At least 11 prisoners from a St. Petersburg penal colony were offered the option of fighting in Ukraine in exchange for their freedom, according to the outlet.
An anonymous woman told the AP that her boyfriend was imprisoned in the colony and was asked to marry her.
The accuracy of the report was not verified by Insider. According to British intelligence reports from July, theWagner Group may be trying to recruit people who are in prison.
The anonymous woman told the AP that her boyfriend didn't accept the offer and that eight of the 11 volunteers had died. She told the outlet that one of them thought he wouldn't return alive.
According to the founder of a prisoner rights group, the mercenary group has been trying to recruit inmates in as many as seven regions of Russia.
Around 1,500 prisoners have signed up for the war, according to the AP.
According to Osechkin, this information came from inmates themselves and their relatives, as well as many volunteers who contacted him and said they no longer wanted to be deployed.
The group initially approached prisoners with military or law enforcement background. According to the AP, recruitment efforts have expanded.
Over the last six months, there have been multiple reports of Russian troops trying to leave their deployment in Ukraine.
According to the Pentagon, Russia has suffered around 80,000 casualties in Ukraine, compared to the 160,000 troops it had amassed around the borders of the country.
According to The Moscow Times, Russia has offered large signing bonuses to new recruits in order to get more personnel.
According to a report by Germany'sDeutsche Welle, an increasing number of Russian contract soldiers are being jailed for saying they want to leave the country.
70% of Russia's army is made up of contract soldiers who are paid $1,100 per month for three years of service.
The contract soldiers in Ukraine looking to return home are known as "refuseniks" in the Russian army and have been held in prison or labor camps.
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