combat helicopter Ka-52. Both pilots died.
According to the preliminary version, the cause of the disaster could be a technical malfunction. February 3, 2018 while flying over the Idlib de-escalation zone, a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft was shot down. Pilot NovelFilipov catapulted in the area of the terrorist-controlled settlement of Tell-Debes. Once surrounded, he grenade himself.
December 31, 2017 As a result of the shelling of the Khmeimim airfield, two servicemen were killed. Their names were not called. The Ministry of Defense announced this on January 4.
November 7, 2017 in Chuvashia opened a memorial plaque "heroically died" ValeryEmdyukov. As vesti.ru reported back in August, a serviceman died in Syria. The circumstances of the death were not disclosed.
October 2, 2017 Ministry of Defense death of a colonel who was wounded in Syria Valery Fedyanina. He died in Moscow in the main clinical hospital of the Ministry of Defense, where he was taken after his car was blown up. Fedyanin organized the delivery of humanitarian aid to one of settlements Syrian Ham.
September 24, 2017 became aware of the lieutenant general Valeria Asapova. According to the Ministry of Defense, Asapov died under mortar fire at the command post of the Syrian troops, where he was, "assisting the Syrian commanders in managing the operation to liberate the city of Deir ez-Zor."
September 4, 2017 The Ministry of Defense that after the shelling by IS militants, motorcades in the province of Deir ez-Zor were killed two servicemen. One of them died on the spot, the second died in the hospital from his wounds. When exactly the soldiers died, the report did not specify.
July 11, 2017 in Syrian Hama military adviser captain Nikolai Afanasov. He came under mortar fire from militants. Now the soldier will be posthumously presented to the state award.
May 2017 died in Syria Marat Akhmetshin. He was the intelligence chief of the headquarters of the howitzer self-propelled artillery battalion of the 9th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Western Military District.
May 3, 2017 on the official website of the administration of the city of Bratsk, a message appeared that a Bogdan Derevitsky, military contractor. He was 24 years old.
May 2, 2017 The Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of a Russian military adviser, lieutenant colonel Alexey Buchelnikov, because of the shelling of militants. He was posthumously presented to the state award.
April 20, 2017 Ministry of Defense death of Russian military adviser major Sergei Bordov. According to the agency, he died as a result of an attack by militants on a military garrison of government troops.
Bordov presented to the state award.
April 11, 2017 The Ministry of Defense confirmed the death two Russian military. According to the department, they died as a result of an attack by militants.
March 6, 2017 The Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of a Russian soldier Artem Gorbunov. Earlier that on March 2, he died in Syria during the operation to capture Palmyra, Gorbunov's wife Sophia.
February 20, 2017 Ministry of Defense on death four and wounding two Russian soldiers. Their car was blown up by a radio-controlled mine.
December 7, 2016 on the death of a colonel Ruslan Galitsky. During the shelling of one of the quarters of Aleppo by militants, he was mortally wounded.
December 5, 2016 Russian military nurses Nadezhda Durachenko and Galina Mikhailova died as a result of a direct mine hit in the emergency department of a mobile hospital in Aleppo.
August 1, 2016 in the province of Idlib, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down. perished five- three crew members and two officers. The helicopter was returning after a humanitarian mission.
The wreckage of the downed Russian Mi-8 helicopter in the province of Idlib (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)
May 2016 A soldier was killed while performing a combat mission. Asker Bizhoev. He was awarded the Order of Courage posthumously.
July 22, 2016 A contract soldier was killed while performing a combat mission in the Aleppo region Nikita Shevchenko. He was presented to the state award posthumously.
July 8, 2016 the commander of the 55th separate regiment of army aviation, Colonel, died Ryafagat Khabibullin and flight instructor Evgeny Dolgin when the helicopter they were overflying was hit from the ground.
June 15, 2016 died in Homs province Andrey Timoshenkov. According to the Ministry of Defense, Timoshenkov "prevented the breakthrough of a car filled with explosives to the place of distribution of humanitarian aid to the civilian population."
June 7, 2016 Lance Sergeant Mikhail Shirokopoyas died in Moscow from wounds received during the shelling of a Russian convoy in Syria.
May 11, 2016 died Anton Erygin. He was seriously injured on May 9 while escorting cars from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties.
April 12, 2016 Russian Mi-28N helicopter crashed near Homs, killing two crew members Andrey Okladnikov and Viktor Pankov. The Ministry of Defense stated that the helicopter was not shot down, and the results of the investigation were not presented.
March 17, 2016 Russian special forces officer Alexander Prokhorenko died near Palmyra. On March 24, the Ministry of Defense announced his death. According to the agency, the serviceman was performing reconnaissance missions in the Palmyra region when he was surrounded and called fire on himself.
Farewell ceremony for the Hero of Russia, Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko, who died in Syria, in the village of Gorodki, Tulgansky District (Photo: Sergey Medvedev/TASS)
February 1, 2016 military adviser lieutenant colonel died Ivan Cheremisin. According to the Ministry of Defense, Cheremisin was in Syria as a military adviser.November 24, 2015 Marine Alexander Pozynich died during the operation to rescue the crew of the Su-24, shot down by a Turkish fighter. During the operation, one of the Mi-8 helicopters, on which the troops were moving, was shot down and made an emergency landing. Pozynich received a shrapnel wound in the neck and died.
November 24, 2015 the commander of the Su-24 crew died Oleg Peshkov. The plane was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter with an air-to-air missile near the Syrian-Turkish border in the province of Latakia.
