The founder of the Russian private mercenary group "Vagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin was filmed trying to recruit prisoners from Russia to fight in Ukraine.
On videos, for which BBC states that he checked them, Prigozhin is seen addressing a large group of detainees.
In that video, he told the prisoners that their sentences would be reduced in exchange for serving in his group.
The BBC writes that the video confirms long-standing speculation that Russia hopes to bolster its forces by recruiting convicts.
Although Russian law does not allow commutation of prison terms in exchange for mercenary service, Prigozhin insisted that "no one will go back behind bars" if he serves in his group.
"If you serve six months (in the Wagner group), you are free," Prigozhin said.
However, he warned potential recruits against desertion.
"If you arrive in Ukraine and decide that it is not for you - we will execute you," Prigozhin said.
He also informed the inmates of the Wagner group's rules, which prohibit alcohol, drugs and "sexual contact with local women, flora, fauna, men - anything," according to Reuters.
Speaking at what appeared to be a prison training ground, the mercenary chief also alluded to the difficulties Russia faced in the long-running conflict, telling prisoners "this is a tough war, not even close to Chechnya and others".
The BBC says it is unclear who took the video, when it happened or how it was released, but it has identified the location of the video and that it was made in a prison in the central Russian republic of Mari El. Analysts did this by performing a reverse image search on the church visible in the background of the video.
Prigozhin's face from the video also ran through facial recognition software, yielding a positive match of between 71 and 75 percent with the real photo of the "Wagner" leader.
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