The first reports of Russian prisoners being visited by the paramilitary Wagner group came to the attention of the organization Russia behind bars already at the end of February.

Then the mercenaries must have visited institutions where former employees of the Russian security service FSB were imprisoned.

However, no one should have thanked me for fighting in Ukraine.

At the end of June, reports again began pouring in from prisons around Russia testifying to a large-scale recruitment.

So far, close to 3,000 prisoners have been recruited, according to the organization.

- For many, it is a motivation.

They realize that no one outside the walls wants them, that they will neither get a job nor a normal life.

And probably they will be watched.

It is easier for them to become mercenaries and kill on orders than to go to prison for new murders, says Olga Romanova, head of Russia Behind Bars.

The organization, which is independent, has been active since 2008 and has been labeled by the Russian state as "foreign agents".

68 prisoners on their way to Ukraine tomorrow

According to information to Russia behind bars, 68 prisoners are to get on a plane tomorrow on their way to the war in Ukraine.

One of them is a man serving his sentence for attempted murder.

He has been promised a high monthly salary and if he fights for at least six months, he will also be pardoned and have his criminal record expunged.

He is one of many who have contacted the organization Russia Behind Bars to ask if the agreement he has just entered into with the Wagner Group is legitimate.

But despite the fact that more than a month has passed since the first inmates traveled to Ukraine to fight, the organization has not yet received information that anyone has received a salary.

Putin's close friend is recruiting

The organization Russia behind bars has been able to confirm by compiling inmates' information from various institutions that many were recruited by Yevgeny Progozhin, the oligarch who is a close friend of Putin and who is said to lead the Wagner group.

- He says "I promised the president to win this war."

He says things like: “You can only leave prison in a wooden box.

I give you the opportunity to be mercenaries," says Olga Romanova.

She believes that the ongoing recruitment is just the beginning and that at least 50,000 prisoners may be recruited for the war in Ukraine in the near future.