Memorial plaque in memory of the commander of the Su-24 bomber Oleg Peshkov, who died in Syria, installed on the monument military glory near the village of Vozzhaevka (Photo: Sergey Lazovsky/TASS)
November 19, 2015 the captain died Fedor Zhuravlev. At the funeral, Zhuravlev's commander told his relatives that he had died during a special operation against militants in Kabardino-Balkaria. During a meeting between Putin and servicemen who returned from Syria on March 17, the serviceman's widow was presented with awards. Later, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Reuters that Zhuravlev had died in Syria.
October 24, 2015 contract soldier died Vadim Kostenko. The official version of death is that he committed suicide at the Khmeimim airbase due to a discord "in a personal relationship with a girl." This version was reported to the Ministry of Defense the day before the funeral.In the summer of 2017, tanks on the concrete square of the military camp of the Kantemirovskaya division danced a waltz - this is how the elite unit celebrated its 75th anniversary. In the year of the anniversary, four conscripts and junior contract officers were killed in the division. Their relatives are convinced that we are talking about premeditated killings. "Snob" studied the materials of criminal cases, talked with the soldiers of the division and their relatives in order to understand the reasons for the death of the military.
In February 2017, a T-80U tank driven by 18-year-old private Ilya Gorbunov fell off a bridge into the Inevka River. Gorbunov brought up the rear of a tank column of four vehicles, following from the exercises to the tankodrome. The accident was not immediately noticed, the column was not tight.
The water in the river froze, but the tank broke through the ice and fell onto the muddy bottom with the hatch down, depriving Gorbunov of the opportunity to get out of the car. A few hours later, with the help of cables and other tanks, the T-80U under tail number 436 managed to be put on its side. Gorbunov's body fell out of the open hatch.
In the medical examination they will write that the conscript drowned: traces of soil will be found in the trachea, esophagus and bronchi. Relatives will demand a thorough open investigation into the circumstances of Gorbunov's death: they believe that the investigation and possible perpetrators are hiding real reason conscript's death. Gorbunov did not have time to obtain a driver-mechanic license, he did not have the right to drive a tank, and the medical examination, apparently, was compiled with errors.
I. Tankman without a license. The story of Ilya Gorbunov
Ilya Gorbunov was left without parents early and was brought up in cadet corps them. Shkurny, and since February 2015 began to live with two sisters near Bryansk in the family of Nadezhda Kachurina, who became their adoptive mother. In November 2016, he was called up for military service. “Ilya was supposed to go to the fleet, but he begged to be sent to this Kantemirovka,” says Gorbunov's adoptive mother. After military service he planned to remain in a prestigious part of the contract, hoping to build a military career.
Nadezhda Kachurina turned to her acquaintances in the city military enlistment office, and Gorbunov was sent to the 12th tank regiment stationed near Naro-Fominsk. Three days after arriving at the unit, Ilya, according to his mother, “began to beat him daily for educational purposes,” as a result of which he lost consciousness several times. He ended up in the hospital, Nadezhda again turned to her friends at the military registration and enlistment office, contacted the military in the Kantemirovskaya division - they stopped beating Ilya.
Photo from personal archive
At the end of November, Gorbunov took the oath and was assigned to another regiment - Yampolsky. There he studied as a gunner, and two weeks later he received the rank of junior sergeant. “I didn’t even believe him, I asked his commander to confirm it,” Kachurina recalls. Ilya was very happy, his family too, but six days later he called and said that he had been stripped of his rank and was being transferred to another regiment, the 13th. On the same day, Gorbunov again ended up in the hospital, from where he left shortly before the New Year. “Ilya wrote that they slept on the bare floor due to the lack of beds, so everyone was sick,” says Christina, Gorbunov's half-sister.
Immediately after leaving the hospital, he and three other soldiers were put on duty. On the same day, Ilya wrote sister Masha SMS: "How can I sell my share of the apartment?" It turned out that one of the ensigns lost a pea jacket, which allegedly contained 68 thousand rubles. The conscripts who were on duty were called to account and forced to chip in. The family sent money to Gorbunov. In January, for some reason, they began to teach him how to drive a tank - according to his colleagues, the operator-gunner Gorbunov drove the T-80U once a week. Ilya's adoptive mother is sure that her son could not drive a tank himself - otherwise she would have known about it.
In the early morning of January 17, before the exercises, Ilya discovered that his friend and colleague, Private Sergei Afanasiev, had disappeared somewhere. A little later, Gorbunov found his body in one of technical premises parts. He himself had less than three weeks to live.
***
The depth of Inevka under the bridge, where the T-80U rolled over, is no more than two meters. In winter, at a temperature of minus 17 degrees, the river should have frozen to the bottom. The tank fell off the bridge because there were no hooks on the tracks - the car jumped down the ice. The commander of the company in which Gorbunov served was Lieutenant Oleg Leontiev - it was he who gave the order to the operator-gunner to control the T-80U and became the only defendant in the case of the death of Gorbunov.
According to the case file, at about 8 am on February 6, the battalion commander, Lieutenant Leontiev, led the formation. He ordered several soldiers including those without a driver's license. - Approx. ed.) to overtake the tanks to the tankodrome. Leontiev then asked Gorbunov to take the place of Private Kharitonov in the fourth tank. The latter was required by the lieutenant for household needs.
The junior officers who led the departure of the tanks did not like the fact that the inexperienced Gorbunov would drive the vehicle, but they did not argue with the unit commander. Gorbunov advanced on a tank towards the tankodrome. “It was very slippery on the bridge over the Inevka River,” Private Zhirukhin recalled in a conversation with Ilya’s half-sister. - The tank was driving ahead of me - it also stalled, I said that it was slipping, and we left somehow. And it looks like he didn't make it."
The place where the tank crashed. Photo from personal archive
Nadezhda Kachurina is convinced that Leontiev knew in advance that the tank driven by Gorbunov was technically faulty, and therefore the actions of the lieutenant were deliberate.
