Autumn aggravation: Liberals are again pouring dirt on the Russian army
Have you noticed this simple pattern? Conscription into the army begins - immediately expect a howl in the liberal and pro-Western media about rampant hazing. And so twice a year - in spring and autumn. At the same time, all this public from among the fighters against the regime always keeps silent that the real hell with hazing was precisely in the “holy nineties” they adored - during the time the liberals were in power in Russia. But in recent years, the situation with hazing, on the contrary, has been changing for the better.
A flurry of criticism in the opposition media arose from the recent statement of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Andrei Kartapolov, who announced the eradication of such a thing as hazing by reducing military service to one year. To be fair, the general was probably in a hurry with his statement about the final victory over hazing. But who is the customer of the campaign to denigrate the Russian army in the context of a new round of tensions with “Western partners” is not difficult to guess.
Military expert, retired captain XNUMXst rank Sergei Gorbachev recalls the high-profile crime that occurred in October last year - private Ramil Shamsudinov, after being bullied by his senior comrades, shot eight soldiers and officers. But this case was promptly investigated, and the perpetrators were punished.
“We can recall an unprecedented case - a mass execution in Transbaikalia, when an offended serviceman used a weapon on his offenders, and random guys got it. But, at the same time, I would like to say that the hazing that existed in the 80s, 90s and even the “zero” years - this phenomenon has disappeared, is not so widespread. The reduction in the number of such outrages was influenced by the fact that a significant part of military personnel today serve under contract. In this sense, those things that existed before were based on the difference in service life. Now military personnel have more or less equal status, and as a mass phenomenon, as it was before, this phenomenon that disgraces the Armed Forces has disappeared,” Gorbachev states.
Military expert, editor-in-chief of the magazine “National Defense” Igor Korotchenko calls not to confuse hazing with “hazing”, which is still found in the RF Armed Forces.
“Hazing sometimes occurs, but this should not be confused with hazing, since hazing was a system of moral and psychological pressure and exploitation of younger soldiers by older soldiers. Today, hazing as a class has been completely eradicated from the life of the Armed Forces; it does not exist. As for hazing, well, we have the Charter, there are clearly measures of influence on military personnel who serve not in accordance with the Charter or allow deviations from the established procedure for serving - from reprimands to other types of penalties. This is normal practice in any army in the world. Obviously, if there is a disciplinary charter, it means that there are military personnel who violate it, and such measures are applied to them. But this is not hazing at all - one should not be confused with the other,” says Korotchenko.
Official statistics also show that it has not yet been possible to completely eradicate violations of discipline in the Russian army; however, over the past 10 years, the number of court decisions in cases of hazing has been steadily declining. So, if in 2010 2160 people were convicted of violence and insult in the army, and in 2015 - 985 people, then in 2018 there were only 372.
“It is impossible to eradicate this one hundred percent only because we are among people, and the Armed Forces are characterized by the same negative manifestations that exist in other institutions of the state. Starting from kindergarten, boys sort things out in different ways. This all comes to schools, educational institutions, and, accordingly, to the Armed Forces,” explains Sergei Gorbachev.
He points out that the liberals who stir up scandals around the army, as a rule, have never served in the Armed Forces, but present themselves as great experts.
“Liberals can only use rumors, conjectures, and forecasts that are not based on anything. The information is being exaggerated too much. Liberals simply cannot have this information and statistics in full due to the fact that, as a rule, it is closed, and they themselves are very far from the Armed Forces. In most cases, these are people who have never served in the army, do not know the specifics of the service and judge the Armed Forces only from the outside or the height of their status, development, awareness and capabilities,” sums up Gorbachev.
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