gazeta.ru

April 6, 2000

Generals Demand Cannon Fodder

By Oleg Semyonov

On April 7th the spring conscription campaign begins. The General Military

Headquarters intend to turn 191 612 men into soldiers. The number of spring

conscripts is almost the same as it was last autumn, many of who were sent

straight to the war. The new conscripts will almost certainly have to

participate in military operations too.

The according order emerged from the depth of Genshtab's Chief

Recruitment Department. Genshtab has instructed recruitment committees to

summon over 190 thousand conscripts, which is only by 15 thousand less than

the amount requested in the autumn of 1999.

Last autumn the Genshtab demanded recruiters to enlist over 205 000

young men. In spring last year the army's recruitment target was only 169

000, and they were sent to serve at barracks. And in autumn 1998 the number

was even less, only 158 000 conscripts were sent to the army.

Thus the latest conscript quote equals the record number of young

Russian men conscripted last autumn. It is quite obvious that last autumn's

record amount of conscripts was due to the military operation in Chechnya

and the Genshtab's realization that the war would last for months beyond the

New Year.

However, a record number of nearly 215 thousand conscripts will soon

be discharged, having completed the term of compulsory military service. One

day of service in the war zone officially counts for two days of 'normal'

service. Obviously the number of conscripts discharged next year will be a

record high, and consequently the following conscription will again set a new

record. And this cycle will continue as long as the guerrilla war in Chechnya

continues. Still it is possible the Genshtab will declare the complete

finalization of the military phase of operations in the republic, and that

would mean that conscripts would have to fight against Chechen partisans for

the full 2 -year term of military service.

Unfair, isn't it? There is a precedent. When the autumn conscription

campaign was launched in October 1999, the Military Service Instructions,

issued on September 16th, stipulated that the military recruiters were

entitled to send to Chechnya only those soldiers who had already served for

no less than 12 months. The situation changed drastically in November 1999:

in view of the forthcoming key battles with the rebels, the military

officials simply rewrote the instructions. Following those amendments

soldiers who had served only 6 months, were obliged to go to Chechnya.

In any case local conscription offices (voenkomaty) are going to

encounter difficulties in recruiting 191 000. Recent public opinion polls

show that the attitude in Russia towards military service is very negative.

According to an opinion poll conducted in February by VTsIOM, 75% of

respondents claim they would be unwilling to serve and they would not let

their relatives be enlisted. The respondents were not concerned by either

dedovchshina (fagging - older conscripts and higher ranks bullying new

recruits) hunger, or other facets of army life. 48% said they would be scared

of being killed or wounded. These sentiments are symptomatic. After the

first war in Chechnya in 1997 the Defense Ministry conducted a similar among

poll among fresh recruits. Only 10% of them expressed a positive attitude

towards army service. Since then the Defense Ministry abstained from this

kind of research work. However, the statistics on draft evaders are even more

telling: their number increased from less than 20 thousand in autumn 1998 to

around 38 thousand in Autumn 1999.

During the first war in Chechnya a new kind of draft evader emerged -

soldiers who refused to fight in Chechnya. In their letters addressed to the

president and the General War Prosecutor they claimed that participation in

military operations against citizens of their own state contradicted

international law, and consequently they were transferred to units not

involved in combat. Over 500 soldiers thus avoided being sent to the war.

This time the war in Chechnya has officially been called an anti-terrorist

operation. The official status of the current war makes refusal on legal

grounds far harder.

Under the present circumstances many simply run away. Since 1992 over

40 thousand conscript soldiers have deserted. The authorities have applied

various methods to fight desertion. Frequent hunts are carried out, amnesties

proclaimed and other stick and carrot policies have been tried. Since 1992

the military has managed to get back 25 000 AWOLs. It was not without reason

that the Head of the Central Recruitment Department when he said the other

day that 100% fulfillment of the spring conscription quota cannot be

fulfilled.