Putin ‘turns off heating in prisons to force inmates to sign up to fight in Ukraine’ as temperatures plunge to -55C

VLADIMIR Putin has been accused of turning off the heating in Russian prisons to force convicts into fighting in Ukraine.

A human rights expert has called out Putin for allegedly making the conditions in prison “unbearable” as temperatures plunge to below minus 55C.

Olga Romanova, director of the Russia Behind Bars human rights organisation, has said Putin is looking to recruit more people to help with the horror fighting in Ukraine.

She told German newspaper : “For this reason, they simply turned off their heating at sub-zero temperatures.

“The conditions in prisons should become unbearable so that the men there go to Ukraine.”

Olga also described the Russian tyrant’s sickening methods to find more “cannon fodder” fighters by turning down the heating a form of “torture”. 

According to reports, more than 100,000 Russian prisoners have been sent into deadly warzones including mass murderers, rapists and drug traffickers.

And Olga thinks the number is likely to be higher at 120,000 and rising with many being drafted into the notorious Wagner mercenary army.

The chilling number of thugs being given lethal weapons comes as a huge shock especially when compared with just the 83,000 male convicts in the entire UK prison system.

The director continued: “The prisoners are simply sent en masse to the Ukrainian defence line and are sacrificed in the process.” 

Olga has also claimed the people of Russia don’t care about Putin’s horror tactics to recruit more fighters to go to the frontline as they feel no compassion towards guilty prisoners.

But the constant flow of new criminal recruits dried up recently, so Putin’s regime turned to female inmates. 

Last week, Ukraine claimed that Russian women have been found dead on the frontline. 

A Kyiv official said the dead bodies of these women – trained to be Russian fighters – are increasingly being found in trenches.

Ukraine alleges female convicts have been recruited from prisons and are trained to use precision weapons.

And they are now dying fighting Putin’s illegal war amid the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian Government advisor Anton Gerashchenko said: “In the trenches, among the dead occupiers, Russian women from women’s (penal) colonies are increasingly being found.

“There are fewer and fewer (male) prisoners left in Russia who want to die in war – young ladies are thrown into ‘meat assaults’.”

He also claims women are coerced into signing up with the same deal as the men.

Reports have suggested that tens of thousands of Russian convicts were offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be freed from jail despite them being locked up for heinous crimes.

The agreed contract stated that the thugs would serve in the bloody war for six months before being pardoned by Putin when they returned home.

Olga Romanova has also had her say on the rise in female fighters being deployed in Russia saying that some are actually volunteers.

Others come from a separate unit called She-Wolf, which included female snipers, she said. 

Recruiters from the Russian Defence Ministry visited a women’s colony in Sablino, Leningrad Region and offered women £1,400 to leave jail and train for the frontlines, she claimed.