Russia has definitively turned into a collection of scenes from the film *Wedding in Malinovka* (a classic Soviet musical comedy about chaos and shifting power). There is not even the appearance of law and order anymore, and the main figures are now just representatives of various gangs. Can you imagine—apparently Putin’s cook, Prigozhin, even came to my penal colony to recruit inmates into his combat units, like some adjutant Popandopulo (a flamboyant comic bandit character from *Wedding in Malinovka*). An eyewitness says: “He flew in by helicopter, and all the prisoners were gathered in the stadium together with the prison authorities. Prigozhin is short and bald. He said: ‘I did 10 years myself, and I’m calling on you to become my assault troops. In six months I’ll arrange a pardon for each of you. You have 5 minutes to decide.’ After that, about 80 to 90 people went to headquarters (the administration building) to sign up, and then there was a second wave of recruitment.” What I want to say is that we still do not fully understand the horrific long-term consequences this recruitment drive will have. There are 440,000 people behind bars in Russia. Over a short period of time, a couple of million people pass through the system of pretrial detention centers (SIZO) and prisons—and they are, in effect, Russia’s criminal world. In other words, the police, the Investigative Committee, the courts, and the prisons exist primarily for them. We spend colossal amounts of money and effort to keep them from committing crimes. And now 100% of this public, whose law-abiding behavior we are so desperately trying to improve, knows for certain: there is no law, there are no courts, there are no rules. It is all a fiction—a lie about rehabilitation and reform as a path to early release. At the snap of a finger, literally within a single day, murderers and robbers serving huge sentences are freed not by any court, and not even by Putin, but by a little bald man who comes to prison camps telling stories about how he “did 10 years.” And all these colonels, lieutenant colonels, operatives, prison educators, and security officers, who only a moment ago were puffing themselves up and imagining they were, if not all-powerful, then at least guardians of the law, now stand at attention before this adjutant Popandopulo, who is missing only an enormous bottle of cloudy moonshine in his hands. _______________________________ And this generation of criminals—and many generations to come—will tell each other stories like: “He still had 15 years left to serve for two murders, and they let him out.” And this will be said right alongside hypocritical, deceitful lectures about how you should take part in amateur activities to earn privileges and qualify for early release many years later. And this doesn’t concern only prisoners. There may not be many of them, but there are still decent people within the prison system. Imagine how it feels for them to stand in a stadium next to inmates, when a former convict tells them: “If you’re ready to join my assault units, I’ll take you out of here in five minutes, and in six months you’ll be free with a pardon.” And the courts, investigators, and the FSB are all involved in this, because they have to either cover it up, organize it, or pretend not to notice. This is a deep corrosion of the very foundations of the state. We will be paying for this for a long time. Even if it made sense from a military standpoint, it would still be completely unacceptable. But from a military standpoint, it’s also nonsense—just typical Putin–Prigozhin-style corruption. Putin ordered his aide Popandopulo to form units from criminals, where people’s heads are smashed with sledgehammers and public executions are carried out. And all of this is done to cynically seize a piece of land from a neighboring country. The foundations of law in Russia are being destroyed for the sake of a future defeat in a shameful war.