Translated material
How much does it cost to lose your legs?
While the Russian Armed Forces are successfully advancing in the Donbass, Russian soldiers and officers fighting in Ukraine are worried about money. Specifically, changes in the procedure for payments for injuries. The clash of commodity-money relations and ideology - in a new column by writer and researcher of the Z-community Ivan Filippov.
Having accustomed Russians to huge payments for signing a contract, the authorities are now reducing compensation for injuries
The most discussed topic of the past week in Z-space was the differentiation of payments for military injuries “in the Northern Military District zone.” If previously a soldier or officer received three million rubles for any wound, regardless of its severity, now only one million will be given for minor wounds (and 100 thousand for “others” ), and only seriously wounded people will receive three million. Moreover, if the injury is so severe that it leads to disability, then the wounded person will be paid another million - Putin signed a decree on this on November 14.
And it seems completely reasonable: why should a person who received a slight concussion be paid the same as a military man who lost both legs? It is logical to pay depending on the severity of the injury. Civilians may think so, and it is quite possible that the authors of the new idea thought so too. But, as military channels write, there is a nuance. They reasonably believe that, in order to save money, military medical commissions, which are already very reluctant to issue the necessary certificates to the wounded, will now define everyone as “lightly wounded” at once. Or take kickbacks for recognizing the wounded as “serious.”
“Taking into account the work of our military doctors and the underestimation of the severity of injuries at the military military complex earlier, now this will worsen even more and lead to greater corruption on the ground,” writes the channel “Dead Heads” (hereinafter the spelling and punctuation of the authors are preserved) . The largest military channel “Rybar” completely agrees with him: “Differentiation of wounds can (and will certainly lead) to room for ambiguous interpretation of certain cases of harm to health (alas, there are enough problems in the field of military medicine). It’s enough to remember how much people now don’t like to consider shell shock and psychological trauma as a “serious obstacle” to continuing to perform tasks.”
“I’ll just step over it” Medical care on the front lines - in the words of those who provide it Society 13 minute read
We can say that these two quotes contain the unanimous opinion of all military and paramilitary channels. The author of the channel “Philologist in Ambush” summarizes : “In fact, instead of saving money by improving the quality of organization and ensuring combat work and, accordingly, reducing losses, including sanitary ones, they decided to save on people. Great plan. Reliable". And the famous UAV operator “Moses” jokes gloomily: “Now we are waiting for a decree on differentiating one-time payments to certain categories of persons depending on the circumstances of death and the degree of preservation of the body...”.
Z-channels are regularly dissatisfied with something and have been whining literally since the first days of the war, listing unsolvable problems, from front-line logistics to “excessive losses.” Why is it worth paying attention to dissatisfaction with the new payment rules? The answer is simple: big money is the backbone of war. It is literally the only thing that holds the entire warring army together. That is the main unifying “brace” and “traditional value”. As in the song of the singer Instasamka, the Russian army today lives by the principle “for money - yes!”
Conversations and discussions of monetary issues did not begin today. From the moment the state began to increase payments to new contract soldiers, discussions began in Z-space and around “is it right that people go to fight for money and not for an idea”? After all, if the only argument is salary, then the participants are not inspired by slogans about the “Russian world”, about “protecting the population of Donbass”? Do they not believe that “bloody NATA” is at the gates, and the Motherland needs immediate protection? The short answer to these questions is simple: no, they don’t. You can’t spread slogans on bread, and you can’t pay off the loans you’ve accumulated with propaganda.
And the larger the payments to new contract soldiers become, the more acute the money issue arises in the warring army. This is also manifested in banal envy: those who came to fight earlier look without much joy at those who waited for the increase in payments and received much more. It also appears in crime: stories about how commanders extort money under the threat of “zeroing” (that is, in the newspeak of war, “murder”) or being sent “to storms” - the sea .
Commanders send unwanted soldiers on assaults. So they are executed. But why don’t they resist and walk silently? Politics 5 minute read
Surely you have heard the expression “ put in a hole ,” that is, for an offense, literally throw a military man to the bottom of a hole - as a substitute for a prison cell. Sometimes in the pits you have to “pay for lodging,” that is, give the commander money “for renting the premises.” The most striking example of the scale such stories can take came to light just last week, when the circumstances of the arrest of a military man under the call sign “Bely” became known - a commander who was considered one of the best and who had the lowest losses in the assault units. People in Z-space knew for a long time that “Bely” had been arrested, but no one said the reason.
The first to publish the circumstances of the “Bely” case was the telegram channel “VChK-OGPU”. After an ordinary fight, an inspection came to unit 46200, which was led by “Bely”. Some had to be taken by storm because the military “refused to let the inspectors in,” and when the inspectors finally found themselves inside, in the unit “real hostages were discovered,” whom the commanders “beat, humiliated” and “received millions of rubles from their cards for months.” <…> At the time of the inspection, 17 servicemen of the unit were found in the dog enclosures.”
Later, the information from the Cheka-OGPU was confirmed by Mediazona .
Is this something out of the ordinary? No. Moreover, stories have already appeared several times in Z-space that cards were taken away from “veterans” who returned from the war and accrued payments were taken away, including compensation for injuries. As they say, “people are the new oil.” Especially if they are military.
Here lies the answer to another important question that Z-authors themselves regularly ask: why doesn’t ideology work? Why didn't the country unite? Why is there no special respect for the “veterans of the Northern Military District”, but quite the opposite: in the near future it is clearly visible - “we didn’t send you there”? And here the answer is simple: it’s again about money.
Is Russia really winning? Many liberal bloggers, seeing the successes of the Russian Armed Forces in Donbass, believe that everything is lost for Ukraine. But they miss a lot of nuances Politics 4 min read
For the overwhelming majority of Russians, those fighting in Ukraine are mercenaries who went to earn money. When in every city on almost every street there are posters promising millions for service, how can you come to a different conclusion? Especially if the amounts increase almost every month. And since they are fighting for money, then why think about them. And what’s more, whether to feel sorry for them or to respect them is their choice.
The Z-authors themselves agree that the army is fighting for money, and not for an idea. For example, Nikita Tretyakov’s channel comments on the same news about “differentiation of payments” as follows: “The fears were justified - the state abandoned part of its obligations. Hiding behind the alleged complaints of soldiers, it sharply worsened the financial conditions and rules of military life for hundreds of thousands of front-line soldiers, who were attracted to serve primarily by financial benefits.” Tretyakov is not just the author of a telegram channel, but a mobilized paratrooper, military correspondent, volunteer and co-founder of the humanitarian project “Loaf” in Donbass.
And the military, lured by the financial benefits, seems to be starting to ask questions. For now, be careful, but many, I’m sure, have the feeling “the treasury is emptying, my lord.” And reasonable questions about the future, when money not for war, but for the military, will suddenly, if not run out completely, then decrease. Then what? After all, if “for money - yes”, then without money it’s “no”?
The author's opinion may not coincide with the opinion of the editors.
In order not to miss the main materials of “Cold”, subscribe to our social networks!
Kholod needs your help to continue working
We continue to work, resisting bans and repression, to preserve independent journalism for the Russia of the future. How do we do this? Thanks to the support of thousands of caring people.
What do we dream about?
About the simple and at the same time complex - the opportunity to work further. Life will change beyond recognition many times, but we, the editors of Kholod, want to stay close to you, our readers.
Support Kholod today so we can continue to do what we do best - be independent media. Thank you!
Author: Ivan Filippov Photo: Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich / Reuters