In uniform

The main top did you “score” on the army?

April 6, 2006 Alexander Golts

The main sensation of the II All -Army Conference of Officers was the absence of the Supreme Commander -in -Chief of Vladimir Putin on it. And this is strange. Until now, the president who considers himself (another question is deservedly or not) a member of the Russian officer corps of Russia, has not launched such events. He not only performed at the last meeting held in February 2003, but also talked with several young officers. And now more than half of the participants are commanders of mouths and platoons. Turning to them is an opportunity to talk with those who will be the basis of the army in the next 10-15 years. Moreover, Putin seemed to be seriously concerned about the state of discipline in the Armed Forces - namely, this was declared the main topic of the meeting.

On the other hand, the president can be understood. He is, of course, busy. The whole state leads. And it is possible that he decided not to waste time for the next hearing of Sergei Ivanov. I must say that neither the minister himself nor his speakers spent a lot of effort on preparing this performance. It is enough to compare the report with the February performance of Ivanov in the Duma, and it becomes obvious that the texts coincide in many ways. The same quote from Svechin, the same arguments, the same paragraphs devoted to the situation with crime in the armed forces and the state of the officer corps. The same sophisms with which Ivanov is trying to relieve himself of responsibility for army chaos. In everything, they say, a society that supplies the wrong recruits to the army is to blame.

But perhaps the matter is much more serious. And Putin did not want to sanctify the next session of obvious lies with his presence. The whole report of Ivanov came down to the fact that the struggle for discipline in the armed forces is the struggle of the good with the best. Indeed, according to Ivanov, things with army discipline are just wonderful. And without any additional measures, the number of crimes, suicides and deaths due to hazing is steadily reduced. But he tells this to people who know exactly the state of affairs in the army. And when Ivanov claims that last year, only 16 people died from grandfather, each of the sitting in the hall firmly knows - the minister is lying. So, all the calls of the minister to ensure that the officers honestly and immediately reports upstairs to all cases of hazing are perceived as frank hypocrisy. I have no doubt that in the completely sensible sentences that are contained in the report - for example, about creating a corps of professional sergeants - officers will also see only a manifestation of ordinary campaign.

The fact that no one in the Ministry of Defense is going to seriously fight grandfather, also convinces the measures proposed by Ivanov. The military department tries to shift the responsibility for the state of affairs in the army to Russian society. The draftees neither morally nor intellectually meet even the minimum requirements - therefore, it is necessary to expand the “Base of the Contesting”. That is, cancel the delay. Ivanov proudly said that the government accepted the Ministry of Defense proposals for the abolition of 9 deferrals. Thus, the “talented balalaika” (minister terminology) are doomed to qualitatively improve this “draft contingent” with their presence.

Finally, it is possible that Putin evaded a meeting with young officers, because he simply had nothing to tell them. After all, this can, like Ivanov, talk about a steady increase in the material well -being of the officer corps. People in the troops are well aware of the price of these conversations . If someone's welfare is growing, then only those who serve within the “Arbat Military District”. As frank mockery, the younger officers of Ivanov’s words will perceive that “among officers of all categories, those who cannot boast of neither real professionalism, nor high general culture and morality are often found.” The whole way of army life with an absolute, unlimited power of the elders over the younger teaches that only such officers can survive in the decaying army. After all, today the younger commander has a little more rights than his soldier soldier. That is why, despite the promises to solve in the foreseeable future the apartment issue and increase the salary, the outcome of the officers from the army continues. Only last year, 12 thousand officers left it ahead of schedule. That is why a quarter of the posts of platoon commanders and batteries are held by the “two -year -olds” who are not any officers. In the same way that graduates of short -term courses are not real officers, of which there are several thousand in our army.

But instead of telling the audience about how it is supposed to change the order of service, by going, for example, to an open competition when appointing to higher positions, the minister escaped with one phrase: it is necessary, they say, “to establish clear and objective criteria for official promotion”. Namely, this is the discussion of these “clear criteria” - and the minister’s report was supposed to be devoted. It is pointless to fight the army grandfather until the officers themselves will understand that they are protected by the law, that they are respected by their superiors. But neither the minister nor the president can tell them this. Neither one nor the other even in civilian life can imagine a situation in which the boss must justify his decision not only to higher, but also to subordinates. What to say about the army.

However, I do not exclude that Putin will appear in front of the officers today, will say to nothing binding words and pretend that Ivanov was talking about something serious. But the fact remains: the commander -in -chief “scored” on the army. For it is impossible to modernize and improve this army in the framework of the vertical vertical in principle. Alexander Golts

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