It comes after Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and founder of the mercenary Wagner Group, announced on Thursday that the first batch of prisoners who participated in the war in Ukraine completed their six-month contracts and have received a pardon.The Wagner Group has been recruiting large numbers of male prisoners for Putin's war in Ukraine and hiring in penal colonies in Russia, offering commuted sentences and cash incentives in return for six months of military service.Russian readers expressed anxiety and anger at the news in the comment section of a news article on the topic, published by state-run news agency RIA Novosti.In November, a Russian mob boss warned civilians of a "change of power" in the country, saying that convicts recruited by the Wagner Group for the war in Ukraine will eventually wreak havoc in society.All former convicts who were 20, 15, 18, 19 years old, who are behind rape, for the spread of murder, and for all kinds of violence," Grisha Moskovsky said in a video appeal."