Russian convict soldiers started a lethal gunfight with members of their military unit, as discipline in the ranks of Vladimir Putin‘s army continues to disintegrate.
The Kremlin has raided prisons across Russia for recruits to fight in Ukraine, in a desperate attempt to boost the numbers of its frontline troops.
Dangerous criminals serving life sentences have been pressed into military service as part of penal battalions known initially as Storm Z.
Units of 100-150 prisoners have been attached to regular army battalions, and are often used as cannon fodder by their commanders.
However, the convicts have become notorious for their lack of discipline and their heavy drinking habits.
In the latest incident, a group of soldiers from a penal battalion reportedly turned their guns on other members of their unit, after a heavy drinking session.
Their comrades returned fire in a desperate attempt to defend themselves from the drunken convicts.
As a result of the shootout, one soldier was killed and several were injured, according to a report shared on Telegram, which included a picture showing a dead soldier lying next to an injured member of the Russian army.
This is not the first time that convict soldiers have slaughtered their fellow comrades.
57-year-old Sergeant Yuri Galushko killed six soldiers from the howitzer artillery battalion of the 10th Tank Regiment with his AK-12 rifle in May, before fleeing.
It is believed that more than 100,000 convicts have been sent to fight in Ukraine since the war started in February 2022.
Last year a Russian deputy Justice Minister announced an astonishing drop in the country’s prison population.
Vsevolod Vukolov said the number of inmates in Russia‘s prisons had gone down from a pre-war total of 420,000 to a historic low of 266,000.
Some of Russia‘s most notorious criminals have been signed up to fight. One such person is Dmitry Malyshev – an infamous cannibal.
A member of a ruthless criminal group, he was convicted for the murder of two people, gun running and cannibalism in 2014 and sentenced to 25 years.
In a gruesome video, Malyshev filmed himself frying the heart of a former acquaintance and then eating it.