Ericsson
02-20-2007, 04:18 PM
SOLDIER SCANDALS
There is an army barracks near my flat in Moscow. Almost every morning, the soldiers line up to get into trucks, presumably to head off for training.
I say presumably because the theory and practice of what Russians do during their military service can be entirely different.
Russia's military has been tarnished by a series of scandals
Conscripts have been hired out as cheap labour while senior officers pocket the proceeds.
Now it seems some soldiers may even have been forced into prostitution.
Every Russian man aged between 18 and 27 is supposed to spend time in the army.
Only a fraction of them actually do. If you are at college, or medically unfit, you can be excused.
Most people manage to find a way to avoid the draft.
False medical certificates, false registration documents at an address where the recruiting officers find no one has ever heard of you, or a simple bribe, are the favoured methods.
The impression you sometimes get is that only the poorest and the least well-connected actually end up serving.
In June last year, the defence ministry said 15% of the men drafted that spring were undernourished.
The post-Soviet armed forces have been dogged by cruelty and disaster.
For someone who had been a child during the Cold War, it was hard to believe that these were the successors of the Red Army we had so feared
There have been horrific cases of bullying ending in death and disability.
In the latest scandal, the Union of Soldiers' Mothers claimed that soldiers in St Petersburg were being forced into male prostitution. The union campaigns for the welfare of military personnel.
The command of the barracks concerned denied the allegations, but a military prosecutor was reported to be investigating.
Reporting on the war in Chechnya in the 1990s, I was struck by the sorry state of some Russian troops.
For someone who had been a child during the Cold War, it was hard to believe that these were the successors of the Red Army we had so feared.
President Vladimir Putin's recent speech in Munich was interpreted by some as the possible start of a new Cold War.
There is no doubt that Moscow is seeking a greater international role, but this is not an army whose conscripts are necessarily willing or able to be part of a military superpower.
The day that news of the alleged prostitution ring was reported in the papers, one of the tabloids led on the fact that Andrei Sychev was planning to write a book.
Private Sychev had to have both legs and his genitals amputated as a result of injuries he received while serving in the army.
He was not disabled by shot or shell. He was beaten by his comrades in arms.
There is an army barracks near my flat in Moscow. Almost every morning, the soldiers line up to get into trucks, presumably to head off for training.
I say presumably because the theory and practice of what Russians do during their military service can be entirely different.
Russia's military has been tarnished by a series of scandals
Conscripts have been hired out as cheap labour while senior officers pocket the proceeds.
Now it seems some soldiers may even have been forced into prostitution.
Every Russian man aged between 18 and 27 is supposed to spend time in the army.
Only a fraction of them actually do. If you are at college, or medically unfit, you can be excused.
Most people manage to find a way to avoid the draft.
False medical certificates, false registration documents at an address where the recruiting officers find no one has ever heard of you, or a simple bribe, are the favoured methods.
The impression you sometimes get is that only the poorest and the least well-connected actually end up serving.
In June last year, the defence ministry said 15% of the men drafted that spring were undernourished.
The post-Soviet armed forces have been dogged by cruelty and disaster.
For someone who had been a child during the Cold War, it was hard to believe that these were the successors of the Red Army we had so feared
There have been horrific cases of bullying ending in death and disability.
In the latest scandal, the Union of Soldiers' Mothers claimed that soldiers in St Petersburg were being forced into male prostitution. The union campaigns for the welfare of military personnel.
The command of the barracks concerned denied the allegations, but a military prosecutor was reported to be investigating.
Reporting on the war in Chechnya in the 1990s, I was struck by the sorry state of some Russian troops.
For someone who had been a child during the Cold War, it was hard to believe that these were the successors of the Red Army we had so feared.
President Vladimir Putin's recent speech in Munich was interpreted by some as the possible start of a new Cold War.
There is no doubt that Moscow is seeking a greater international role, but this is not an army whose conscripts are necessarily willing or able to be part of a military superpower.
The day that news of the alleged prostitution ring was reported in the papers, one of the tabloids led on the fact that Andrei Sychev was planning to write a book.
Private Sychev had to have both legs and his genitals amputated as a result of injuries he received while serving in the army.
He was not disabled by shot or shell. He was beaten by his comrades in arms.