Investigation: Russia recruits women from prisons as front-line medics, documents rapes and prosecutions of those who report them
An investigation by independent outlet Verstka reveals that Russia's Defense Ministry has since 2024 been recruiting convicted women from penal colonies to serve as front-line medics, with several reporting rape by their commanders.
Russia's Defense Ministry launched a program called "Choice" in 2024, recruiting volunteers from women's penal colonies to serve in tactical medicine units near the front after training, according to an investigation by independent outlet Verstka.
The first group of convicted women was recruited in early 2024 from colonies in Russia's Southern Federal District, with no selection process or training. Many died before completing combat missions, from self-inflicted wounds, grenades, drugs or conflicts among themselves. A second recruitment round took place that fall in the Irkutsk region, where women received two weeks of training from former Wagner mercenary group fighters. One instructor warned that women at the front could become a "destabilizing factor," but the women reportedly ignored such warnings.
The case of Lyudmila Poltarakova
One recruit, Lyudmila Poltarakova, a former strength-sports competitor convicted of drug offenses in 2019, signed a contract and was deployed in early 2025 as a medical orderly with the 12th Tank Regiment. She said the regiment's commander, Sergei Zhitkov, raped her starting February 14, 2025, and continued through at least March. She initially signed a statement withdrawing any complaints against him, fearing it would jeopardize her chance to have her conviction expunged.
In June 2026, while recovering from a wound at a military hospital, she said she faced threats to sign another such statement, but instead filed a rape complaint with military prosecutors and went public. She was then ordered on a combat mission, which she refused; a criminal case was opened against her over the refusal, while no case has been opened over the rape allegation. Zhitkov was promoted in 2025.
Other accounts
Another former convict, Darya Chirukhina, publicly described threats and attempted sexual assault, as well as being denied treatment for diabetes she developed at the front. Both women have been out of contact for several weeks. Other women described giving birth at the front and having their infants taken from them shortly after.
