The Russian fugitives

Once upon a time there was the glorious Russian Army. Largely based on conscription and tainted by a bad reputation for internal violence and poor training, what used to be the pride of Russia has today been reduced to one of the most urgent and troublesome issues for the authorities.

The failure of the first Chechen war has revealed to the world the shortcomings of the system. The reliance on big numbers of conscripts has become a cumbersome element inasmuch as new technologies have changed the warfare techniques. On the other hand, the demographic crisis has made even more difficult the recruitment of fit soldiers.  Alcoholics, mentally disabled and drug addicted people are often coercively brought in to make up the number. Under Yeltsin and Putin, the decay of the army was not counterbalanced with any effective reform. Large amounts of money were indeed wasted, with no effective improvement in living conditions or training for the soldiers. The conscripts who went on to become non-commissioned officers are today lacking the most fundamental skills to lead their soldiers. Their position makes them bold and they are often too full of themselves to be bothered with holding discipline among them. Violence rules in the barracks. The senior soldiers take advantage of their position to indulge in cruel and brutal activities to the damage of the junior.

The recruitment of new conscripts between 18 and 27 happens every year in spring and autumn. All the young men are required to register and be examined by a doctor. Only 11% of them, however, actually serve in the army. Many desert, appalled by the horror stories on soldier life that spill out to the public, and live then in constant fear of being stopped by the militia and forced to fulfil their duty. Others find legal escapades, such as university studies and health problems. The most common technique is the payment of a bribe, either to the recruitment commission or to a doctor willing to fake a health certificate. For those who cannot avoid the draft life is extremely hard. Conscripts often try to escape, and when they succeed they report to the rest of the world the way they used to be beaten up, sexually and psychologically abused. The most unfortunate remain there, subdue their feelings as much as they can, try to resist. The extreme attempt to escape from that reality is suicide. An official survey stated that, between 1994 and 1996, 8000 deaths in the army had been caused by physical or psychological violence and 500 had been suicides. The independent organisation Soldiers' Mothers Committee, however, say that the real numbers are five to ten times higher and have increased dramatically in recent years.

This is, however, only one side of the coin. If the military service was something despised by everyone, after all, the discontent would be so widespread that the authorities would not have other choice but to abolish it. Yet, the only proposal new president Medvedev has been able to put forward is the gradual shortening of the mandatory term from 2 years to 18 months in 2008 and to 12 months in 2009. People outside and inside the army do not really aspire to the abolition of the military conscription. Those who are high up in the military hierarchies are too comfortable sitting in their offices and enjoying all sorts of privileges. Even among the soldiers and their families, the experience of the military service is often considered to be a fundamental for the passage to adulthood. As Misha, 24 years old and two years in the army, puts it: ‘You become a man there. The first year you understand how it works, the second you put it into practice’. In other words, first you are beaten up, and then you beat up. Violence becomes a way to assert power over the others.

This is the main problem with any attempt to bring the Russian Army back to glory. It is going to take some time to see whether Medvedev’s reforms, which include an ambitious wide-ranging modernisation, are going to have any effect on the system. Certainly many critics have made a good point underlining the need to reform civil society at large. As long as violence is accepted by a part of the population as normal and rewarding, there will always be another part trying to escape what is for them abnormal and degrading.
Minima maxima sunt.