UN experts alarmed by recruitment of Russian prisoners by ‘Wagner Group’

The recruitment of prisoners serving sentences in Russian correctional facilities for the private military and security contractor, known as the Wagner Group, is alarming, UN experts said Friday.

"We are deeply disturbed by reports of visits by members of the so-called Wagner Group to correctional facilities in various regions of Russia, offering pardons for criminal sentences to prisoners who join the group and take part in the war in Ukraine, as well as a monthly payment to their relatives," the experts said.

They said the Wagner Group has allegedly recruited Russian and foreign nationals serving prison sentences.

The UN experts received reports of the use of pressure tactics by Wagner recruiters, suggesting that recruitment was sometimes carried out through threats or intimidation.

In some cases, while recruiters were visiting facilities, detainees were reportedly denied communication with their families and lawyers, which could amount to or expose them to enforced disappearance.

"Reports that recruited prisoners were allegedly taken to a detention facility in the Rostov region for training before being sent to Ukraine, and that they were transferred to Ukraine without identification documents and required to sign a contract with the Wagner Group, are deeply disturbing," the experts said.

"We are particularly concerned that the Wagner Group has extended its recruitment to correctional facilities in the Donetsk region of Ukraine," the experts said.

THREATS AND INTIMIDATION

They warned that the reported practice of recruiting prisoners under the threat of punishment or intimidation, and forcing them to participate in hostilities could also lead to violations of the right to life.

"The prisoners are reported to have been deployed in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and to have been involved in a range of activities-including providing military services, rebuilding infrastructure, and taking direct part in hostilities on the side of the Russian forces," the experts said.

They also said Wagner Group recruits allegedly participated in human rights and humanitarian law violations during the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine.

Such allegations include enforced disappearances of Ukrainian soldiers and officers captured during hostilities with Ukrainian forces.

"We are troubled by allegations that recruited prisoners are regularly threatened and ill-treated by their superiors," the experts said.

"We have information that several recruits have been executed for attempting to escape and, in other cases, seriously injured in public as a warning to other recruits. Such tactics constitute human rights violations and may amount to war crimes," they said.

The experts include Chair-Rapporteur Ravindran Daniel, Jelena Aparac, Carlos Salazar Couto, Chris Kwaja, and Sorcha MacLeod from the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights, as well as Morris Tidball-Binz -- the special rapporteur on extra-judicial executions -- and Alice Jill Edwards -- the special rapporteur on torture and other experts.

They said countries must regulate and monitor the activities of private military and security contractors, including the recruitment of personnel, the status of these contractors, their actions, and modes of incorporation, the experts recalled.

"The Government of the Russian Federation has an obligation to exercise the utmost vigilance to protect detainees from violence, exploitation, and intimidation," they said.

The experts also said they had expressed their concerns about these allegations to the Russian government and the Wagner Group.