Russia’s government has drafted stricter penalties for convicted criminals who desert the military after being recruited from prisons to fight in Ukraine. The proposed legislation would increase sentences by up to five years for desertion, unauthorized absence, and feigning illness among soldiers recruited from prisons or detention centers.
Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with the Department One human rights group, told Agentstvo that psychological intimidation is likely the purpose of the initiative. Courts already consider a former prisoner’s previous sentence when sentencing him for desertion-related offenses. Artem Klyga, another human rights attorney, told Agentstvo that many former prisoners attempt to desert at the front to escape combat.
According to calculations by the news outlet iStories from February, Russia’s Defense Ministry may have recruited more than 29,000 prisoners to serve at the front. The policy has created public safety concerns, as released convicts with combat trauma and existing violent tendencies return to Russian society, sometimes committing new crimes. In September 2025, a prisoner who deserted from the front raped and killed a nine-year-old girl in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region.