In Russian penal colonies, female inmates dream of going to war

There is no access to the internet or even telephones in Russia’s female penal colonies, explains Olga Romanova, founder and director of the organisation Russia Behind Bars. Prisoners are cut off from the outside world, and end up knowing nothing of it other than what they see on state television or hear from prison staff. Some have lived this way for a decade or more, making them still easier to manipulate.

One result is that a good number of the women incarcerated in Russia are eagerly awaiting envoys from the ministry of defence, who come to sign them up as volunteers. When the envoys fail to show up, or when a departure for the war is delayed, they write to Olga Romanova’s organisation, which provides legal and financial assistance to prisoners.

In this way Romanova receives daily letters from inmates asking how to get to the front as quickly as possible. To stand out from the crowd, some of them even write to her in rhyme.

Romanova is opposed to the Russian full-scale invasion and so does not help her compatriots at the front or those who wish to go there.

Russian prisoners have been on the frontline since the summer of 2022. Until February 2023, enlistment took place under the aegis of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group. After his death, the defence ministry took over. At first, only men were recruited, encouraged by the prospect of a presidential pardon after six months’ service.

Since 1 October 2023, when a new law came into force, prisoners must remain at the front until the end of the fighting and can only count on conditional release. But even this offer is tempting, says Romanova in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel Freedom. In December 2023, at least 160,000 of Russia’s 400,000 prisoners will have gone to war.

Differing prison conditions for men and women

Recruitment of women began in December 2022. A first group of 50 women prisoners was sent to the front, and others followed. Olga Romanova tries to explain the choice of the women: “The men go to war in the hope of obtaining a pardon or parole […]. They don’t believe the official line or indeed the opposition viewpoint. Women, on the other hand, believe the propaganda. They go to the front not to earn money or get parole, but to die for Vladimir Putin.”

This odd disparity is partly the result of the different conditions of the men’s and women’s penal colonies. One example: although the internet and mobile phones are banned in both types of establishment, the men manage to get access to them.

Another: while the women’s prisons follow the official rules, the men’s prisons are subject to a rigid informal hierarchy whereby inmates and the authorities work hand in hand. Among other things, there is a sort of co-management of access to the outside of the prison.

De facto, these men’s prisons are commonly run by a “blatkomitet“, a group of the most respected repeat offenders who deal directly with the prison director. It is this small council that oversees contact with the outside world and regulates relations between inmates.

In particular, by distributing telephones, the blatkomitet enables incarcerated men to keep abreast of developments beyond the prison walls.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya

In leaving for the front, female inmates may also hope to emulate the famous heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a Russian partisan killed by the Nazis during the “Great Patriotic War” [as Russians call WW2] of 1941-45.

This woman is the stuff of myths in Russia. In 2021, the film Zoya was screened in all Russian prisons. It depicts the story of this young woman of 18 who, after the start of the 1941 German invasion, signed up to fight behind enemy lines. Captured by Germans far from Moscow, she was tortured and then hanged.

Tamara Eidelman, a teacher of forty years’ experience, interprets Zoya on her YouTube channel: “The makers of the film encourage us to marvel at the way the girl puts the noose around her own neck, instead of sympathising with this teenager being tortured by the Germans.”

What the public forgets is that the Soviet command sent Kosmodemyanskaya and her friends on a suicide mission. The episode is a good demonstration of the Soviet contempt for human life.

This and other films about the 1941-45 war are generously funded by the Russian ministry of culture. Headed by Vladimir Medinski, the ministry supports projects that mould public opinion by glorifying war heroes. Russians are portrayed as peaceful victims of aggression, forced to defend their homeland, ready to rally around their leader and to sacrifice their lives for him. A clear parallel is drawn between the Great Patriotic War and the current conflict. Russians are asked to believe that they were attacked by Ukraine and NATO in February 2022.

Female volunteers are recruited from, in particular, the occupied regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, the republic of Mordovia, and the regions of Lipetsk and Leningrad.

As the women’s prisons operate in isolation, it is impossible to determine the number of female prisoners sent to Ukraine. According to Olga Romanova’s estimates, 1,000 women were on the front line in December 2023. This figure is approximate and conservative. More have almost certainly joined the ranks since then.

Little is known about the daily lives of these women who call themselves “wolves”. The most sought-after profiles are nurses and cooks, but the vast majority of female prisoners are not qualified for such roles. Instead, after a month’s training, they are generally enrolled into the infantry to fight alongside the men, although in separate units. The defence-ministry envoys are ready to sign up all volunteers regardless of their state of health, their physical condition or age. Even tuberculosis and HIV are not a barrier to recruitment.

The families of these women rarely receive news of their loved ones at the front. Information about the women’s units often comes from Ukrainian soldiers who notice the presence of women in the enemy trenches.

Lately, the arrival of recruits has slowed down. It turns out that it is hard to find commanders capable of maintaining discipline among both female and male prisoners.

👉 Original article on Krytyka Polityczna