British intelligence tells whom Prigozhin recruits to Wagner PMC instead of convicts

This was reported by the British Ministry of Defense on Twitter. 

British military intelligence suggests that in recent weeks, the owner of Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has lost access to recruitment in Russian prisons due to disputes with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Most likely, he is now focusing his efforts on recruiting ordinary citizens.

In particular, since the beginning of March, Wagner PMC has set up groups in sports centers in at least 40 locations across Russia. In recent days, masked recruiters have also held career guidance talks in Moscow high schools, distributing questionnaires called "Statement of a Young Warrior" to collect contact information from interested students.

"About half of the prisoners Wagner has already deployed in Ukraine have likely become casualties and the new initiatives are unlikely to make up for the loss of the convict recruit pipeline. If the ban endures, Prigozhin will likely be forced to reduce the scale or intensity of Wagner operations in Ukraine," the British intelligence concluded. 

• On March 13, the Institute for the Study of War stated that the conflict between the Russian Defense Ministry and Yevgeny Prigozhin reached its climax amid the battle for Bakhmut.