“Either fast or slow death awaits me. I chose fast "

In Wagner PMCs, prisoners with HIV are fighting. In Ukrainian captivity, they said that they are recruited, promising medicines that are not in the colony

The prisoners recruited by Wagner's PMC said that they were promised by HIV preparations if they sign a contract and go to war with Ukraine. This was written by The New York Times, who talked with several prisoners with an HIV-positive status that fell into Ukrainian captivity. According to prisoners, in the colonies they did not receive the necessary treatment.

HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis are common in Russian colonies. The head of Rus Sitting Olga Romanova said that about 10% of Russian prisoners are infected with HIV, and about a third of the total number contained in the colonies are infected with at least one of three infections.

For many captured prisoners, the Ukrainian military found red and white rubber bracelets, which should show that a person is sick with one of the diseases. The prisoners who fought for Wagner's PMC forced to wear such bracelets as a warning for other soldiers in case of injury. According to prisoners who were captured, the reluctance of colleagues and doctors in contact with blood could lead to a delay in providing first aid.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, about 20% of Russian soldiers recruited from the colonies are infected with HIV. The Ukrainian authorities claim that the Russian military receives the necessary treatment in captivity.

The New York Times talked with 37-year-old Timur who was captured. According to him, after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of drug trafficking, doctors in the Russian colony replaced the antiviral drugs that he took with those that were ineffective to combat the virus.

Timur believes that he could not live 10 years in a Russian prison with HIV-positive status. In December 2022, he agreed to sign a contract for six months with Wagner PMCs in exchange for pardon and obtaining antiviral drugs.

“I realized that either fast or slow death awaits me. I chose fast, ”he said. He said that he did not have military experience, and preparations before sending to the front took two weeks. He was given a Kalashnikov assault rifle, 120 rounds, body armor and helmet. According to him, before sending to the front, the commanders repeated many times: "If you try to leave the battlefield, we will shoot you." Timur claims that his platoon was sent to battle on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Most soldiers were killed on the first day, Timur was captured.

Evgeny, another mercenary of the Wagner PMC with HIV, said that he received timely medical care after he was wounded, despite the red bracelet, but was treated in a hospital where doctors were carelessly related to the fact that other patients could become infected with HIV. “There were no conditions for those who have HIV. We were treated all together, healthy and sick, ”he says.

The 31-year-old Vadim, convicted in Russia for robbery and served in Wagner's PMC, said that in the conditions of the battle the bracelets mean little. Together with other soldiers, two of whom had a positive HIV status, he was in a position where the Ukrainian military abandoned several grenades. As a result, three of his colleagues were killed, others were injured. Vadim was all sprayed with blood. “I was always afraid of this disease,” he said. The result of his HIV test turned out to be negative, the newspaper notes.

The 42-year-old Ruslan left for one year from his 11-year period for drug trafficking, in December he joined the Wagner PMC. According to him, the medicines that he received in the colony did not suppress the virus. At the training camp in January, he had a slight attack of pneumonia. But a month later he was sent to storm to Bakhmut, after which he was captured. He said that he was welcoming the policy of Wagner's PMC for a set of prisoners with an HIV-positive status. According to him, he thought that in any case he would die from an illness in prison, so he agreed to go to war for the chance to release and treatment.

“If you have a long time, then this gives you a chance to start life over again,” he said.