Periscope No. 7

Army | Union of the cross and plowshare

Last week, senior army officials proposed to revive two institutes of guardians of morality in the Armed Forces at once - chaplains and lower-level political officers. Thus, the military reacted to all the high-profile scandals of recent times related to manifestations of army hazing. The main one was the tragic case of an ordinary Chelyabinsk tank school Alexei Sychev, who lost both legs as a result of bullying colleagues. The appearance of priest-officers in the Russian army is envisaged by a bill that has already been sent by the military prosecutor's office to the Ministry of Defense. And in favor of educators in uniform, Minister of War Sergei Ivanov himself spoke out at a special meeting of the State Duma committee dedicated to the problem of hazing. According to Ivanov, bullying, which supposedly “begins with kindergarten” in our country, can be eradicated not only by returning guardhouses to the army and creating military police, which “is not a magic pill,” but, first of all, by educational work. At the same time, the head of the Defense Ministry proposed disbanding the disciplinary battalions as an anachronism, and retraining the entire vacant staff of officers as military educators. Formally, the institution of educators replaced the political agencies back in the 1990s, but until recently it eked out a rather miserable existence in army structures. So, for example, there is not a single military school left in the country that trains "commissars" of a new type for the most massive military units - company and battalion, staffed according to the residual principle. The Ministry of Defense is going to revive the system of such military universities. “This decision will be effective only if the educators obey not the military department, but civilian structures, for example, the Commissioner for Human Rights,” believes Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Evseev, an employee of the Center for International Security at the IMEMO RAS. - The problem is that it is impossible to get rid of hazing in a closed society. We spend a lot of money - more than 30% of the budget - to finance law enforcement agencies, but we have no control over them. As for the chaplains, representatives of all major confessions have already said their word: people of various faiths live in Russia, and not only Orthodox, and if only the Russian Orthodox Church enters the army in this way, then this will not find understanding among soldiers of other religions.

Chekists | Service extension

The powers of the FSB continue to expand, and its "proportion" in society - to grow. Last week Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing the National Antiterrorist Committee. This body should coordinate the activities of all ministers and governors without exception "on the prevention of terrorism, as well as on minimizing and eliminating the consequences of its manifestations" (as the president himself formulated the task). The committee will be headed by FSB director Nikolai Patrushev, who will also appoint the head of the Federal Operational Headquarters. “In this sense, of course, we can talk about its strengthening,” agrees State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov, who served in counterintelligence with the rank of colonel. After all, becoming members of the committee, the ministers will be obliged to obey all its decisions. In the regions, the headquarters will be headed by the heads of the FSB, and the governors will be listed as heads of local anti-terrorist commissions. Until now, there has been an antiterrorist commission chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. “Unfortunately, [this structure] practically did not work, although in any country [in the event of a terrorist attack], it is the prime minister who heads the headquarters. The Security Council could also become a coordinating body in our country, but the main thing is the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, without which the problem of terrorism will not be solved,” deputy Gudkov says. Prevention of manifestations of terrorism, in his opinion, should begin from below - from the district police officers. The increase in the staff of the central apparatus of the FSB by 300 people, “knocked out” under the new powers of Patrushev, will not give anything, Gudkov is sure. Meanwhile, the mechanisms of the aforementioned coordination should be clearly spelled out in the federal law "On Combating Terrorism." It was promised to be accepted immediately after Nord-Ost, but then it hung in the State Duma between the first and second readings. Gudkov says he and other members of the Duma's security committee will return to discussing the presidential bill as early as Monday, while committee head Vladimir Vasiliev promised the Duma would approve it before the end of February.

