How to tell jokes in a madhouse

The so -called representative power completely abandoned any attempts to control the security forces through the state budget

Photo: Ren.tv

Experts beat the alarm: the draft state budget for the next year will be even more secret than the preceding. Secret budget expenditures will increase to maximum over 12 years, the media reports. Experts pay attention to a number of strange closed articles: for example, secret inter -budget transfers appeared, part of the costs of education and healthcare have been closed. In addition, closed national security expenses will increase by 154 billion rubles.

However, in my opinion, this is by no means the most serious problem that is associated with the secrecy of the Russian budget.

Numbers and essence

We ask ourselves a simple question, but why, in fact, do we know how state funds are spent on defense and security are spent? Then, probably, in order to understand how our taxes are spent, what are the directions of military policy, how reliably the police and other law enforcement officers will protect us? So, it is safe to state that even the so -called “open” budget articles do not give exactly any information on this score. In fact, several senseless numbers are opened to us annually, which cannot be checked or appreciated. Well, what is the use of the fact that we were informed in the same draft budget that the Armed Forces will spend 2 trillion 138 billion rubles on the Armed Forces next year, and 300 billion on the “security authorities” (even without detailing by departments)? Not possessing a “admission” can only state, increase or decrease the total expenses for a particular article compared to past years. But to learn from these figures how exactly giant funds will be spent (more than a third of the budget is directed to defense and security) is almost impossible.

In fact, several senseless numbers are opened to us annually, which cannot be verified or evaluated

Will Russia prepare troops for the projection of forces on other continents like Syrian, or concentrate on the preparation of the armed forces for local conflicts on its borders? Will he invest all the money in strategic weapons or build new tank armies from promising “Armat” and “terminators”? An open part of the military budget does not answer these questions.

In the same way from the budget, we will never know about the directions of the development of the National Guard or the Russian Police. They say that those who have admission to members of the State Duma Committee on Defense, as well as their colleagues from the Security Committee, the relevant departments provide additional information regarding state expenses for the army and special services. However, it is not known about a single attempt to at least somehow change the planned military budget.

Therefore, even the most trusted deputies are assigned the role of wordless witnesses. The so -called representative power completely abandoned any attempts to control the security forces through the state budget.

Having made a secret all activity in the field of defense and security, the Kremlin paradoxically began to lose control of how finances are spent

We like to remember that American military expenses are more than 10 times superior to domestic. Only at the same time it is not mentioned that the Pentagon classifies no more than 8–9% of the allocations for defense. All other expenses are presented in a dozen multi -page volumes available to anyone. The military budget every time causes fierce battles in the Congress. After all, affirming it, parliamentarians affirm the military policy of the administration. As for Russia, the budget voting is more like the embodiment of an old joke about how jokes say in a madhouse. Someone calls the figure, and everyone laughs. In the case of the Duma, the department calls a certain figure, and the deputies obediently vote ...

An angry joke

Meanwhile, all -consuming secrecy began to play evil jokes with Russian power. Having made a secret all activity in the field of defense and security, the Kremlin paradoxically began to lose control of how finances are spent. Excessed from any control, except for departmental, officials began to lie on the back. Sometimes putting the supreme power simply in stupid situations. So, at the end of 2014, at the expanded college of the Ministry of Defense with an interval of Putin, Shoigu and Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov, three different numbers were reported about the number of strategic missiles placed on combat duty.

This year, data on military expenses that Russia reported by the UN were 1.7 trillion rubles. Less than those indicated in the state budget. At the same time, no one is shy that the numbers voiced by the military department do not join each other in any way. When inconsistencies are revealed, no explanation follows - no one except Putin has the opportunity to supervise the data. And the head of state is obviously not easy. There would be exhaustive and objective information about the implementation of the state defense order, the president would not need to hold many days of many days with the leaders of the Ministry of Defense and the military industry every six months.

This year, data on military spending transferred by the UN Russia, 1.7 trillion rubles. There were fewer than those indicated in the state budget. At the same time, no one is shy that the numbers reported by the military department do not join each other

It is secrecy that is the basis for corruption reigning in the performance of a state defense order. The authorities are trying to curb it, breaking numerous control departments, designed to follow each other. In the summer of 2015, a special law was adopted, which obliged enterprises to store budget funds exclusively in banks defined by the government. At the same time, the funds that financed the execution of the state defense order should have been “painted” in a special way, which would prevent their theft and non -personal spending. Result: the introduction of this system practically blocked the financial activities of enterprises, but the theft did not stop. In 2016, abuse of 2 billion rubles was identified. It is no accident that two years later, the military department made the initiative to tighten the criminal punishment for crimes in the implementation of the defense order.

Thus, classifying everything and everything in the field of defense and security, the Russian government reliably hid the state of affairs not only from foreign adversaries and the public equated to them, but also from itself too ...