Russian Officials have Put Up Memorials to More than 400 Convicts who Died Fighting in Ukraine, ‘Vyorstka’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 9 – Vladimir Putin has said that veterans of his military operation in Ukraine must be the new elite of the Russian Federation; and so it is not surprising that Russian officials have put up memorials to those who have died fighting in that war of aggression and destruction.

            But because Moscow recruited so many convicts being held in Russian prisons, jails and camps, there are a large number of such people earlier convicted of such serious crimes as murder, rape, burglary and theft who have died and are now being memorialized throughout the country.

            The Vyorstka news agency has surveyed this trend and concludes that officials have put up more than 400 memorials to convicts who served in the Russian military in Ukraine. Many of these memorials are for individuals; others for groups; and the news agency stresses that its list almost certainly is incomplete (verstka.media/novosti-memorialnii-zeki-geroi-svo).

            Such memorials in homes, parks, alleys of glory, and schools are to be found in 58 regions of the Russian Federation; and enough is known about those being memorialized that it is possible to say that at least 128 of them were earlier convicted of murder and attempted murder, 110 for drug crimes, and 132 for theft.

            Not everyone is pleased with this trend, the news agency continues, especially parents who are uncertain that schools should be putting up memorials to criminals whatever they may have subsequently done in Ukraine.