The Russian Federation will involve the labor of prisoners to increase the production of weapons in the war against Ukraine.

The British Ministry of Defense reports this with reference to intelligence data. In particular, the Russian defense production sector is very likely to use the labor of convicts to meet production needs in wartime.

So, in November 2022, the largest Russian tank manufacturer Uralvagonzavod reported in the media that it would hire 250 convicts after a meeting with the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation.

"In Russia, there is a long tradition of prison labor, but since 2017 forced labor as a specific criminal punishment was reintroduced," British intelligence notes.

While Russia has one of the highest incarceration levels in the world, the Federal Penitentiary Service oversees a sprawling empire of more than 400,000 inmates and is often accused of extreme brutality and corruption.

“The prison population provides a unique human resource for Russian leaders to utilise in support of the “special military operation” (war against Ukraine), while willing volunteers remain in short supply,” the message says.

Intelligence suggests that prisoner labor is likely to be mainly in demand by low-tech arms manufacturers and, in particular, by Uralvagonzavod, which is almost certainly under heavy pressure from Moscow to increase production.