Caucasus | Magomedali leaves the ring

Last week, the head of Dagestan, Magomedali Magomedov, resigned from his post. He was the first person of the republic for more than 20 years. Rumors about his resignation have been circulating for a long time, but each time they were not confirmed. Now she was not expected. Magomedov's powers expired only in July. Recently, there has been a relative calm in the republic, although last year terrorist attacks occurred almost daily, and total corruption in the region was discussed at the federal level. The population of Dagestan consists of 14 "titular" nationalities, therefore, a completely special form of government was chosen for the republic - representatives of the nationalities formed the State Council, which elected the chairman. Magomedov is a Dargin. And although 10 years ago it was decided that a representative of one nationality could not rule the republic for more than two terms, but for the sake of maintaining stability and Magomedov, the rules were changed, recalls Alexei Titkov, an expert at the Institute of Regional Policy. “I insisted on bringing the issue of early resignation of my powers to the discussion of the People's Assembly,” Magomedov stunned journalists, having flown in from Moscow. “I am 75 years old, and recently the state of health does not allow me to fully fulfill the duties of chairman of the State Council.” “I will name my successor,” he added, apparently hinting that Vladimir Putin would appoint exactly the one he indicated. But the presidential envoy to the Southern District, Dmitry Kozak, announced three candidates at once, and not just one - the speaker of the People's Assembly, Mukhu Aliyev, the head of the federal treasury department, Saigidhuseyn Magomedov, and the mayor of Makhachkala, Said Amirov. The first two are Avars, the third, like the retiring head of the republic, is a Dargin. During the reign of Magomedov, more than a dozen assassination attempts were made on Amirov, he had to transfer to a wheelchair, but he did not lose his rating. “No, not Amirov. Either Aliyev or Magomedov from the Treasury, they are both Avars. And it is desirable to do it quickly so that no one has time to feel that their rights are being infringed, ”says expert Titkov. Avars are the most numerous Dagestan nationality, and the system of appointing governors, says Titkov, simplifies the restoration of justice - Putin will point out the Avar, and try to argue with him. But there is a difference between the Avar candidates - the appointment of speaker Aliyev will mean maintaining the status quo in the Dagestan elite, while relying on the federal official Magomedov will show that the task of moving the republic's economy off the ground is more important for Moscow than absolute guarantees of political stability.

Scandal | And about. God

The Russian version of the "cartoon war" turned out to be swift and inevitable. On February 9, the Volgograd newspaper Gorodskie Vesti published a cartoon depicting Christ, Mohammed, Moses and Buddha, and on the 17th its editorial office was already closed. “On the day the article was published, our service staff analyzed the content of the publication and found no elements of inciting social and ethnic hatred in it,” Yevgeny Strelchik, adviser to the head of Rosokhrankultura, told Newsweek. “Therefore, we did not issue warnings, but sent an informal letter asking us to be more careful in the future.” Representatives of the Orthodox, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists did not make any official protests about this either, but the local branch of the United Russia party could not remain indifferent to the publication and hurried with a statement to the prosecutor's office, accusing the journalists of insulting religious feelings. Immediately after that, the administration of Volgograd, headed by and. O. Mayor Andrey Doronin decided not to bother with further proceedings and close the publication. “This decision looks like a reinsurance and is completely inadequate for the actions of journalists,” said Alexander Sivkov, Executive Director of MediaSoyuz. “I know that the Volgograd mayor’s office receives requests from believers to leave the newspaper alone, so let’s hope for the common sense of officials.” But it seems that these hopes are not destined to come true. On the closing day of the Volgograd City News, it became known that in the Vologda Oblast a criminal case had been opened against Anna Smirnova, editor-in-chief of the local newspaper Our Region, who had reprinted Danish cartoons with the Prophet Muhammad two days earlier.

Homophobia | Suppressed minority

Last week it became completely clear that the gay pride parade, scheduled for the end of May, would not take place in Moscow. On Thursday, the head of the press service of the mayor and government of Moscow, Sergei Tsoi, said that the city administration would not allow such an event "in any form." Tsoi's statement followed tough speeches by Russian religious figures: Talgat Tadzhuddin, chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims, Mikhail Dudko, secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate's department for external church relations, and Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar almost simultaneously demanded a ban on the "sinful procession." Mufti Tadzhuddin even promised to "beat" homosexuals if they still take to the streets. True, Nikolai Alekseev, project manager for Gay Russia and one of the organizers of the parade, assured Newsweek that the event would take place anyway. “The right to hold it is guaranteed to us by the Constitution, and not by the mayor of Moscow! he says. - I am sure that the procession will take place. And it will be held very calmly and civilized, there will be no mass protests.” The initiators of the parade are ready to appeal the ban of the Moscow authorities in the European Court of Human Rights. The gay parade was supposed to take place on May 27 as part of the first Russian festival of sexual minorities “Moscow. Pride-06".