The mother of the deceased insisted on a technical examination of the drowned T-80U. Specialist from the Ministry of Defense: "At the time of use, the tank was in a technically faulty condition and could not be used in practical driving classes." It also turned out that there are no documents in the file from which it would be clear who is responsible for checking the condition of the car, who is responsible for checking the driver-mechanic's certificate and why this tank was released from the training field through the control and technical point.
Was it not necessary documents originally or they were destroyed, it is now impossible to establish. During the interrogation, Private Zhirukhin, who also drove a tank without a license, claimed that Lieutenant Leontiev did not ask them to lie to the KTP duty officer about having a certificate - they were never checked at all. Behind technical condition tanks were monitored by a special commission. Its full composition is unknown, during the investigation only one name surfaced - Ensign Eduard Fomkin. Two months after Gorbunov's death, he himself would die AWOL.
Nadezhda Kachurina does not believe in accidental death son. She connects her with both the death of Afanasyev and the death of Fomkin.
II. Fainting in the cupboard. The story of Sergei Afanasiev
Late on a January evening, Private Sergei Afanasiev made his way into the supply room, where there was a generator for heating the premises: the soldiers regularly visited there after lights out to call home and talk with relatives without strangers.
Despite the fact that Afanasiev was often at home on weekends and holidays, for the sake of this opportunity he had to “help” the military unit with money and building materials ( other military personnel confirm this practice. - Approx. ed.), - he called his wife Anna regularly.
Sergei Afanasiev. Photo from personal archive
Afanasiev called Anna from the supply room, she asked to call back in an hour, because she had guests. But Sergei called back ten minutes later: “Imagine, I inhaled some kind of gas and lost consciousness.” Anna told her husband to go outside immediately. He agreed. After that, she was no longer able to get through to him.
The next morning, Ilya Gorbunov found Afanasyev's body in the supply room. By noon, his wife and parents were informed of his death.
“The commanders made concessions when they allowed the guys to call their relatives after lights out,” says Alexander Afanasiev, Sergei's father. - They even often drank in this storeroom. A criminal case was not opened due to the lack of corpus delicti: they said it was his own fault for going there.” Alexander does not blame the officers for the death of his son: “The son spoke exceptionally well about Leontiev, and in general he never complained about anything.” But at the same time, it is stipulated that the death of Gorbunov that followed this haunts him. Especially considering that two months later, Ensign Eduard Fomkin and Private Yevgeny Kononov died in the same unit.
III. AWOL in the garage. The story of Evgeny Kononov and Eduard Fomkin
22-year-old Eduard Fomkin served in the Yampolsky regiment as the head of the armored service. Rapid career growth was due to a lack of personnel. The previous boss, a lieutenant, went to fight in Syria. The junior contractors had to work a lot. “How many days are there in a month? Let's say thirty? Here are all thirty workers, - says one of the active servicemen of the same regiment, who asked not to be named. - In the division in general a big problem with personnel, I don’t know anyone who would extend the contract, and those people who are are used to the maximum.”
That is why Fomkin's wife Ekaterina rarely saw her husband, last time two days before death. On April 16, Edward went to the unit to intervene in the outfit. He was supposed to be back in a day.
“The next evening I had things to do, I began to call my husband closer to 22 o'clock,” recalls Ekaterina. “He picked up the phone and said that there was a blockage at work again and he needed to correct some documents.” Until four in the morning, calls were dropped, then the phone turned off. Catherine was not worried, she decided that her husband was very busy. The next morning, his phone was still unavailable.
Edward Fomkin. Photo from personal archive
On the afternoon of April 18, Captain Kashin discovers the loss of Ensign Fomkin and his assistant, Private Kononov. The last time he saw them was around six in the morning, when they were finishing their work. He started making phone calls to both. The phones were silent. Kashin knew that Fomkin had a personal garage next to the unit, and therefore immediately went there. The gates were closed and had to be broken down. Penetrating inside, Kashin found three corpses - Fomkin, Kononov and a civilian woman, Anastasia Stepanyuk.
All three died from poisoning. carbon monoxide- so write medical experts. Relatives of the victims were assured that all three were drunk, but a medical examination showed that there was no alcohol in Kononov's blood.
Kononov complained that he had to work hard at night. He talked about corruption and theft in part
According to Kononov's mother Olga, the soldiers in the barracks literally slept in turns - because of the renovation. Her son complained that he had to work hard at night. He talked about corruption and theft in the unit: they had to forge documents - about spare parts for equipment and about fuel, which supposedly came to the unit, but in fact they didn’t. Fomkin's wife reported the same.
Evgeny Kononov's parents will speculate who this civilian woman and how all three ended up in the same car outside the territory of the unit. Ekaterina Fomkina knows the answers to these questions. In her husband's phone, she found correspondence with Anastasia Stepanyuk: Ensign Fomkin had a close relationship with her secretly from his wife, and that evening he agreed to meet in the garage to have a drink and listen to music.
The parents of Kononov and Gorbunov entered into a fight with the Ministry of Defense. They were recently joined by the parents of private Alexei Bukhanov, who died in June 2016, allegedly as a result of a suicide attempt. Bukhanov was constantly extorted money, he complained about life in the unit. “Here you have to be a bitch, but I can’t,” he told his mother. The parents of Kononov, Bukhanov and Gorbunov are sure that someone killed their children.
Alexey Bukhanov. Photo from personal archive
IV. Requisitions, beatings and negligence
There are indeed many inconsistencies in the materials of the case of the dead: the testimony of witnesses changes and contradicts each other over time, there are a lot of documents missing, and even medical examinations raise questions. At the request of "Snob", the forensic medical expert of the Moscow Regional Bureau of the SME studied the conclusions of doctors ( is available to the editor. - Approx. ed.).
