Vladimir Putin has resorted to desperate measures to recruit more soldiers into his flagging army.
The president reportedly personally approved of a plan to cut off heating in Russian prisons to force prisoners to join the army.
President Putin wants to exploit the -35C temperatures in some parts of the country to bolster his weakened troops on the frontline in Ukraine.
This comes as an ex-military chief warned that Russia will run out of troops in weeks.
German tabloid Bild heard from human rights activists who revealed that conditions in Russian prisons were becoming so “unbearable” that fighting in Ukraine was the better option.
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President Putin’s use of the ice cold weather signals the Kremlin leader’s desperation in the war.
Human rights activist Olga Romanova told Bild: “For this reason, they simply cut off their heating at minus temperatures.
“By doing so, conditions in prisons must become unbearable for the men there to go to Ukraine.
“Prisoners are simply sent en masse to the front line in Ukraine and sacrificed there.”
The director of the Russia Behind Bars human rights organisation said the Russian military was trying to recruit from three main marginalised groups: prisoners, national minorities living in poor regions far from Moscow and new citizens.
She added: “As long as these three groups are fighting and dying in Ukraine, Putin can create the illusion of normality for the rest.”
The military’s recruitment in Russian prisons has seen Russia’s prison population drop from around 420,000 before the war to about 266,000 last month.
Meanwhile, a former commander of Vladimir Putin’s army has predicted that the army will soon run out of men, leaving Russia with no forces to push forward with the fighting in Ukraine.
Imprisoned Igor Girkin argued that President Putin would need to begin re-mobilising civilians to fill up the ranks but will likely wait until after March’s presidential election to give the order.
President Putin last declared a partial mobilisation of reservists seven months into the invasion of Ukraine in September 2022.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence (GUR) earlier this week reported Russia is pushing for the forced mobilisation of virtually all men aged 18 to 65 across occupied territories.
They claimed the Russian Army is targeting Ukrainian farmers, threatening them with fines of up to 400,000 rubles (£3,560) if they fail to register for military service.