Hunting for their | Guy don't miss

The White House has once again come under heavy criticism from the press and Democrats. The reason for the scandal was the incident with US Vice President Dick Cheney, who, while hunting for quails at the Texas Armstrong ranch, accidentally wounded his old friend, 78-year-old lawyer Harry Whittington, with a gun. The victim of a high-ranking unfortunate hunter was immediately taken to the nearest hospital. The victim received numerous shot wounds, but, according to doctors, all of them turned out to be light, and Whittington should not be operated on, since this can only damage his weak heart. According to Newsweek, after hospitalization, the patient had a microinfarction. However, Whittington's health seemed to worry the Americans even less than the lack of timely and complete information about the incident. Everything happened on Saturday, February 11, but the White House only informed the public about it on Monday. During the press conference, Bush administration spokesman Scott McKellan had to fight off sharp questions from reporters for 40 minutes about why America only found out about everything two days later. McKellan replied that he was rushing the vice president's office after learning of the incident. “Usually that’s the approach I take,” he told Newsweek, but somehow it didn’t work this time. Later, Cheney himself motivated this delay by concern for Whittington's condition. On the same day, President Bush stood up for the vice president, who was completely satisfied with such explanations, as well as the victim himself, witnesses and the police, who decided not to bring any charges against the official, but to write it off as an “accident”. Neither the sheriff of Kennedy County, where the accident happened, nor his deputies explained their decision to Newsweek. Cheney himself was clearly quick to admit his guilt, saying that it was "the worst day of his life" as he "shot his own friend with his own hands" for the first time.

Panic | Oversalted

A wave of salt hype swept across Russia last week. In stores in a number of regions, long-forgotten announcements “No salt” appeared, and where it was, the price jumped to 40 rubles. per kg. The residents of Tula Novomoskovsk were the first to feel the deficit. “A small dealer of the Ukrainian Artemsol was unable to ensure timely delivery,” explains Pavel Bogolyubov, general director of the Sol trading house, the largest distributor of this product in Russia. But the population understood the situation in its own way: there was a rumor that Ukraine, in retaliation for the gas war, declared a salt war on Russia. Gradually, the excitement spread to neighboring regions - Kaluga, Orel, Ryazan, Vladimir, Nizhny, etc. Panic became widespread after one of the central TV channels showed a story about a shortage of salt in Voronezh. Following the salt began to buy sugar, matches and cereals. The capacities of the two main salt-mining enterprises of Russia, Iletsksoli and Tyretsky Salt Mine, are 3.2 million tons per year - six times more than the country's needs, and it cannot be in salt dependence on Ukraine even hypothetically. But neither this nor any other arguments and persuasions of officials had any effect on the population. Ukrainian "Artyomsol" was forced to increase deliveries to Russia by 1.5 times - every day already 50 wagons with salt cross the border; twice as much of this product began to come from Belarus. “Shipping is carried out on account of future periods,” believes Andrey Vengin, a representative of Mozyrsoli, who expects a sharp drop in supplies by April. Salt prices have already begun to fall. In Voronezh, which stirred up the whole of Russia, you can buy it for less than 5 rubles. The salt panic was caused by the “collective unconscious,” says psychologist Elena Babievskaya. “The centuries-old memory of the famine has stuck in our blood for a long time, while relatively recent experience suggests that if the authorities stubbornly refute something, it means they want to hide the truth ... Huge queues for salt showed that Russians' fear of tomorrow is nowhere disappeared,” says the psychologist.

Armament | Flew past the money

Last week it became known that the US Air Force almost concealed from the Pentagon "wasting" almost 1% of America's military budget. The leadership of the military department was completely unaware of the contracts concluded in December 2005 with major suppliers of aviation weapons. Thus, $3.98 billion “dissolved” into thin air, including deals with Northrop Grumman for $1.57 billion and with Boeing for $1.22 billion, which included the acquisition of modern Global Hawk unmanned aircraft and the latest fifth-generation F-22A fighter jets. According to the existing rule in the US Department of Defense, every day at 17:00, all its divisions conducting financial transactions must report on contracts worth more than $ 5 million to their leadership, as well as send this data to Congress and supplier companies. The reporting method is extremely simple - copies of the relevant invoices are automatically sent by e-mail. The curiosity occurred through the fault of a rookie official from the Ministry of the Air Force, who was hired on December 1 last year. With a single keystroke on his computer, this absentminded employee removed the Pentagon's fiscal office from the mailing list. US Air Force spokeswoman Jean Schafer said that "the mistake was still noticed and eliminated, but, nevertheless, everyone was in a terribly awkward situation." Shafer declined to name the culprit, but told Newsweek that "he was not fired, but sent to retraining courses." “It’s good that we don’t have such incidents,” the RF Ministry of Defense shared with Newsweek, “after all, we report in an old-fashioned way, on paper, and without any computer technology there.”