"Vyortska": Female prisoners of war recruited in Russia were demanded for sexual services

According to the publication "Vyorstka", in Russia, female prisoners of war were demanded for sexual services.

In 2024, the Russian Ministry of Defense began sending women from correctional colonies to war for the first time in large numbers. However, instead of the promised amnesty, many of them were subjected to sexual violence, extortion and other threats from commanders. This information is based on voice messages, documents, correspondence and testimonies of servicemen and their relatives.

The recruiters offered the prisoners a one-year contract, a salary starting from 220 thousand rubles (about 3 thousand dollars), 1-3 million rubles for injuries, 5 million rubles (more than 60 thousand dollars) in case of death, and the removal of criminal records.

According to the publication "Vyorstka", the project was called "Try". The first group was gathered in the south of Russia in early 2024 without selection and preparation. This group quickly suffered casualties from suicide bombings, drug abuse, internal conflicts, and fighting. Those who survived were transferred to hospitals behind the front as “medicinas.”

According to one of the “medicinas,” the abuses against them began immediately. The commander of the first battalion himself told the women that he could send them to the front line or leave them in the hospital, but they had to come to him at night for this. Some agreed, but later realized that the officer could not influence the distribution at all.

In the fall of 2024, recruits arrived at the colony in the village of Bozoy, Irkutsk Region. There, Wagner fighters taught the women tactical medicine for two weeks. An experimental medical unit of 73 convicts was formed, which in 2025 was transferred to the 370th medical battalion in the Lugansk region.

Among them was Lyudmila Poltarakova, 37, a former international master of sports in armlifting and currently serving a 14-year sentence for drug trafficking. According to her statement to a military investigator, from February to March 2025, the commander of the 12th Tank Regiment, Sergei Zhitkov, summoned her to his place under the pretext of a “sports massage” and raped her, and in April, he demanded that the division commander who arrived send women to “serve” her.

Other “medic” women also spoke of harassment and threats. In particular, Darya Chirukhina, 23, said that she was denied treatment for diabetes and forced to write a letter of refusal of medical care. The women complained that they were not given vacation and bonuses because of their criminal record.

Poltarakova, who carried more than 300 wounded from the battlefield and was wounded twice herself, published her war story on Z-channel in June 2026. She also said that she witnessed the death of a sergeant who refused to collect 300,000 rubles from soldiers. According to her, the platoon commander planted an explosive device on the sergeant's quadricycle.

The officer denied the accusations, calling the female recruit a "pathological liar." After this post, a report was drawn up against Poltarakova for, in her own words, "smearing the impeccable reputation of the Ministry of Defense." On June 30, she filed a complaint with the deputy military prosecutor of the First Tank Army, alleging that she had been raped.

A source for "Vyorstka" said that the third group of female convicts in the Irkutsk colonies was canceled by an unexpected order from above, the project was declared a failure. Poltarakova was prosecuted for refusing to carry out an order to go on a combat mission, the rape case was not opened, and Zhitkov was promoted to commander of the Kantemirov division in 2025.