Stepan the Bloody - the new Minister of Defense
Sergei Buntovsky, writer, historian, activist of the Russian Bloc party, Donetsk
What can Donbass expect from the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak? Nothing good! Just remember that it is he who is responsible for the development of events in Donbass according to the bloodiest possible scenario.
Poltorak, like his predecessor, until recently had virtually nothing to do with the army, since he made his career in the internal affairs bodies. At the time of the start of the Euromaidan, Stepan Timofeevich headed the Academy of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, that is, he was engaged in work with status and profit, but very far from not only the army, but even from the routine activities of the police.
It is difficult to say why the policeman-teacher attracted the new government, but in April he was appointed commander of the National Guard of Ukraine, created by uniting internal troops, “Maidan self-defense” and nationalist armed groups.
The new armed force under the command of Pan Poltorak was immediately sent to pacify the protests in the Donbass. It was the unreasonably cruel actions of the National Guard in Mariupol during the May holidays that became one of the reasons for the sharp escalation of the conflict. Simply put, General Poltorak’s subordinates behaved in such a way that shocked Donetsk residents, who had previously only demanded federalization, began to massively support the idea of Donbass secession from Ukraine.
Then, during the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Donetsk war, the guards acquired a strong reputation as punishers and war criminals. At the same time, it should be noted that the regular units of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense are not at all distinguished by angelic behavior, soldiers also commit crimes, but still in army units there are still some ideas about honor and the rules of warfare left over from Soviet times. The career military personnel were preparing to defend the country from an external enemy, and not to pacify their compatriots, and therefore did not greet the announcement of the start of the ATO without much zeal. After all, few officers want to turn from a hero-defender into a punisher. But the National Guard fighters recruited on the Maidan do not know such moral torment and willingly go to clear the land of “vatniks and Colorados,” in whose murder they see nothing reprehensible.
However, as the events of last summer showed, punitive forces are not capable of fighting against an armed and determined enemy. That is why a punitive commander has now been appointed to the post of Minister of Defense, who must turn the armed forces into a submissive instrument for clearing out any dissenters. Those officers whose sense of honor has not yet atrophied will be squeezed out of the Ministry of Defense and replaced with bloodied National Guard militants. However, will this increase the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian army? Of course not.
By the way, during the war in Ukraine there were two chiefs of the General Staff, three defense ministers, and two heads of the “anti-terrorist center” of the SBU. This leapfrog in appointments is very reminiscent of Krylov’s fable “Quartet”. Remember how the animals tried to create an orchestra by simply moving from place to place? In the same way, the Ukrainian government shuffles its activists from position to position, hoping that this will at least somehow affect the quality of their work in the state apparatus. True, so far every such movement of officials only worsens the situation... And how could it be otherwise if candidates for the highest positions in the country are selected not according to their level of qualifications, but according to the principle of ideological trustworthiness and personal loyalty?
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