Wagner Group leader and ex-convict Prigozhin has lost the respect of Russian prisoners who now think he's a 'traitor,' activist says

• Russian prisoners have now turned on the Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, an activist said.
• Prigozhin, an ex-convict, was once popular among prisoners and recruited thousands to fight in Ukraine.

Russian prisoners, many of whom rioted in support of the short-lived Wagner Group mutiny, have now turned on the group's leader, an activist said.

Olga Romanova, the head of the Russia Behind Bars prisoner-rights group, said that prisoners feel "depressed" and "apathetic" and view Yevgeny Prigozhin as a traitor.

Prigozhin launched a short-lived rebellion against Russian leadership last month but called off his men as they were marching to Moscow and agreed to go into exile in neighboring Belarus.

Romanova said that the prisoners don't like losers and that the word "wool" is being used in reference to him, which is slang for "traitors" who collaborate with the authorities.

Prigozhin, who was himself formerly incarcerated, was once extremely popular among Russia's prison population, Romanova said.

The Wagner Group recruited thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine, saying they'd gain their freedom after completing their service. A video shows Prigozhin personally visiting prisons to appeal to the prisoners.

Though Wagner never confirmed the number of prisoners they had recruited, the US intelligence community said it believed the group had deployed 40,000 convict fighters in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Following the failed rebellion, Reuters found that there were at least three convicted criminals freed to fight in Ukraine among the mutinying Wagner mercenaries.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stopped Wagner's recruitment drive earlier this year amid Prigozhin's escalating public feud with government and military leadership.

Instead, the Ministry of Defense began recruiting prisoners for its "Storm Z" battalions. But several of these soldiers seem to have quickly become disillusioned, with videos circulating showing them refusing to return to the front lines due to poor conditions.

Prisoners in Moscow and Rostov prisons had rioted in support of the mutiny, and prison authorities supported these. Many of these prisoners were angry after Prigozhin halted the rebellion and made videos criticizing him, Romanova said.

Prigozhin's criminal career began when he was 18 — he was caught stealing and received a six-month prison sentence.

After getting out of prison, he joined a gang in 1980. He participated in a robbery spree around Leningrad before authorities caught him choking a woman on the street while his accomplices stole her jewelry. He was sentenced to twelve years in a high-security penal colony and served 10 years of the sentence.