Russian prison boss offers inmate labor to boost military production, 29 March 2023

Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service has offered the state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec the use of inmate labor to boost the production of military equipment for the country's armed forces...

Rostec head Sergei Chemezov, who is widely believed to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is said to have received a proposal from Arkadiy Gostev, the head of Russia's prison system, to use Russian inmate labor back in January...

While prisoners cannot be used to assemble missiles or aircraft, which require technical specialists, they can be used for various low-skilled tasks, such as assembly line work and construction, the source said...

Rostec, which manufactures missiles and aircraft for the Russian military among other things, incorporates 14 holdings and over 700 enterprises across dozens of industries...