Yevgeny Prigozhin announced the removal of criminal records from the first group of fighters of the Wagner PMCs

"We worked out our contract with honor and dignity first. They worked as few people work", - RIA Novosti quoted the businessman as saying. He said that the former prisoners will return to everyday life and will "finish what they started":

- It's not a job anymore, it's life. Society should treat them with the deepest respect, and they should not break the law. But if you saw a man who came after the war, and before that sat in the camp and signed up as a volunteer... we must understand that they are absolutely full-fledged members of society. 

Prigozhin addressed the former prisoners and gave them a parting message: "Don't drink too much, don't use drugs, don't rape women, don't smoke.

The police should treat you with respect".

At the end of last year, it was reported that the Wagner PMC was looking for volunteers in the colonies to participate in a special operation as part of the company.

Prigozhin personally engaged in recruitment. In December, the speaker of the State Duma  Vyacheslav Volodin supported the extension of the norms of the laws concerning the participants of hostilities to the dead soldiers of the PMCs. The question was raised by Prigozhin after the authorities of St. Petersburg refused to bury Dmitry Menshikov, who was awarded the medal "For Bravery", who died during the SVO with military honors.