Putin confirmed that he signs decrees pardoning prisoners who go to war

President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with “war correspondents,” confirmed that he was signing decrees to pardon prisoners who go to war. The video of his comment is published by the Zvezda TV channel on its Telegram channel.

“The state must do everything to fulfill its obligations to these people, and we are doing this. Regarding social guarantees, contracts must be signed with the state, this is an obvious thing, otherwise there are no obligations on the part of the state, and then injustice [occurs] in relation to the people who are fighting. They get it right away... I sign pardon decrees, but, indeed, there are relapses. And then the person must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Putin said.

The first to recruit prisoners for the war with Ukraine was Wagner PMC and personally its founder Evgeniy Prigozhin, then the Russian Ministry of Defense . The prisoners were promised pardons, but until then the authorities had not officially confirmed that Putin actually signed such decrees.

There are several known cases where prisoners returning from war found themselves again subject to criminal prosecution. In particular, in the Kirov region, Ivan Rossomakhin, who received 14 years for murder, joined the Wagner PMC in a colony. A week after Rossomakhin returned from the war, he was again detained in connection with the murder - this time of an 85-year-old pensioner.

A native of the village of Murzakovo in Chuvashia, 23-year-old Nikita Lyubimov was also released after he fought in Ukraine as part of the Wagner PMC. A few months later he was detained for beating an acquaintance to death.