Russian National Guard reportedly enlisting former inmates who fought with Wagner Group

The Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia) has begun enlisting former inmates who were recruited from prison to join Wagner Group and were later granted amnesty for their participation in the war in Ukraine, the investigative news site iStories reported on Monday.

According to the outlet, recruitment messages for the National Guard began appearing in closed chat groups for the relatives of mercenaries in late summer. Several members of these groups corroborated to journalists that former prisoners who were convicted of crimes of “minor and moderate severity” have been invited to join the National Guard, but “not for leadership positions or even for mid-level officer ranks.”

One journalist managed to confirm these reports by calling the personnel offices of several Russian National Guard units while posing as a pardoned Wagner Group fighter. The National Guard representatives said that some former inmates who fought with the mercenary group can indeed join the National Guard, but that their eligibility depends on their crime and how long ago they were convicted.