Russian authorities have opened at least 190 criminal cases against Wagner mercenaries who were pardoned in exchange for fighting in Ukraine, the independent media outlet Vyorstka reported Monday. Russia’s Defense Ministry and the Wagner mercenary group have recruited heavily from Russian prisons to bolster their manpower in Ukraine, promising convicts a pardon in exchange for military service. In July, Wagner said that some 32,000 former prisoners recruited by the mercenary group had returned to Russia. According to Vyorstka’s tally, ex-prisoners were most likely to be tried were theft (83 ca…