The former mayor of Vladivostok, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribery, was reportedly freed after agreeing to be sent to the frontline in Ukraine.
A former Russian mayor who had been convicted of bribery had his prison sentence cut short after agreeing to join the country’s troops fighting in Ukraine, according to local media.
Oleg Gumenyuk, who had been the mayor of the eastern city of Vladivostok between 2018 and 2021, was convicted last year of accepting bribes worth 38 million roubles (the equivalent of nearly €395,000) and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
On Sunday, Russian media reported that Gumenyuk was being let free after signing a contract to join the country’s military operation in Ukraine, which began some 22 months ago.
The news was confirmed by his lawyer Andrei Kitaev, who could not confirm the whereabouts of his client but said that the former mayor was instructed to report to his military unit on 22 December.
While local officials for the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Primorsky region where Gumenyuk was detained did not confirm whether he had been freed to join military operations in Ukraine, photos circulating on social media show a man resembling the former mayor carrying a gun with other troops.
If confirmed, Gumenyuk’s recruitment would speak of the Kremlin’s urgent need to replenish its troops in the neighbouring country after suffering significant losses in the past two years.
Russia is known to have recruited thousands of prisoners freed from the country’s jails to send them to the battlefront in Ukraine. Inmates who sign up for six months on the frontline are pardoned upon their return.