Russia Behind Bars head says prison heating being turned off to force inmates to go to war. Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service denies this.

Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) has denied “information circulating on the Internet” about heating shutdowns in Russian prisons. “All penal institutions are operating regularly, adhering to the legally prescribed temperature norms,” stated the FSIN’s press service.

On Saturday, Olga Romanova, the head of Russia Behind Bars, said that authorities were turning off the heating in prisons in sub-zero temperatures to make conditions “so unbearable” that inmates would agree to go fight in Ukraine.

Romanova said that prisoners, along with ethnic minorities and new Russian citizens, elicit little sympathy from fellow Russians. “As long as these three groups are fighting and dying in Ukraine, Putin can create the illusion of normalcy for the rest,” she added.