Sergei Afanasyev may have actually been poisoned by exhaust fumes diesel generator. But with such poisoning, the blood acquires a pronounced scarlet hue, which means that everything internal organs must also have a characteristic color. The conclusion of the experts of the Ministry of Defense does not confirm this: the condition of the organs is described as if Afanasyev did not breathe exhaust gases at all. And only the results of a blood test indicate the cause of death.
In the conclusion of the doctors about the death of Ilya Gorbunov, it is said that he died "from asphyxia as a result of drowning", but during the autopsy, neither traces of water nor plankton particles from the reservoir were found in the respiratory organs. That is, even if the description of specialists is correct, the conclusions about the causes of death are incorrect.
The nature of the inconsistencies - intentional falsification or ordinary negligence - is now impossible to establish
Kononov, Fomkin and Stepanyuk, according to the documents, died under the same conditions: exhaust gas poisoning. Experts say that by the time the bodies were examined, “at least 6 and no more than 14 hours” had passed. However, the descriptions of cadaveric spots and the temperature of the bodies of the dead do not correspond to this time.
At the same time, none of the victims have signs of violence - beatings that could have taken place before death or caused them, according to the documents and photographs during the autopsy. But this does not exclude the fact that doctors could write in the documents what they wanted to pass off as reality. The nature of the inconsistencies - deliberate falsification or ordinary negligence - is now impossible to establish.
From the stories of relatives and military personnel who agreed to speak with us on condition of anonymity, we can conclude that negligence, extortion, hazing and lack of discipline are systemic in the elite Kantemirovskaya division. “Therefore, the boys are dying, out of stupidity,” says the interlocutor of “Snob”. “These died, and you found out about them, and how many guys are beaten and injured as a result of negligence every year, you can’t count.”
“This story is like a bad detective story, it’s unlikely that anyone was intentionally killed there. I knew some of these guys, - says another interlocutor of Snob. “The situation is much worse, in Kantemirovka and, probably, a thousand other Russian units, it’s not a maniac-killer, but a system.”
For the past few years, neither the military prosecutor's office nor the Ministry of Defense have published their official statistics on combat losses in the army.
As an elite unit, the division only works to maintain its own image, according to servicemen interviewed by Snob. “The junior officers of Kantemirovka work for show of order, such a Potemkin village. It's like supporting a drunk who falls all the time - first on one side, then on the other, ”says one of the junior officers. “In one subdivision, they check, all the best are collected in the bottom hole and dragged there, in the other they are transferred there,” says an anonymous interlocutor of “Snob”. - And there is nothing, because every day they steal little things, not tanks with shells, of course, but also fuel, and everything that lies badly. And then they sell between parts - there is a group in VK, they sell all this junk there.
“A mess in the division due to a lack of officers. It's endless vicious circle, - says one of the officers who served in the Kantemirovskaya division a year ago, - there are few of them, so they are overwhelmed with work. And on the other hand, that is why they don’t just fire them from there. And everyone, from the battalion commander, who does not want to be reprimanded, and ending with the division commander, is interested in indulging this. Thanks to this, such impunity was embodied. There are units who do not want to cook in this. How to choose a word, system! You can't say otherwise."
Theft, extortion and beatings are far from the only reasons why the injured conscripts and their relatives turn to human rights activists. "One of the main features Russian army- it's negligence. Conscripts can be sent with bare hands to collect ammunition from the range, of course, someone will die later or be left without hands, - says Alexander Peredruk, a lawyer for the human rights organization Soldiers' Mothers of St. Petersburg. “This is a consequence of treating soldiers as combat units, not citizens.”
It is difficult to keep statistics on crimes in the army: not all victims of negligence, hazing and extortion are ready to contact the Investigative Committee or even advertise what happened. Over the past few years, neither the military prosecutor's office nor the Ministry of Defense have published their official statistics on combat losses in the army.
The number of annual non-combat losses is also unknown. This data is classified.
So, I've been threatening to lay out some very interesting statistics here for a long time.
When I was writing my case study on late-night hazing Soviet army 1970s-80s and post-Soviet armies in the 1990s-2000s, I, of course, like any decent, competent sociologist, realized that for such an investigation it is necessary to operate with various statistical data. So I decided that it would be desirable to obtain data on "non-combat losses" for a more or less long period, well, for example, for the period from 1970 to recent times(the study was written in 2002-2004). To begin with, I decided to go to the regional draft board of Kharkov, and ask there for data on the statistics of "non-combat losses" of recruits called up from Kharkov. The head of the regional military registration and enlistment office, naturally with astonished eyes, asked me: "Why do you need this?" And he refused to give information. I had to resort to trickery. I, as a smart, cunning, "advanced" modern sociologist, wrote to one of the Western grant funds that I was conducting a very interesting sociological study, and I needed about 1000 dollars to carry out this study. The money has been received. Well, 500 dollars was spent on ..... "bribery" of the military commissar. The data has been received.
So, here is the data on "non-combat losses" among conscripts called up from the city of Kharkov in the period from 1946 to 2004. Check out:
1946 - 1 person
1955 - 1 person
1957 - 1 person
1961 - 2 people
1962 - 1
1966 - 2
1967 - 7
1968 - 1
1969 - 2
1970 - 5
1971 - 2
1972 - 3
1973 - 3
1974 - 5
1975 - 9
1976 - 4
1977 - 6
1978 - 8
1979 - 5
1980 - 12
1981 - 18
1982 - 21
1983 - 22
1984 - 27
1985 - 22
1986 - 15
1987 - 21
1988 - 21
1989 - 13
1990 - 25
1991 - 22
1992 - 22
1993 - 21
1994 - 16
1995 - 18
1996 - 12
1997 - 10
1998 - 5
1999 - 5
2000 - 4
2002 - 2
2004 - 1
+
......2010 - 1
So, what catches your eye when reading these statistics in the first place:
1) Extremely low, practically absent "non-combat losses" in the Stalin period after the war (1946-1953) - for all this time only 1 person. And this, I am 200% sure, was either a real accident, or an accident, etc.
