prisoners who were unaccounted

“He told me, ‘They twisted my arms until I cracked.’ Then he vanished. He was due for release in two years,” she said. “Now he’s gone.” Between 2022 and 2023, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported a record 58,000 prisoners who were unaccounted for. Initially recruited by the once-notorious Wagner Group, they are now absorbed by the Defense Ministry’s own shadow battalions. Romanova said this includes women. In one case, a state TV journalist from Channel One visited a women’s prison in Siberia to film a propaganda piece, while also recruiting. Dozens of women reportedly signed up and were sent to the front as part of the military unit Esmeralda after talking to the reporter. ดูหนัง24