comment: >
  
  Most are getting recruited into Wagner, which has spent a lot of the recent months fighting in WW1 style conditions in Backhmut and taking heavy casualties, so you're probably right in that the survival chances of these prisoners is very low. Especially if the rumours of the Wagner forces using the prisoners as glorified meat shields are anything to go by.
context: I'm wondering if this is just a propaganda stunt by the Kremlin to recruit more prisoners, by trying to show they're keeping their word.  
  I suspect that not all prisoners who joined the army will be treated this well, and many won't even survive the war to enjoy any freedom.