The country is bending under the weight of catastrophes Two years ago there was a submarine, now there is a helicopter. Losses are comparable. "Kursk" sank during the exercises, the Mi-26 helicopter fell during the fighting. Most likely - shot down by the enemy. From him...

The country is buckling under the weight of catastrophes

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wa years ago there was a submarine, now - a helicopter. Losses are comparable. "Kursk" sank during the exercises, the Mi-26 helicopter fell during the fighting. Most likely - shot down by the enemy. From him, the enemy, therefore, and all the demand. Like a self-exploding torpedo.

But wars are started by specific people. And they lose them.

The current Mi-26 crash is not the first, although it is the worst. Helicopters have already been shot down. Sometimes they fell down too. There is no war without losses. But why are there so many dead?

The authorities must answer the inevitable questions. Why was the ill-fated board overloaded, like a rural bus in Chuvashia, which collapsed into the abyss a week before? According to all the rules, up to a hundred people were supposed to be on board the "turntable" - how did you manage to stuff the 147 military personnel reported by news agencies? Why do we even have military helicopters - like heating trucks in the civil war? And if so many people were pushed into the car, why was there no cover? If the car was really knocked out from the ground, then how did they manage to do it near Khankala itself, where most of the troops are concentrated? Monstrous inefficiency? Betrayal? Both at the same time?

The fact that there is a shortage of serviceable vehicles and experienced pilots in the war zone is also no secret. Military equipment is worn out to the limit. But this is not a natural disaster. Why didn't those who scream most of all about the "greatness of the country" and the need to fight "to the bitter end" take care to provide their own army with sufficient equipment and personnel? Although, of course, they are not up to it. The rating does not depend on the number of serviceable helicopters. Helicopters are generally a trifle. As well as the people who sit in them. The "winning ending" matters.

However, the Chechen story will not have a happy ending. The Mi-26 disaster is only part of the overall picture, which is getting gloomier day by day. Those who died in the helicopter are only part of the list, which is constantly growing. And on relatively calm days in Chechnya, soldiers were constantly dying. The fighting in Western Chechnya and in the Vedeno region last week turned into new losses and setbacks. The militants attack, the generals justify themselves in front of the cameras. But for the time being it was possible to pretend that nothing was happening. Another, one hundred and fifty-first "sally of bandits."

At the height of the fighting in Western Chechnya and the Vedeno region, President Putin did not find anything better than playing a computer game: in front of astonished TV viewers, he joyfully controlled an electronic fighter simulator (about the same, only a little cheaper, is on my computer). He crushed a virtual opponent and performed heroic deeds in front of the simulator. But even here he failed: the fuel ran out. game over.

The President did not have time to think about those who operate real aircraft under fire from a real, not a virtual, enemy. Moreover, he is not interested in civilians who go missing, and "accidental victims" of sweeps.

But problems still need to be addressed. Not in the virtual, but in the real world. We will have to admit our own failures, sit down at the negotiating table, look for a way out. This is the direct duty of Putin as president. If he can't do it, someone else will have to do it. But sooner or later you still have to.