2) Gradual and stable growth of "non-combat losses" in the 1960-70s, during the Brezhnev period. Especially after 1967. Apparently, these statistics confirm that it was the "malicious" and "terrible" "hazing" in the Soviet Army that began precisely in that period (1967-1969), - this just coincides in time with the transition of the army from 3-year to 2 year service life. The suspiciously high level of "non-combat losses" (from the point of view of the 1960s) in 1967 attracts attention - in fact, this year alone accounts for almost half of all "non-combat losses" of conscripts from Kharkov for the entire 1960s. Apparently, the very first deaths from "hazing" have already appeared among these victims.
3) The sharp, avalanche-like growth of "non-combat losses" since 1980 is noteworthy! This is already a clear sign that the Soviet Army (as well as the Soviet society of that period, by the way) was completely rotten and rotten in a petty-bourgeois way - everything was ready for a full-scale restoration of capitalism, and "hazing" in the army began to take on very dangerous conditions for health (and as you can see - life) conscripts form!
4) Further, it is clear that the peak of the problem with "non-combat losses" in the case in Kharkov (and apparently throughout Ukraine as a whole) fell on the period from 1980 to approximately 1995-96. In Ukraine, since the mid-1990s, the situation in the army began, apparently, to gradually level off. In the Russian army, the peak of the problem was overcome 10 years later than, for example, in Ukraine, Belarus, etc.
5) But it should also be understood that the relative improvement in the situation with "non-combat losses" in the Ukrainian army by the end of the 1990s was largely due to the fact that the rate for conscription into the army has also been significantly reduced since the early 1990s! That is, if in 1980 75% of all 18-year-old men liable for military service were called up from Kharkov, then in 1992 it was already 60%, and in 2000 only 12%!
6) How else can I get data on "non-combat losses" for the entire Soviet Army as a whole, in the period from 1946 to 1991. And also for the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Kazakh armies from 1991 to 2010. I think that the data for the Ukrainian army as a whole will roughly coincide with the data for Kharkov (well, "plus or minus"), and it would be interesting to compare this with the data for the Russian army, as well as the armies of two other key post-Soviet republics (Belarus and Kazakhstan).
So, if we divide the data on "non-combat losses" from Kharkov by the leaders of the state in a given period, then the picture will be as follows:
Stalin - 1 person (1946-1953 - 7 years)
Khrushchev - 5 people (1953-1964) - 11 years
Brezhnev - 113 people (1964-1982) - 18 years old
Andropov-Chernenko - 49 people (1983-1984) - 2.5 years (November 1982-March 1985)
Gorbachev - 139 people (1985-1991) - 6 years
Kravchuk - 59 people (1992-1994) - 3 years
Kuchma - 57 people (1995-2004) - 9 years
Yushchenko - 1 person (2005-2010) - 5 years
If you break it down into decades, it looks like this:
1940s (1946-1949) - 1 person
1950s - 2 people
1960s - 15 people
1970s - 50 people
1980s - 192 people
1990s - 156 people
2000s - 7 people
These statistics are purely for the city of Kharkiv, but I am sure that in general it reflects big picture in the Soviet (and after 1991 - Ukrainian) army.
So, as we see, under the "bloody tyrant" Stalin, the situation in the army was just the most adequate, the most prosperous. And even in the 1950s, everything was in perfect order in the army. Further, the number of "non-combat losses" grew steadily in the 1970s, and the peak of the problem fell on the 1980s-1990s (which, in fact, had to be proved!).
The record holder for the number of guys killed in "non-combat" units is - of course, the "democrat" Gorbachev! Look at the statistics - for 6 years of Gorbachev's reign (1985-1991), more Kharkov guys died in the army than, for example, for all 18 Brezhnev years (1964-1982). (It would also be interesting to compare the statistics on "non-combat losses" in the Russian army during the reign of another prominent "democrat" - "Borka the Drunk"!).
Finally, for 8 post-war Stalin years (1945-1953) only 1 Kharkov conscript died in the army (in 1946)! Moreover, I am 200% sure that the death was really connected either with non-compliance with safety regulations or with an accident or with some other accident! For 6 years of Gorbachev's "perestroika" in the army, 139 times more Kharkiv children died than for 8 years of Stalin's!
Now compare when there was order in the army (and in the country as a whole!)! Under "totalitarian" Stalin or under "democratic" Gorbachev!
At the beginning of April, a new spring call in the Russian army, and shortly before that, a bill was submitted to the State Duma, providing for criminal liability for failure to appear at the military registration and enlistment office for a summons. This, as well as why soldiers in the army die in peacetime, was told by Veronika Marchenko, head of the Mother's Right Foundation
How many people are annually drafted into the Russian army?
On average in last years about 300 thousand conscripts are in military service (per year, that is, for two conscriptions). The figures of the “plan” for conscription are constantly being adjusted. The smallest figure was announced in October-December 2011, when it was planned to pick up military service 135 thousand 850 young people. For comparison: in the spring conscription of 2012, it is planned to call for 155.5 thousand citizens.
“In 2008, 471 servicemen died in the Russian armed forces in the line of duty and off duty (this is 29 more than in 2007), while almost half of the dead committed suicide. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
"According to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, last year the Russian army lost more than 470 soldiers and officers - consider a whole battalion."
“Yu. Chaika: In the army for last year 478 people died.
