The story of the GRU special forces veteran

The leadership of the Ryazan Airborne School made a reprisal against students who organized a flash mob-they were expelled from the armed forces contrary to the recommendations of the Ministry of Defense.

Author: Sergey Kozlov , Veteran of the GRU special forces, especially for "New"

The scandal around the cadets of the famous Ryazan GVVDA arose back in April. The reason was the order to cancel the wearing of blue shoulder straps on a field (camouflaged) form. And a group of cadets - up to forty people - arranged an action against this order. These epaulets as a symbol were so important for cadets that some of them went into an Achovolka at night: they left the school - the cadets laid out these very blue epaulets right at the foot of the monument to the legendary commander of the Airborne Forces Margelov, whose name bears the school.

“Removing epaulets from us, you bury your memory! Forgive us, Vasily Filippovich! " - They wrote cadets on the uniform. Photos immediately appeared on social networks. The action turned out to be expressive.

Perhaps that is why the reaction of representatives of the Ministry of Defense was almost as emotional - at least the reaction of the leadership of the school.

The incident caused rage in the command - and extremely violent response measures.

Of course, the cadets made this sortie secretly - they understood that the participants in which case could wait for a severe punishment. Nevertheless, the risk seemed justified to them - they were so insultingly perceived by an order that they believed, deprives them of a sense of belonging to elite troops. But they could not even imagine how cruel would be reprisal.

Unexcredable punishment

They began to look for the perpetrators immediately, already on April 25th. Explanations were collected, documents were prepared. Training battalions were built on a parade ground - to check which of the cadets have old (blue) shoulder straps. The pressure began on the commanders of the units, banned dismissal to the city.

The next day, the efforts of “voluntary informants” found that the epaulettes laid out cadets of the 21st and 22nd companies of the special forces battalion (and the school, recall, is preparing officers not only for the Airborne Forces, but also the GRU special forces). A little later, using the same intelligence sources, the names of all five cadets who directly participated in this action were established ( the editors are known for their surnames, but at the request of the participants in the events we will not disclose personal data - approx. Ed .).

They demanded to confess to the cadets - for appropriate guarantees.

They were promised that in response to guilt, the punishment will only be disciplinary and they will not be expelled from the school. And the cadets made a key mistake. They believed the leadership - and wrote confessions.

Without this turnout with a confession, all further punishments of cadets would be completely illegal.

The leadership of the Ministry of Defense, according to my data, was also not located to radical measures in relation to violators.

On May 1, the former commander of the Airborne Forces arrived at the school, and now the head of the State Duma committee on defense Vladimir Shamanov. He personally said in the presence of a large number of people: the position of the leadership of the Moscow Region lies in the fact that we are dealing with the manifestation of boyish maximalism. And the state secretary of the Minister of Defense Nikolai Pankov, as far as I know, also confirmed this position at that time: cadets should not be punished by expulsion-only reprimands.

The reprimands were declared, and really did not expel cadets. True, the oddities were already discovered then. A formal occasion for announcing a strict reprimand for four cadets was a real misconduct - unauthorized absence. But for which the fifth, taking pictures and sending them through WhatsApp, was punished (through which they then leaked to the Internet), remains a mystery. Cadets are forbidden to use phones - but only on the territory of the school. But the cadet was in the official dismissal and used the phone (for which he was announced a strict reprimand) outside the military educational institution.

The school officers were also punished, the heads of the relevant units - they were transferred with a decrease in their position to serve in other cities and units.

After which the scandal, it seemed, could be considered exhausted. The cadets, in the end, really arranged a daring trick ...

To fire the truth and by crook

But on May 22, the school management suddenly resumed the investigation. The command of cadet units was set to expel all five participants in the incident from the school - that is, to find formal grounds for this. Or make cadets quit at their own free will.

Perhaps there were any additional reasons for this, but nothing was declared about them. Perhaps in the leadership of the school they considered that cadets were not punished sufficiently strictly. In any case, the previous penalties from strict reprimands turned into a warning about incomplete official compliance - and such changes in themselves are violations of the disciplinary charter of the RF Armed Forces. You cannot punish twice in one and the same misconduct, especially if the proceedings are already completed.

The first a platoon was expelled, who did not have a single penalty and claimed a red diploma.

When he was announced on the scientific council that he was expelled for a gross violation of military discipline, he asked: "For which?" In response, there was silence and lowered heads.

Then one more was expelled.

Others were convinced to write a report on dismissal of their own free will (PSG). They said to one cadet: “Write PSG, if you are expelled by the article, then you won’t get anywhere in a civilian”. Another - who had numerous incentives - retroactively recorded an immodity reprimand in the service card. Threatened to fill up on exams and do everything so that they are expelled. They carried out illegal searches and falsified documents.

As a result, the cadets surrendered - and quit themselves.

Can't you believe?

It is not even important that what happened looks like revenge from the leadership of the school. How else to perceive the mass and simultaneous dismissal of all participants in the incident?

Who argues - the guys had to be punished. But why did they commit this misconduct? Because they perceived one of the orders as something that humiliates their military dignity. Probably, they were mistaken - but no one explained the meaning of this strange order. In other words, the guys were punished that they wanted to serve honestly. For the fact that officer honor is not an empty phrase for them.

Mostly those cadets were fired for whom this violation was the first and only for the entire stay in the school. Those who sincerely wanted to connect their lives with the service in the elite units of the Russian armed forces. Those who successfully studied had an active civic position and were not afraid to express it.

Maybe the school has more outstanding cadets, and therefore the rigid selection system allows you to cut off cadets for the slightest misconduct? State exams did not show this - for the first time in the history of the school, a number of cadets passed them for deuces.

But the main conclusion from this story, which other cadets from all other military schools in Russia involuntarily make, in another. The main thing is that officers with large stars on the uniform of students were deceived.

Firstly, they promised not to expel-however, they expelled. And secondly ...

After the deduction, some cadets went to the troops to conclude new contracts. After all, they promised them to the school - if they write a report of their own free will, no one will repair the barriers to them for further military service, which they dreamed about. And they heard in those parts where they arrived: "You are fired for non -compliance with the terms of the contract, and therefore we cannot conclude a new contract."

No one argues - the school leadership has the right to punish cadets for violation of discipline. But why should this be done with such dirty methods, violating the officer word, promises given on behalf of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense? After all, there was a shadow on the command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as a whole, to the orders of orders adopted in the Armed Forces.

For those who remain at the Ryazan School, these issues are very relevant.