Putin’s ‘chef’ offered to pardon violent criminals and sex offenders incarcerated in Russia’s former Gulag prison district if they survive six months of combat in Ukraine.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, 61, advised Ukrainian prisoners to commit suicide rather than be captured, instructing them to hold one grenade for the enemy and one for themselves.
Video footage depicts Prigozhin telling offenders they may become military heroes or be executed as deserters, as the Kremlin ramps up recruiting of detainees following a humiliating setback at the hands of the Ukrainian army.
He was recorded telling them, “This is a difficult fight, but it’s nothing compared to Chechnya and the others.”
‘My ammunition consumption is two-and-a-half times greater than in the Battle of Stalingrad,’ in which there were nearly two million casualties, he claimed.
The sales pitch to hundreds of inmates under grey skies in a high security correctional colony in Mordovia, a former Gulag prison camp region, comes directly from Prigozhin, who was recently honored a Hero of Russia for his loyalty and is known as Vladimir Putin’s “chef.”
Putin offers murderers, sexual offenders, and thieves immediate freedom and a pardon if they survive six months on the front lines of the brutal conflict.
He promises them that those who die will be buried “like heroes.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, 61, informed the prisoners that if they survive six months in the fight against Ukraine, they will be pardoned.
He advised that they commit themselves rather than be taken prisoner.
The Wagner commander gave the prisoners five minutes to decide if they wished to join Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Minimum age is 22, maximum age is 50, and a six-month commitment is required.
Those who risk capture by Ukraine are ordered to self-immolate with grenades rather than surrender to the enemy.
It is stated that deserting convict soldiers will be shot immediately with a bullet to the head.
Prigozhin, 61, admits in a secretly shot video that he represents the Wagner private force dispatched by Putin in Ukraine.
He has previously denied any association with Wagner, which is reported to have already recruited thousands of detainees as Russia deploys its most dangerous criminals as warriors.
“I am a representative of the Wagner Group, a private military contractor,” he informs the assembled prison inmates.
He cautions the prisoners, “Desertion is the first sin.” No one deserts, no one surrenders, and no one gives up. You will be instructed on how to submit.’
He stated that they should take their own lives rather than be captured.
“You must carry two grenades,” he said. “One for our enemies and one for yourself.”
The second vice is drinking and illegal drugs in the battle zone… This includes sexual interaction with native women, men, flora, fauna, and anyone else.
Putin’s chef Yevgeny Prigozhin (indicated) is photographed at the beginning of August 2022 with other Wagner Group warriors in LNR.
Putin’s chef Yevgeny Prigozhin (seen on the right) at the tomb of a Russian prisoner killed in Ukraine.
Minimum age is 22, maximum age is 50, and ‘excellent physical condition’ is required.
The multimillionaire Prigozhin, who served as Putin’s chef at Kremlin banquets before becoming a trusted fixer, also operates so-called troll factories that disseminate propaganda within Russia and abroad.
He brags that the first forty prisoners he dispatched to Putin’s battle from a St. Petersburg prison in June “stormed the opposing positions and slaughtered them with knives.”
He reports that three inmate fighters were killed and seven were injured.
“One of our dead was 52 years old.” He endured thirty years in prison and died a hero.
If they pass examinations, Prigozhin acknowledges to sending sex and drug offenders to war.
“We take excellent care of those incarcerated for sexual offenses, but we recognize that people make mistakes,” he says.
Inmates would serve as attack forces.
He tells the prisoners, “Sixty percent of my guys are assault soldiers, and you will be one of them.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin (right) is shown with Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin is affiliated with the Wagner private military organization, which has bolstered the Russian army in Ukraine.
“You will be treated the same, sometimes with even greater loyalty than those who fought alongside my army for many years and fought in dozens of conflicts…
“In Wagner, I have numerous types of aircraft and multiple launch rocket systems.”
“I have tanks and everything else required for an effective attack.” Those who go in the lead are the most powerful and survive better.
‘Those who withdraw and don’t know what to do get into difficulty… All deceased individuals will be transported to the location you choose in your will, to family members, or buried anywhere you specify.
If at all possible, fallen prisoner combatants will be interred in Alleys of [Fallen] Heroes, which have sprung up in numerous Russian cities as the war’s horrific toll has risen.
Those who escaped or expressed misgivings, however, will be executed, he threatens.
“Those who don’t know where to be buried, we bury by the church of the Wagner Group,” he stated. ‘[If you survive] six months, you are pardoned and allowed to return home…
There is no possibility that you will return to prison. Those who come to us and say on the first day, ‘This location doesn’t feel right,’ are designated as deserters and executed by firing squad.
He informed the prisoners that they had five minutes to decide.
“I will save your life. But I do not always return you alive…’ he added, adding, ‘Those who wish to go with us, go.’
Pro-war and Kremlin-aligned news agencies acknowledged that the man in the video was Prigozhin.