As for the statistics of the Mother's Right Foundation, with an accuracy of one, we can only talk about the number of those who turned to the foundation for help. These data are:
In 2010, the foundation provided qualified legal assistance to 4,277 families of fallen servicemen;
For 2011 - 5207 families of the dead military personnel.
Of course, the sons of all these people died in different years.
Our general idea of the death of people in the Russian army is ordinal. According to our impression, about 2-2.5 thousand people perish and die in the armed forces every year. We have long proposed to the Ministry of Defense to print the names of the dead, but, alas, this proposal remains unanswered.
What are the causes of these deaths?
Official versions of the reasons for the death of military personnel in 2011:
1) accident: traffic accident, careless handling of weapons, etc. (31%),
2) suicide (30%),
3) death from disease (28%),
4) driving to suicide (5%),
5) in the performance of military duty (2%),
6) murder/beating and death as a result (2%),
7) different version/missing (2%).
Of course unofficial versions parents will be different.
Can you bring a few concrete examples when the officially declared cause of death was not true? How are such cases investigated? Are the perpetrators identified and punished?
The most frequent case is when parents do not find in the conclusions of forensic medical experts (who have independence by law, but are subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation), who examined the corpse in the framework of a criminal case, reflecting all the bodily injuries they saw on the body of the deceased, which, of course, raises reasonable doubts about the reliability and compliance with the truth of the conclusions of the experts. Turning to the investigator with a request for a second or additional forensic medical examination, the parents of the victims experience an extremely negative attitude on the part of officials. The most common answer is: “There is no reason not to trust the conclusions of the JEM”, without giving specific reasons for the refusal.
For example, Galina Vasilievna Krasheninnikova turned to the Mother's Right Foundation for help. Her son Ivan was found hanged in the basement of the barracks. The mother did not believe in the official version of death - suicide: traces were visible on the body of her son, suggesting a violent death. After persistent repeated petitions of the foundation, two advisory forensic medical opinions of independent experts in the field of forensic medicine were attached to the materials of the criminal case, which contained conclusions that Ivan was first strangled with a belt, and only then hanged.
In the course of the judicial investigation, we were faced with the court’s distrust of the conclusions of independent experts and unconditional trust in “departmental” experts, an unreasonable refusal to attach advisory forensic medical opinions of independent experts to the materials of the criminal case, despite the obvious inconsistency of the primary conclusion of the SME with the requirements of truth, completeness, reliability .
Was the situation with hazing better in the USSR?
No, it was not better in the USSR, it was, of course, worse. Here is how a well-known journalist, war correspondent Arkady Babchenko writes about this: “The army team was divided into four castes, according to six-month periods of service: “spirits”, “elephants”, “skulls” and “grandfathers”. The “grandfathers” caste is the bearer of laws. The newly arrived "spirits" do not know them, of course. Of course, they are not explained to them. The very first slightest mistake - for example, a weakly (or allegedly weakly) tightened waist belt or, God forbid, hands in pockets or an unbuttoned top button - turns into an immediate nightly "kachem" of the entire call. As a rule, the first beating is always massive and the most cruel. People are broken as hard as possible in order to immediately, immediately stun, break their will, bend, and then only keep them in this state, not allowing them to raise their heads.
The draft army is slavery in itself. Hazing is the quintessence of this slavery. There is an absolute erasure of individuality, the transformation of a person not just into a slave, but into a clogged piece of protoplasm ready for everything. In “devil”, “animal”, “torso”. A person can be beaten with the shackle of a bed, broken jaws, “punched plywood”, completely sinking the shackle of a brass button in the sternum, passing it through a “tapik”, burning a cockade on the wrist, throwing it on a fangs (in the literal sense). You can even force another to rape, I know one such case - the will to resist is completely lost. What is happening is beginning to be perceived as the norm. It's accepted here. The team has been turned into a flock, the individuals of which are ready to tear the weakest to the point of death, just not to fall into his place themselves. This is hazing in its full sense.
And Russian “capitalism” brought with it new types of crimes that were practically non-existent in the Soviet army: racketeering, extortion, and beatings/murders based on them. "Hazing" from vertical to horizontal.
Are there cases in history when hazing in the army was eliminated?
When the army is made professional, hazing disappears.
Argentina is an example: Omar Carrasco (b. 1976) was drafted into the army on March 3, 1994, and served in a remote garrison in the province of Neuquén. Omar managed to serve only three days, on March 6, 1994 he died. An investigation into the death of a serviceman found that he was killed by three colleagues. The motive for the murder was that, in the opinion of the killers, he did not cope well enough with the duties of military service. This case would not stand out in the slightest from those that we report daily in the foundation's press releases. But in Argentina, this media story was enough to end the conscription system. After publications telling about the death of Omar Carrasco, outraged people demanded that their president give up compulsory military service. And they achieved it. Now Argentina has a professional army.
And what about in Russia?
Nothing. Mothers of conscripts, who remember that their son was born, when this son is brought a summons to the military registration and enlistment office, frantically try to solve the problem “only for themselves”, and after solving it, it does not occur to them to become activists of organizations fighting for a professional army. Everyone prefers someone else to spend their time and energy on this ...
Why does the state not want a professional army, why is it so clinging to a mandatory one?
1) Out of fear of new challenges, which, of course, will be presented to the entire structure of the Ministry and the military elite by a new model army.
2) From the unwillingness of the “owner” to voluntarily part with their “property” (after all, conscripts can be sent to build BAM and thrown into Chechnya as cannon fodder) ...
What can parents do to keep their child safe?
Only to ensure that their son is fully examined for the presence of diseases that exempt from conscription, or undergoes an alternative civil service instead of military. The last option is to take him abroad in advance. Alas.
This situation can be changed by active volunteering of citizens in public organizations demanding the abolition of the call. Parents of boys should think about this from the moment their son is born. Then, through the joint efforts of millions (and not hundreds of human rights activists), something will really change.
