According to his lawyer, a previous leader of Vladivostok, Russia, has joined the Ukrainian army and left for the front, following a 12-year prison sentence for corrupt activities. This information was reported by the Kommersant newspaper on Sunday.

In 2020, Oleg Gumenyuk, the ex-mayor of Vladivostok, was found guilty of accepting a total of 38 million rubles ($432,000) in bribes and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He held the position of mayor from 2018 until 2021, when he stepped down due to heavy criticism from both local and federal authorities.

The newspaper Kommersant reported that Gumenyuk’s lawyer, Andrei Kitaev, stated that Gumenyuk was instructed to report to his military unit on December 22. Attempts to contact Kitaev for a response were unsuccessful.

Many Russian inmates willingly joined the Ukrainian military, capitalizing on the opportunity for pardon upon completion of their duty on the battlefield.

In December, it was reported by Kommersant that Alexander Tyutin, a businessman from St. Petersburg, had been rearrested for allegedly planning to commit more contract killings. This came after he had already served 23 years in prison for previous charges before fleeing to Ukraine.

The practice of enlisting prisoners first began with the Wagner mercenary group. The group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in August 2023 after a failed rebellion against Russia’s military leaders in June.

The Russian defense ministry has now implemented this strategy by creating their Storm-Z units, which include prisoners who have volunteered to join directly from jails.