“After six months, you go home and receive a pardon. There are no options to return to prison.

You have five minutes to decide.”

The footage is grainy but it captures a clear offer to the hundreds of inmates gathered in this Russian prison yard: survive six months fighting with the Wagner Group in Ukraine – and return a free man.

It was September 2022. The video shows the mercenary force’s leader, Evgeny Prigozhin, confirming the group’s new prisoner recruitment strategy for the first time. The scheme would go on to see as many as 50,000 prisoners fight in Ukraine on their behalf, according to estimates.

Over seven months after the prison recruitment drive began, videos depicting returned fighters are beginning to emerge. Among them, violent criminals seemingly freed via presidential decree whose new status as celebrated war veterans has left some uncomfortable.

Using social media and court documents, Sky News reveals what is known about Wagner’s prisoner recruitment scheme and explores the stories of the violent offenders whose service has afforded them military hero status.

Content warning: this article contains descriptions of serious violence including domestic abuse.

“I’m just thankful they gave me this chance,” one man says.

“You’re not just fighting for something. You are fighting for your children and, naturally, for your families, for money.”

The man is one of several former prisoners shown expressing their gratitude to the Wagner Group in a January video published by the Prigozhin-affiliated RIA FAN news agency.

At least four reports detailing the return of penal colony recruits following their service in Ukraine with the mercenary force have been shared on the platform since 5 January.

Journalists from the Russian independent media outlet Verstka identified the man as Kirill Neglin from the town of Segheza in Russia’s far north.

On his social media page, Neglin is pictured cradling a small child alongside a woman presumed to be his partner. His profile description states: “I LOVE MY FAMILY.”

Court documents, however, paint a much darker picture of this self-proclaimed family man.

Before joining Wagner, Neglin was serving a 12-year sentence for crimes including domestic abuse after two attacks that left his wife in hospital with life threatening injuries.

In court, his wife described how Neglin threatened to kill her during the incident, a warning that Neglin repeated during the trial.

“As long as the court will measure my term, so much she has left to live,” he said.

In the trial, his wife explained how the couple had known each other since childhood, describing him as a “bully”. They later married and their relationship remained steady until Neglin began drinking and “it was like he had been replaced”.

According to his wife’s testimony, Neglin had drunk half a bottle of vodka when he turned aggressive and began beating her while their child was present at home. She pleaded with him to stop, but described how the alcohol had made him “blow the roof off”.

When the attack was over, she called for help from her mother and eventually went to his mother-in-law’s rural home, known in Russia as a dacha.

But Neglin followed her, and when she asked him if she would be safe returning home, he threatened her life.

Her testimony detailed how he then beat her again, stamping on her with shoes on. She was later admitted to hospital, where doctors deemed her injuries so severe that they were forced to remove her spleen.

During the trial, Neglin’s wife initially retracted her testimony before later confirming it, describing how she was scared that next time Neglin “might simply kill her”.

He was sentenced to five years and three months for the crime. Combined with an earlier conviction for attempted drugs trafficking, he received a total of over 12 years.

Neglin is just one of the former prisoners reported to have returned to Russia following a contract with Wagner.

Prisoner’s rights group Russia Behind Bars estimates around 200 recruited through the Wagner Group’s scheme could now be back.

The number is small compared to the estimated number of recruits. Many thousands are thought to have been killed on the battlefield or are missing.

Those that do survive, however, are alleged to receive official documentation that absolves them of their prison sentence. As more and more convicts reach the end of their agreed six months, thousands could – in theory – receive pardons.

What do we know about the pardon agreements?

The details of this arrangement are largely unknown.

Since Russia’s parliament has declared no amnesty for prisoner recruits, the only way for them to be freed is by the president himself. These are usually rare: the Kremlin’s website says just six were issued in 2021.

The authorities have been tight-lipped about the arrangement.

In late January, the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the pardons are classified.

“But I can confirm that the entire pardon procedure strictly follows Russian laws,” he told journalists.

One video published by RIA FAN in October 2022, however, shows us a glimpse of the documentation it said was given to prisoners who had served with Wagner.

