Dagestan was exempted from military service

As of mid-October, less than two hundred conscripts from Dagestan entered the autumn conscription into the army, but an increase in the quota is not expected. For comparison, in the Kirov region, with a population half that of Dagestan, 796 people were drafted. For a republic that is breaking records for unemployment, military service is a kind of passport to life: either you can make a military career, or, after serving, you will confidently join the ranks of law enforcement. But first you need to get into the army itself.

Military expert Pavel Felgenhauer explains the reduction in conscription by the authorities’ doubts about the love of Caucasians for Russia. “It is believed that because of Caucasians, hazing begins and develops in units, and because of this, the attractiveness of service for many thousands of Slavs decreases,” Felgenhauer said. “But, most importantly, the government does not want people of Caucasian nationality to serve in the army, so as there are serious doubts about their loyalty to the country."

Felgenhauer's words are indirectly confirmed by the initiation of a criminal case against two natives of Dagestan serving in the Sverdlovsk region. From the case materials it follows that soldiers Elbrus Musaev and Teymur Mamedov woke up 16 colleagues on August 10, 2012 and wrote “Dagestan”, “Azerbaijan” and others on their backs with shaving foam.

Recently, there have been several cases in Dagestan when former law enforcement officers were among the members of illegal armed groups. A source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, on condition of anonymity, said that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation requested statistical data on “police” militants. “It is clear that the state does not want to train potential terrorists in military affairs,” the source explained.

But the problem is not hazing, says Valentina Melnikova, secretary of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia. “No hazing in nature exists at all and never has existed,” Melnikova assures. “This term is just an excuse. They found a name for violent crimes in the troops. When hysteria begins - “Dagestanians are acting outrageously”, I personally have completely reasonable questions: where was the officer on duty, where was the deputy commander for work with personnel, where was the unit commander himself? Is anything happening without their knowledge?”

At the same time, Melnikova admits that conscription in Dagestan has been greatly reduced: “As far as I know, in the spring just over two thousand guys left Dagestan to serve, and, of course, this is small compared to how many people there are who want to join the army.”

Dagestanis of military age are, by unspoken instructions, equated to conscripts with a criminal record, said the secretary of the SKSM. “In Volgograd, guys with an expunged criminal record could not get into the army, they had to go to court,” says Melnikova and adds that she knows how to solve the problem. “Since they don’t want to conscript former convicts and Caucasians, then let the state give them military ID cards. This would suit everyone, but it turns out that children under 27 live in the country like in a colony.”

More than 40 thousand children of military age live in the republic; in the spring, 2,783 of them were drafted - these figures were announced by the military commissariat of Dagestan. Dagestanis who want to repay their debt to their homeland resort to tricks to make their way into life.

But Makhachkala resident Usman Gadisov does not want to look for workarounds. He is preparing a lawsuit against the Military Commissariat of Dagestan. A man complains that his son has not been accepted into the army for three years now. “The commission says that there are no more places, but why then do they send out summonses?” Gadisov is perplexed. “My son has just been sitting at home idle for three years, and if he had served in the army, he would have gone to work in the police. Great, like everyone else, I know how to resolve the issue: I need to give 50-60 thousand rubles. But no one will get anything from me. I will file a lawsuit, I’m preparing a statement with a lawyer now.”

The experience of 26-year-old resident of the city of Yuzhno-Sukhokumsk Salman Magomedov could help Gadisov avoid legal disputes. The young man simply changed his place of registration. “I moved to Stavropol, to my uncle, registered with him, was registered, and without question flew out to serve in the fall,” says Magomedov about the scheme for joining the army, which is becoming popular in Dagestan.

The head of Dagestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov, repeatedly raised the problem of conscription into the army with military officials , but it seems that the request was responded to exactly in the opposite direction.