According to ISW, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is no longer offering pardons to convicted recruits and is significantly changing their terms of service.
Russian convicted recruits no longer receive pardons from Putin
According to American analysts, the Kremlin faced a reduction in the number of convicts suitable for recruitment into the Russian armed forces.
The BBC learned that the aggressor country finished recruiting for Storm-Z units in August 2023 and began recruiting convicts for Storm-V units based on new contract terms in September 2023.
What is essential to understand is that the authorities of the Russian Federation used to recruit convicts with promises of pardons and six-month contracts.
Storm-V units reportedly do not promise pardons or even parole and continue the contracts of convicts indefinitely until the end of the war.
Russian officials likely extended the contracts based on Russian President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilisation order, as the Russian military does for mobilised personnel.
Russian convicted recruits are dying en masse in the war against Ukraine
Official Moscow does not hide that as of October 2023, the number of prisoners in Russia was 266,000.
Journalists immediately announced a noticeable reduction of 54,000 prisoners compared to January 2023.
US analysts believe the large-scale loss of conscripts from gruelling assaults in Ukraine and the relatively short terms of their contracts may have prompted the Kremlin to impose stricter terms of service to keep more conscripts at the front in Ukraine.
The Russian opposition publication "Vazhnie Istorii" [Important Stories] reported on January 25 that the personnel of "Storm-Z" wrote a letter to Putin with a request to solve the problem of the lack of promised payments, payments for injuries and documents on the removal of criminal records for the personnel.