The presence of armed forces and military equipment in the state is a guarantee of the security of the population. The statistics of the army of any country demonstrates its readiness for a surprise attack by the enemy and the level of defense.
In terms of the number of personnel, the Russian army is in fifth place in the world ranking, after the United States, China, India and North Korea. At the same time, the government wants to increase staffing up to 1.9 million military personnel. The reason is the conscripts born in 1990, who are very few due to those years.
Military service in Russia under a contract is gaining popularity. Every year, about 400,000 conscripts are sent to serve in the armed forces of the Russian Federation. There are 2 times more contract soldiers than military conscripts. The statistics of the Ministry of Defense confirm these data.
However, not everyone can withstand the hardships of military service. Among the military every year. in the army every year records the death of 300-400 soldiers. According to unofficial data, this figure is much higher. However, accidents do not count as suicides.
As for mortality, the Union of Mothers categorically does not support the statistics of those who died in the army provided by the Ministry of Defense. In their opinion, the number of dead 471 soldiers is not true. SKSM claims that in connection with the war in Ukraine dead sons about 2.5–3 thousand people. And the authorities carefully hide this information.
The army includes only those soldiers who died while serving. No one keeps statistics of those who served in the army and those who died after demobilization. There are cases when soldiers died at home after demobilization due to severe beatings or mental disorders received during the service.
Soldiers are also often killed during exercises. For example, exercises of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are held annually. 2016 was no exception. The Russian army participated in 8 international exercises. In the USSR, this kind of training was, but less often. The losses of military personnel during the exercises range from 150 to 200 people.
The picture below shows the statistics of the Russian army and the Red Army. Statistics show small differences in BC with a difference of 100 years. At the same time, the Russian Federation improves the quality of service, as well as the country's military defense.
Young people at the age of 18 are often not ready either physically or mentally for combat operations. This is confirmed by the statistics of service in the army.
According to military experts, the optimal age for soldiers is 21. The draft age in the army (from 18 to 27 years) - allows you to raise the age bar.
Until how many are drafted into the army today? The government of the Russian Federation plans to raise the draft age to 30 years. Do women serve in the RF Armed Forces? Army statistics claim that they make up 10% of the total number of military personnel in the armed forces. That is, about 60,000 women serve on a contract basis every year. How can a girl join the army? The procedure for concluding a contract for young men and girls is the same.
Organization of military service
There are terms for conscription into the army - spring (from April 1 to July 15) and autumn (from October 1 to December 31). Military conscription statistics by year:
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | ||||
| Spring |
Autumn | Spring |
Autumn | Spring | Autumn | Spring |
Autumn |
| 150200 | 153030 | 154000 | 154100 | 150100 | 147100 | 154000 | 152000 |
At the first stage, future soldiers pass medical checkup in the military office. The medical board in the army includes a full medical examination and the results of the analyzes of the pre-conscript. What kind of doctors do you need to go through? Their list is given by the doctor who manages the reception of pre-conscripts. This includes a therapist, dentist, surgeon, neuropathologist, otorhinolaryngologist, psychiatrist, ophthalmologist. Further, the draft board decides on the enrollment of the recruit.
Naturally, the commission may not allow a conscript to serve. The reason is poor health. With what diseases are they not taken into the army? These are diseases of the musculoskeletal system, gastrointestinal tract, such systems as cardiac, neurological, urinary, endocrine. Also, they do not take into the army with tuberculosis, food allergies, enuresis and insufficient physical development.
The next step is the arrival at the place of registration of the conscript. From here comes the distribution by regions where the soldiers will serve. Men of military age are notified of their duty to the Motherland through subpoenas.
Command in the army is carried out according to military ranks. The personnel of the RF Armed Forces include such officials, as a marshal, general of the Russian army, admiral, senior and junior officers. There is no such thing as a commander in the army. The command position in the military unit is determined by the charter.
Officers in the army give orders and have the right to demand their execution by soldiers and sailors of the unit in which they serve. military personnel have military uniform and insignia. Order in the army is mandatory for everyone. In case of non-compliance with orders or unauthorized movement by a soldier, punishments are provided in the army. According to the charter, this can be a warning or a disciplinary arrest.
The soldiers are given time between the commands to hang up and get up - 8 hours to rest. The menu in the army is three times a day. The emphasis is on calories, not serving size. The menu is prepared a week ahead.
Every soldier has the right to leave. Quantity vacation days depends on the position. For soldiers it is established - 20 days, for foremen - 30 days. As an encouragement or punishment, according to the charter, military personnel can increase or decrease vacation by 5 days. It is allowed to increase the vacation up to 10 days for family reasons.
military traditions
There are traditions in the army that are passed down from generation to generation. One of them is loyalty to the military oath. It is also important to stick to the rules. Manhood is considered to help a friend in service in the army and navy. Military secrets must never be divulged by a soldier.
There is such a thing as 100 days before demobilization. The days are usually marked on a calendar. Preparations are underway for the celebration. This is especially true of the "spirits" (recruits). 50 days before demobilization, they have to prepare almost everything. For example, money and food. 100 days before the demobilization order, they are occupied only with thoughts of a speedy return home.
It is almost impossible to determine which army is stronger without a war. There are 160 armies in the world, which have a different history, weapons, training, and strength. Today, we can single out the Top 10 countries that have the strongest troops in terms of the number of soldiers and military weapons.
The strongest armies in the world
No. 1. USA. This country is in 1st place, despite the predominance of the Chinese army. Personnel in the army - 1.381 million people. Americans prefer the defense budget. They buy only modern weapons and military equipment.
