Ukraine. He was sentenced last July to 17 years in maximum security prison for the murder. by Vera Pekhteleva in Kemerovo, Siberia, in 2020.
Russia has reportedly been recruiting extensively from prisons for months, in a bid to assist its war efforts in neighboring Ukraine. The British Ministry of Defense said in May that Russia’s military has “ramped up” its recruitment of prison inmates this year, but the effort has not kept pace with its casualty rate in Ukraine.
“They expiate with blood the crimes committed on the battlefield, in the attack brigades, with bullets, shells,” Peskov told reporters.
The mother of the slain woman said in June that she had discovered that Kanyus had gone to Ukraine to take part in the war. On Nov. 8, human rights activist Alena Popova said Kanyus had received Putin’s pardon.
Newsweek has reached out to Russia’s Foreign Ministry for further comment via email.
According to Agentstvo, a Russian investigation filed in 2021, at least 17 other people who committed high-profile murders, including Kanyus, were pardoned for fighting in Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. The publication claims that they all participated in the war in Ukraine, with some committing crimes when they returned to Russia.
Russian media also reported last month that former Wagner Group fighters are rampaging in Russia, They have been accused of committing a range of crimes after leaving the war zone in Ukraine and returning home.
The Wagner Group, which the Kremlin says was absorbed into the Russian Defense Ministry following a failed mutiny attempt through its late leader Eugene Prigozhin on June 24, has been recruiting extensively in prisons from 2022 onward. Prigozhin died in a personal plane crash in August.
The men had their sentences commuted and monetary incentives in exchange for six months of military service in Ukraine. In December 2022, Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human rights activist who interviewed former members of the Wagner Group, told Newsweek that as many as 30,000 men had been killed. recruited and deployed in Ukraine.
In addition to recruiting prisoners, Russia is also hiring women for front-line positions in Ukraine, attracting foreign fighters and rounding up immigrants with Russian citizenship.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek journalist based in Kuala Lumpur. She most recently focuses on the war between Russia and Ukraine and has covered human rights issues in her previous roles. Isabel joined Newsweek in 2021 and in the past she has worked with media outlets including the Daily Express, The Times, Harper’s BAZAAR and Grazia. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism from City University of London and a BA in Russian language from QMUL. Languages: English, Russian
You can get in touch with Isabel by emailing [email protected] handle: @isabelvanbrugen