Chilling video of 'Putin's chef' recruiting convicts for Ukraine war saying he'll accept sex criminals as 'mistakes happen'

15 September 2022, 17:01

New footage of "Putin's chef" recruiting prisoners for the war in Ukraine has emerged.

Evgeny Prigozhin, the boss of the notorious Wagner PMC, is seen standing in a circle of convicts explaining how he will take on board sex criminals among other reprobates as he asks for "assault infantry".

He admits in the footage that the war is hard, tougher than past Russian wars, and says he has already deployed convicts during the fighting.

In a clip showing him standing in the middle of a group of prisoners wearing dark coats, he tells them: "This war is difficult.

"It's nothing like the Afghan or Chechen wars. I have ammunitions expenditure two and a half times higher than in Stalingrad."

He then sets out the grim conditions of their service, explaining: "The first sin is deserting. No one falls back, no one retreats, no one surrenders into capture.

"During training you'll be told about two grenades you must have with you when surrendering.

"The second sin is alcohol and drugs in the combat zone – while you're with us for half a year, you're always in the combat zone.

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"And the third sin is looting, including sexual contacts with local women… flora, fauna, men… anyone."

Prigozhin is tightly connected with Vladimir Putin. His Wagner group is notorious around the world, having come to be seen as a kind of unofficial arm of the Russian military, allowing it to run operations at an arm's length from the Kremlin.

It has been accused of crimes in Africa, where a film attempting to glorify the company was commissioned despite alleged atrocities throughout the continent’s conflict zones, and has been operating in Ukraine.

Prigozhin is known as Putin's chef, after an article was released about his restaurants hosting dinners for Putin and dignitaries from other countries.

As prisoners listen intently, he says in the clip that he is looking to recruit soldiers no older than around 50 but will make exceptions if they are strong.

"The first convicts who served with me, it was on 1 June, the assault on Vuhledar TPP [thermal power plant]. 40 people from St Petersburg. Strict regime. Recidivists.

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"40 people entered the enemy trenches, stabbed them with knives, had three killed and seven wounded.

"From the dead, one was 52, he served 30 years. Died like a hero."

He adds that Wagner will assess convicts based on whether they are drug addicts and could use a lie detector on them.

"We are very careful about those who serve for sexual articles, but understand mistakes can be made," he adds in the chilling footage.

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Questions over how Russia will replace its devastatingly high number of casualties on the battlefield have been raised.

Ukraine is in the midst of a stunning counter attack in its east, recapturing swathes of territory that Russia spent weeks trying to conquer earlier in the invasion.

Commentators wonder how combat effective the Russian military is given how many troops it has lost in the fighting.

Analysts wondered if Putin would declare a general mobilisation – something that could prove extremely unpopular and severely disrupt life in Russia – amid reports Moscow was hoping to recruit older people and veterans from far flung regions of the country while shielding the capital and cosmopolitan St Petersburg from the effects of the war.