Hello!

A serviceman of the armed forces of the Russian Federation is addressing you. I serve in the central office of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. You may be interested to know how the current Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, who bravely reports to the President of the Russian Federation on the successful progress of military reform and the observance of the rights of military personnel during this reform, actually “respects” our rights.

Such blatant arbitrariness and monstrous mockery of officers has not been allowed by any defense minister in either Soviet or Russian history. Briefly the essence is this. In the first quarter of this year, the Minister of Defense, through his directives, disbanded (that is, liquidated) a huge number of military command and control bodies and military units of the armed forces. The deadline for completing these organizational activities was set at February 1 or March 1, 2009. Taking this into account, a number of reduced officers (mostly colonels) were, in accordance with the law, subject to dismissal from military service in connection with organizational and staffing measures.

However, in February of this year, Mr. Serdyukov publicly (from the TV screen) promised the president that he would not fire officers in 2009 due to staff reductions. So we got such a squiggle (a contradiction between word and deed): he reduced the military units (and therefore the positions in them), but promised the president that he would not fire them. What is the way out in this situation?

Our wise and, most importantly, defense minister with a higher legal education found him - he simply refused to sign orders for the dismissal of officers in connection with organizational and staffing measures. The motivation for these actions does not matter, since they are illegal. But, according to rumors, the alleged issue is that the Ministry of Defense does not have enough money for the so-called severance pay for these officers. In this regard, the command was given to persuade the dismissed officers to rewrite the dismissal report on a different basis - at their own request. In this case, our wise and economical minister saves on severance pay, and most importantly, leaves many officers with less than 20 years of service with housing, to which they would be entitled if they were dismissed due to staff reduction. While such reports are not being written, however, the command has already been given to dismiss refusing officers for non-compliance with the terms of the contract (on their part). Here is an ingenious way to solve problems from Serdyukov: if laws interfere with fulfilling promises to the president, then there is no need to fulfill the laws!!!

As a result, the laid-off military personnel, thanks to the minister, are stuck in an absurd position: on the one hand, their positions have not been available since February 1 or March 1, their salary is more than half that of what they received in their positions (financiers, due to the reduction of positions, are rightfully stopped paying various salary bonuses); on the other hand, they are forced to go to work, because according to the law they do not have the right to refuse this until they are fired. And most importantly, they cannot get a new job before they are fired: it is, of course, unrealistic to agree with potential employers that “you wait for me until our minister clears his head or until he is fired.” another. What do officers and their families have to live on?!

The President of the Russian Federation and the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation have repeatedly stated that social protection and the rights of citizens are the most important thing, especially in the context of a global crisis. However, Mr. Serdyukov apparently has a different understanding of this issue - either he considers military personnel to be his serfs, with whom he is free to do as he pleases, or he opposes the president’s policy (or at least does not implement it). And again, military personnel have become extreme - it’s even difficult to go to court, since the Minister of Defense does not sign dismissal orders, but does not formalize his refusal in writing. And again, as in Chernyshevsky: what to do?

I do not sign the letter because I am afraid of persecution from the leadership of the Ministry of Defense.

Sincerely.

From the editor. We humanly sympathize with the author of the letter, but we cannot help but note that reading the officer’s anonymous story is somehow unpleasant.

Hello, "Power"!

In N16-17 dated April 27, 2009, there is a note “Gay Chairman”, and it contains a still from the film with the caption: “...Sean Penn (center) ...”. In reality, Sean Penn is on the right, not the center.

My friends sometimes, when they see that I am reading “Power,” ask a question like “Are you really interested in reading about politics?” To which I explain to them that the magazine is quite versatile, covering many areas of life and, which is important for me, largely humorous. So, reading today in the same issue “Award of the Week,” I laughed out loud.

Thank you for making me smile.

Paul

From the editor. Dear Pavel! Thank you for your kind words and for your attentiveness. The photo caption does contain a misstatement. The existence of an organization such as the PEN Center (the Russian branch of the international writers' association PEN Club) does not mean that every Penn is in the center. We apologize to readers for the inaccuracy.

Hello! – Power – Kommersant