In it, wounded soldiers are provided with what the report says is a bravery medal, a commemorative sign for their injury, a letter from the Ministry of Defence and pardon documents.

One certificate appears to confirm the receipt of a Medal of Honour for one of the fighters, signed by President Vladimir Putin.

This screenshot captures another of the documents.

It’s difficult to make out as most of the text is obscured. However, it states that the recipient is being pardoned by “Decree of the President”.

The dates listed suggest that this person was granted freedom from incarceration on 6 July 2022 – which would be before they left to fight in Ukraine.

The list of presidential decrees on the Kremlin’s website seems to confirm Mr Peskov’s comments: there are no publicly disclosed decrees regarding the pardon of prisoners around this time.

However, both public and secret decrees are numbered in the same way. Those that are public are listed online in consecutive order, which means it’s possible to work out when secret decrees have been issued by identifying gaps in the list.

Four secret decrees appear to have been signed between 5 and 8 July, according to the website.

Sky News was not able to independently confirm the veracity of the documents in the video.

A mixed reception

The clip also discloses the identity of another former prisoner, Stanislav Bogdanov, whose case reveals how the return of these convicts-turned-soldiers may be dividing public opinion.

Speaking to RIA FAN, the injured fighter described how Wagner has given him “a second life”.

Bogdanov had been serving a 23-year sentence following a conviction for “murder with special cruelty” and robbery after he beat a judge to death in 2012.

Court documents described how Bogdanov hit Sergei Zhiganov with a metal poker more than 40 times, ransacking his house for valuable items such as power tools and bank cards between blows. He then dropped a dumbbell on the judge’s head three times in a deliberate attempt to kill him before fleeing the scene.

In his interview, Bogdanov describes how he intends to rejoin the mercenary group despite his injury.

According to Olga Romanova, head of Russia Behind Bars, almost all of those who reach the end of their six-month contract with Wagner go back to fight for the mercenary group.

Most will do so voluntarily, although she says it’s possible that some are pressured to do so.

The extent to which these pardons grant former prisoners freedom, therefore, is unclear.

Bogdanov describes in his interview how he had 13 years left on his sentence when he was recruited by Wagner.

“You were an offender, as they say, but now you’re a war hero,” Mr Prigozhin responds.

On social media, however, the response to Bogdanov’s possible return was not so straightforward.

This discomfort has not just been reserved for the former prisoners that survived the bloody fight in the Donbas.

In the village of Zhireken in Russia’s far east, residents filed a complaint after a former prisoner who had been convicted of murder just two years previously was set to receive a military funeral.

“Half of the village says: ‘Are we going to make heroes out of killers now?’ and half say that he atoned for his sins with his blood. We understand that this person just needs to be seen off,” the head of the village’s settlement, Alena Kogodeeva, told local reporters.

However, Olga Romanova of Russia Behind Bars says most of those returning will be received as heroes.

“No one asks the opinions of the victims. We are shocked by the lawlessness taking place and believe that this will have long-term tragic consequences, including many years of widespread legal nihilism,” she told Sky News.

Will Russian prisoners continue to fight in Ukraine?

As of 9 February, Mr Prigozhin announced that Wagner’s recruitment of prisoners would cease entirely.

In the weeks since, the Putin-ally has accused Russia’s Defence Ministry of “trying to destroy” Wagner by halting ammunition supplies in an act he described as “treason”.

There are also reports that the Russian Ministry of Defence has now also begun recruiting prisoners. Russia Behind Bars, however, says this has been more selective and is permitted through a new law that allows those with a current criminal record to fight.

The future of prisoners in Wagner, therefore, remains unclear.

However, Aditya Pareek, research analyst at the defence intelligence firm Janes, warns that what’s announced on Mr Prigozhin’s channels may not always reflect reality.

“Given that Prigozhin is part of the shadowy apparatus of the Kremlin, a little misdirection is not beyond him,” he told Sky News.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if prisoner recruitment by Wagner still continues.”

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