- A Russian inmate told NYT he thought he was going to become an army construction worker when he signed up for Russia's armed forces.
- Instead, he was sent into battle on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine shortly after being recruited.
A 45-year-old Russian inmate believed that he was signing up to be a construction worker in the army when he agreed to join Russia's armed forces in May. Instead, he was sent into battle in eastern Ukraine.
Five days after arriving on the frontlines, he was captured by Ukrainian forces near Bakhmut.
That's according to The New York Times, which on Wednesday published a lengthy interview with the inmate, identified by the call sign "Merk."
Merk told The Times that a man wearing a "green suit" who said he was with Russia's Ministry of Defense showed up at the prison "colony" in May and offered inmates the chance to start over.
"They said: 'Do you want a new life? Do you want to start with a blank sheet? Come, there is enough work for everyone,'" Merk recounted to The Times. "They said: 'There is enough work for everyone. You can build houses there.'"
Merk went on to say that they were told "we will need to build up Ukraine," and that he accepted the offer thinking he would become a construction worker in the army.
"I was a fool," he told The Times, adding that he eventually realized that he had unwittingly joined Storm Z, a Russian military unit formed in April that consists of former inmates.
Merk's comments echo those made by other Russian soldiers, who said that they were "fucking fooled like little kids" and had no clue they were being sent to a warzone.
In one audio recording previously obtained by The Times, a Russian soldier told his mother during a phone conversation that "no one told us we were going to war. They warned us one day before we left."
The conversation was among several calls made by Russian soldiers that were intercepted by Ukrainian officials. The Times said it had translated and verified the authenticity of the calls.
Merk, who was interviewed just hours after his capture last month, told The Times that he was stationed at a training camp in eastern Ukraine in late May, and that when he was given a rifle, he "understood everything" and felt he was "heading for death."
"They gathered us together, 25, 30 people at a time," he said, referring to the unit's commanders, who were also former inmates. "They said you are going to the firing range, to learn how to shoot. And instead of the firing range, we were brought straight" to the frontlines.
"We were new; we had just come in," he said. "They told us, 'You're going in as meat.'"
Russian President Vladimir Putin has faced a groundswell of opposition to his so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine since it began over a year ago.
Tensions hit a boiling point last month when Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin's one-time close ally and the head of the Wagner mercenary group, launched a "march for justice" towards Moscow, accusing Russian officials of sabotaging the war effort.
It was the closest Putin came to losing his grip on power in over two decades, and Moscow was preparing for heavy combat with Prigozhin's forces. But the Wagner boss announced he was turning back within hours of reaching Moscow, saying he did not want to risk Russian blood being shed.