“A Russian man who left to fight in Ukraine feels like a sucker”
A military man who retired after the start of the “special operation” talks about the problems he faced in the Russian army and how ready it is for war
Arsalan (name changed for security reasons) is a former soldier from Buryatia. He spent almost ten years as an officer in a combat unit, participated in a “special operation” in Syria for several months. He recently left the army. According to Arsalan, he has long been disillusioned with the Russian army because of the endless corruption, theft and cynicism, and after February 24 the situation became even worse. "Nimage" talked with the former military about the state of the Russian army, what is happening with the morale of the military and why they quit.
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You recently left the service. Did you do it yourself? Was this decision related to the “special operation”?
- No, it was not. I made the decision to leave long before the “special operation” began. But it’s very difficult to quit the army (
it’s rare to terminate a contract of your own free will. Usually, “good reasons” are needed for this. But the list of these reasons is not spelled out in the laws, and the decision is made by the unit commander based on the results of the certification commission . - Approx. ed.).
For a year and a half I deliberately violated the disciplinary charter and accumulated reprimands . Then the command presented me to the certification commission, and there they decided to fire me, because I did not hide that I did not want to continue to serve.
At that time, the dismissal of military personnel had not yet become massive, as it is now, so everything went smoothly. True, they told me that now I can’t get a job in many places (for example, in law enforcement agencies). In general, the command was all the same. There are no irreplaceable people in the army.
Why did you want to be in the military in the first place? Did you realize that you might have to kill people?
- When I was at school, in the 10th grade, I and my classmates were registered with the military registration and enlistment office. There, an officer talked to us, who talked about serving in the armed forces. He publicized it well, and I decided to go to a military university. Then I did not have internal contradictions on this score.
I entered there at the age of 17 and immediately signed a contract for the duration of my studies and the next five years after graduation. I liked learning. Military schools and universities are almost like a military unit. There are also weapons, military equipment, outfits, guards. But, in addition to military special, there are ordinary subjects according to the standards of higher education: mathematics, Russian language and others.
I didn't really think about the fact that I would have to kill someone. It seems to me that in everyday life the military and students of military educational institutions do not think about this at all. Even the guys from the special forces and the Airborne Forces hardly often think that they may have to take a person's life.
I don't want to reveal my profession. But I can say that it definitely does not involve killing people. I am not a tanker or an infantryman. My task was not to go forward with firearms and storm territories.
- You say that you wanted to leave long before the "special operation" began. Why?
- As I served, I became more and more disappointed in the army. After participating in the "special operation" in Syria, I realized that I was not ready to serve all my life. This realization came 5-7 years ago.
Why didn't you quit right away or get fired?
“I had to support my family. I held on to this job.
Why are you disappointed in the army? What specific problems led to this?
There are many types of violations in the army. And often they are approved within the system itself. For example, there were often such cases: many tasks descend on the unit commander, he does not have time for anything, and because of this he goes to juggling. A typical case: it is necessary to carry out training firing from a machine gun, a hundred people must shoot from them. But there are no hundred people, they are all busy with something. Therefore, the officer appoints three people who spend the entire pile of cartridges.
The documents note that all one hundred people learned to shoot. In fact, there are only three. This is
a failure in military training, a criminal case , a waste of ammunition. But it is unlikely that anyone will bring the commander to justice: everyone knows that he is simply getting out of the situation as best he can.
There are many such stories. The army has a large document flow, everything is strictly regulated. In order to keep the documents in order, the high command and the military personnel sabotage the internal regulations in order to give a beautiful picture and the right numbers in the reports. I began to notice this when I first started serving.
Another systemic violation is the constant extortion from military personnel. In 2012, the Ministry of Defense was headed by Sergei Shoigu, and since then every officer is obliged to build and maintain the infrastructure around him: educational buildings, offices, command posts, headquarters. All this needs to be repaired. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense does not really allocate money for this. You have to make repairs at your own expense or collect them from the military. Sometimes it is possible to sell what is "bad" in the military unit.
Information about fees from military personnel is open, it is even in public. I also donated money. What else to do? It is easier to hand over 200-300 rubles than to go into conflict.
I also observed fraud with medical insurance. Formally, all personnel of the Ministry of Defense are insured under a contract with SOGAZ JSC. But behind the scenes
recording injuries in official documents is prohibited . If a soldier is injured, the commanders urge him to be treated at home or in a private clinic, and not through insurance. They say: "If the management finds out, we will all be deprived of the bonus."
It turns out that the injuries received in the army are hidden, and SOGAZ enriches itself, because it receives money for the insurance of soldiers, but does not pay compensation to them.
One of the biggest problems is corruption. I found that even
state awards are bought and sold . It does not matter how the soldier showed himself during the fighting. The main thing is whether he managed to negotiate and pay for the order or medal. It happens that one person becomes a hero, and another receives a badge of distinction from the Ministry of Defense. In order to maintain the faith of Russians in the power and invincibility of the Armed Forces, propagandists and officials talk about the exploits of the military, including those that they did not commit. And they are rewarded.
- You yourself were cunning, breaking the rules?
- I tried to be a law-abiding soldier and adhere to at least those rules that relate to something important. Didn't get involved in adventures. But there were, of course, domestic violations. For example, when I needed to be at the workplace, I could attend to personal matters. There were no people who didn't break anything at all.
- You said that you participated in a " special military operation " in Syria. How long were you there? What were your tasks? What did you think about the participation of the Russian army in the conflict?
— I went to Syria for three months. That conflict was in many respects
incomparable with what is happening now in Ukraine . The fighting capacity of the Syrian radical groups was low: they had homemade weapons, and instead of military vehicles, Toyota SUVs. From the Russian side, the contingent of the military was also small: mainly private military companies worked.
At that time, to be honest, I didn’t think anything about the conflict itself. He trusted his command, did not ask unnecessary questions and worked conscientiously. The group was small, we had enough of everything. They paid $62 a day.
The locals treated us positively. There was no feeling that we were superfluous there. I have never seen Syrian opponents. We were told that the government of Bashar al-Assad called on the Russian army to help. Only later, a few years later, did I learn that Assad had inherited the presidency, and I realized that his power had weakened so much that he decided to strengthen it with the help of Russia. But at the time, I, like millions of my countrymen, believed what the state media was saying.
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