Reuters: They R just Meat~Russia Deploys Punishment Battalions A la Stalin

 

A screenshot from a video shared by Russian prisoners' rights campaign group Gulagu.net. Obtained by REUTERS/via REUTERS

Drunk recruits. Insubordinate soldiers. Convicts.    They're among hundreds of military and civilian offenders who've been pressed into Russian penal units known as "Storm-Z" squads and sent to the frontlines in Ukraine this year, according to 13 people with knowledge of the matter, including five fighters in the units.