As it is now, it’s impossible

There is a category of citizens who definitely spent the New Year holidays at home and did not vacation abroad. These are the police.

Since 2014, when everyone rejoiced at the annexation of Crimea, they were allowed to travel only to safe countries. Since then, every year the Ministry of Internal Affairs issues an order with a list of safe places. And every year the world becomes more and more dangerous, and the list of countries gets shorter. On the eve of 2018, it was shortened so that it is easy to learn by heart. This, of course, is not the last straw, but, as one of the police officers told Novaya, he and his colleagues are ready to head out. But first, vote on March 18th. Not at all what the authors of the list of safe countries think.

At the end of 2017, when Russians were packing their bags to spend the holidays away from salads, television and New Year's messages, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued order number 1/2567. The document ordered police officers “during the vacation period” to travel only to those countries where “the military-political, criminal, natural-climatic and sanitary-epidemiological situation ensures a safe stay.” An updated list was attached to the order.

Detective Kirill is over thirty. He works “on the ground” - in one of the criminal investigation departments in St. Petersburg. He has a non-core higher education and shoulder straps of a senior officer (he asked not to specify his rank). Once upon a time, he, like other colleagues, loved to go on vacation with his wife to countries where flights were expensive, but where vacation was cheap. Because the Ministry of Internal Affairs paid for the travel of both the employee and his family member. After the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the problem with paying for the road ended. But their salaries were increased, and now Kirill receives 45 thousand rubles. Since then, police salaries have not been indexed.

“After the reform, many tried to save money and go somewhere with their family once a year,” says Kirill. “We need to rest, the family asks.” And to go to the same Turkey, where “all inclusive”, or to Crimea - the money is comparable, but the vacation is completely different.

At first it was allowed to enter Turkey. In 2015, it was even possible to travel to one EU state – for some reason Latvia. It was possible to go to Egypt.

In 2016, after the start of the Syrian campaign, the downing of a plane by the Turks and a plane crash over the Sinai, the Ministry of Internal Affairs still considered Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia to be completely safe countries, along with Myanmar and Nicaragua. In 2017, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey were excluded, as was Nicaragua. But they added “safe” Palestine.

Only 13 countries were included in the 2018 list. The safest countries in the world, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, from the point of view of “military-political, crime, natural-climatic and sanitary-epidemiological conditions” are Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Cuba, Tajikistan , Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and South Ossetia. The rest of the world is contraindicated for Russian police officers.

“When the restriction was first introduced, in 2014, people were already dissatisfied,” Kirill recalls. – It’s one thing if you have secrecy, but most employees don’t deal with classified information.

There was discontent and grumbling. At first in a narrow circle, but as the list dwindled, the murmur began to spill out beyond the offices.

“No, that’s the only reason no one quit,” Kirill waves his hand. “But when the question arises whether to continue serving, this becomes an additional factor.

Theoretically, it was possible to drive quietly. No one caught the police at passport control. Their passports were simply taken away.

“Your international passport should be in a safe in the office management and regime department - in ODIR,” explains Kirill. – If you haven’t turned it in and keep it at home, you may be subject to disciplinary action. I know people who received a severe reprimand for not turning in their passports. If you are going somewhere, they put a stamp on your passport at the border. Then you hand over your passport to the ODIR - it turns out that you snitched on yourself.

This affected the provinces to a lesser extent. In small towns, where the average resident earns ten to fifteen thousand, a policeman is godfather to the king. You can do without going abroad. But no one expected that this would seriously anger police officers in major cities.

“There are, of course, people for whom their entire vacation is hunting, fishing and a bottle of vodka,” Kirill shrugs.

Believe it or not, there is an intellectual layer in the police, people with higher education. Those who are interested in seeing European culture, ancient castles, museums.

It was this “cultural layer” of the police that began to look for a way out.

– What is it like when professionals leave? – Kirill notes. – These are unsolved crimes. Where do you think sadists come from in the police? Firstly, because of the race for performance, it is necessary to “cut down the stick” at any cost. Secondly, if there are no professionals left, there remain those who believe that confession is the queen of evidence.

Some of his colleagues, he adds, have already been lured to the Investigative Committee. For some reason, General Bastrykin’s subordinates can be poisoned in sanitary-epidemiological and crime-dangerous countries.

The same list as for the Ministry of Internal Affairs exists for the Russian Guard. And the military and security officers have even stricter restrictions; they are not allowed to go anywhere at all. But their loyalty, according to Kirill, is valued more highly - “carrots” are provided for security officers, military personnel and National Guardsmen, which the police do not have.

“The FSB, the army, the Russian Guard, which is actually the same army, have a real opportunity to get housing,” explains Kirill. – They have a military mortgage, they can get subsidies. And we have a single queue that has been going on for many, many years. Each department has a waiting list of dozens of people, but only two apartments are given per year. I calculated: I need to serve another 30 years to get an apartment.

The 2018 budget provides for expenses for the targeted state program “Ensuring public order and combating crime.” Of the 11.4 billion rubles allocated for it, 7.3 billion will be spent, RBC reports, on the salaries of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “in the field of managing internal affairs agencies and providing personnel training.” The salary fund for police officers “on the ground” will be cut by 8.9 billion.

“So the police are leaving, of course, not only because abroad is closed,” Kirill grins. – Although for many this was the last straw.

In two months, police officers who have rested in the safety of Tajikistan and the resorts of Turkmenistan will elect a president.

– Will I go vote for Putin? – Kirill is surprised by the question. – I will go, but not for Putin. I really have few friends in the system who will vote for him. It's like voting to keep everything as it is now. But as it is now, it’s simply impossible.