Today, the Americans are armed with about 8.8 thousand tanks, almost 4 thousand military aircraft, and a lot of military equipment and armored vehicles. The main focus is on combat aviation. The US Air Force is considered the strongest army in aviation. The United States also has a powerful navy. This includes 10 aircraft carrier groups, submarines (more than 70), aircraft and other support equipment.
In America, men must register with the military between the ages of 18 and 25. But men from 17 to 42 years old can serve. The service takes place in the army under the contract.
No. 2. Russia. The number of the army is 798 thousand people. There are also many armored vehicles and combat helicopters, as well as more than 15 thousand tanks. Russian ground troops are the most powerful force in the world.
The armament of the Russian army, in particular, the navy, is especially dangerous for the enemy. It has over 60 submarines. The government plans to modernize the surface fleet. As army statistics show, the Russian Federation has the most most nuclear weapons around the world - more than 8.5 thousand warheads.
Russia is the second largest arms exporter after the United States. After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian Federation was left with a huge military-industrial complex. It makes it possible to produce all types of weapons, though according to the old Soviet models.
If the United States leaves NATO, then Europe will not have a strong army that could resist the Russian Federation. The armies of France, Germany and Great Britain are very strong, but against the Russian, the comparison is inappropriate.
According to Wikipedia, Barack Obama in 2016 recognized the RF Armed Forces as one of the most powerful armies in the world, and its compliance in the world ranking.
No. 3. China. The size of the Chinese army is 2.333 million people. The country strives to have the latest weapons. More than 9 thousand tanks, 2.8 thousand aircraft, 67 submarines are in service. Multiple launch rocket systems also keep up with other countries.
Chinese the army monitors the technical level. Almost all types of military weapons and equipment have been updated. The Chinese military is developing a fifth-generation fighter. According to the statistics of the Chinese army, they have 240 installations for launching nuclear missiles.
No. 4. India. This country spends most of the budget on defense. The size of the army is 1.325 million people. India even has nuclear weapon. But due to constant military conflicts with Pakistan and China, her place in the ranking does not match. In terms of the number of military personnel, India should be in third place in the world.
The Indian Army allocates huge amounts of money for the purchase of the latest weapons. Preference is given to those suppliers of weapons who agree to establish production on their own territory.
No. 5. South Korea. The number of the army is 630 thousand people. In its region, South Korea is in third place, after China and North Korea. The country has been at war for 60 years.
Troops in the army of the DPRK number 1.2 million people. Naturally, the North Koreans feel the power and threaten their southern neighbors. Therefore, those who are very scrupulous about military training. South Korea is considered the closest ally of the United States. America supplies Seoul with the latest weapons. In the territory South Korea US military bases are located. In the event of a war against North Korea, the southerners have every chance of winning, despite the significant superiority in the combat units of their neighbors.
No. 6. Japan. The Japanese army refers to the self-defense forces. Their number is 247 thousand people. Japan has strong ground forces, navy, air force, which are the strongest in the world. They are also working on the production of a fifth generation fighter.
No. 7. Turkey. Among the Muslim military formations, the Turkish army is considered incredibly strong. It is second only to the army of Israel. The number of troops is 510 million people. The Turks are also allies of the US and Israel. Navy Turkey is the strongest in the Black Sea. The Turkish army has 3.3 thousand tanks, more than 1 thousand combat aircraft. The country is strenuously trying to develop its military-industrial complex. Germany, France, and the USA are helping her in this.
No. 8. United Kingdom. Here the statistics of the army totals 188 thousand people. British military-industrial complex highest level. They are able to make any kind of weapon. Thanks to participation in hostilities in Iran and Afghanistan, English forces when conducting special operations are the best in the world.
No. 9. France. The country has a well-developed military-industrial complex. The number of military personnel is 222 thousand people. The French army is fully provided with weapons, military equipment and satellites.
No. 10. Germany. The German armed forces are considered the strongest army in the world. Its number is 186 thousand people. However, the number of military personnel does not affect the power of the army. Germany has the latest military equipment, and military traditions can only be envied. Wehrmacht troops were a threat to the whole world.
Features of service in the army of other countries
Recruits in Belarus serve 1 year if they have higher education, and 1.5 years - in case of his absence. In the arsenal of the Republic of Belarus there are 1600 tanks, 2.5 thousand armored vehicles, almost 1.5 thousand artillery systems. Thanks to this, Belarus ranks first in Europe in terms of armament.
The Swiss Army has interesting character passing service. First, they go through a recruiting school for 49 days, then for several years, they serve 21 days a year. The end result should be 260 days.
The army of Kazakhstan is included in the 100 most combat-ready military formations in the world. Its number is 100 thousand people. Kazakhstan regularly participates in peacekeeping operations, as well as in the fight against world terrorism.
The Ukrainian army is in the top 30 most powerful military formations in the world. Its strength is 160 thousand people and 1 million officers in reserve. For conscripts, the age is set from 18 to 26 years.
In the 19th century, Ukraine was one of the largest in Europe in terms of the number and armament of the army. After the collapse of the USSR, due to underfunding, the army began to crumble.
On September 10, 2014, the Chinese army fired artillery at the Russian territory of the Eastern District. The PRC attacked a checkpoint near Nakhodka. As a result, an armored personnel carrier with ammunition was damaged, 16 Russian border guards were killed.
On July 15, 2016, the Turkish army announced the seizure of power in the country. According to the statements of the General Staff, the country will be ruled by law, and the course has been taken to develop diplomatic relations with other states.
On August 24, 2016, the Turkish army entered Syria to overthrow Assad. Operation Euphrates Shield meant the liberation of the country from tyranny. The purpose of the operation is to prevent a new flow of migrants, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Continues in Syria Civil War, which began in the spring of 2011. The President of Turkey said that in case of violation of the borders of his country, they would respond according to the principle of the “Euphrates Shield”.