According to an investigation by the BBC russian Service, the russian military ceased recruiting prisoners on short-term contracts from September 2023. Prisoners are now offered standardized (longer term) military service contracts, which entail agreeing to service in the military at least until the termination of the September 2022 partial mobilization order, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
Short-term convict contracts had prompted some public controversy in russia, particularly over returnees re-offending and the short tours of prisoners in comparison to indefinitely mobilized reservists.
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It is highly likely that short-term prisoner recruitment was a response to immediate military recruitment pressures earlier in the war. In 2023, the russian state highly likely turned to regularized contract recruitment as the primary source of new military personnel.
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