On February 10, in Moscow, in the Cultural Center of the Armed Forces, the next All-Russian meeting of reserve officers will be held, organized at the initiative of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. According to the organizers, all the leadership of the military department, headed by Minister Serdyukov, have been invited to the meeting. Only now, in the presence of the minister, no one is sure, including the organizers, rather they are sure of his absence. This is not surprising, given the fact that no one’s opinion about the results and methods of his leadership of the army worries Serdyukov in principle.
In Russia, such and similar meetings of officers (mostly former) have been held before. And almost always they turned into a kind of political rallies, since at first these meetings were organized mainly by the opposition.
In the 90s, the officers 'meetings were initiated by the Officers' Union of Lieutenant Colonel Terekhov and the Military Power Union of Russia, Colonel General Ivashov. In principle, none of these meetings had a big impact on the authorities, but gave them a reason to get nervous because there were arguments on the topic: is this not a harbinger of a military coup?
In 1996-1998, it was from such officers' meetings that the Movement in Support of the Army and Navy, sharply opposed to the Kremlin, grew up; it was headed by Lieutenant General Lev Rokhlin, an extremely authoritative in the army. Again, a new wave of conversations began on the topic of a military coup. The mysterious death of General Rokhlin put an end to both talk and anxiety of the authorities.
To avoid such outrages in the future, the Kremlin decided to take control of the protest rallies of the former military. The last such meeting was held under the auspices of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation in the fall of 2009. It was attended by representatives of the presidential administration and the military department. But the Ministry of Defense at that meeting was represented by the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Educational Work of the RF Armed Forces, Major General Yu. Dashkin, and several officers of a lower rank. The meeting had no visible consequences, and it was organized in order, as they say, to “blow off steam”.
The 2011 meeting is most likely organized for the same purpose. Two problems will be discussed on the outlined agenda - the reform of the army and the extremely fallen prestige of the Armed Forces in society. There are plenty of facts to discuss. From the number of hard-core draft evaders who have gone off scale beyond all reasonable limits to the incomprehensible decision of the Ministry of Defense for the first time in the country's history to temporarily stop enrollment in military schools.
Considering the fact that recently the Russian government has dropped the social status of military pensioners and the military in general, and the fact that the Cultural Center on February 10 will be packed with representatives of this particular category of the population, this topic will turn out to be the hottest.
At the moment, almost half of the military pensioners in the Russian Federation (45%) receive pensions less than the average retirement pension. And for 65 thousand pensioners, their pensions do not even reach the minimum subsistence level. In this regard, a process began in Russia, unheard of for other civilized countries. Voluntary refusals from military pensions in favor of those paid by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation to other citizens are taking on an avalanche-like character. In 2009, 15 thousand retirees underwent this procedure. In 2010 - already 27 thousand.
In the fall of 2010, a wave of protests by reserve officers swept through the cities of Russia. The military took to the streets in Ufa, Penza, Samara, Yekaterinburg, and even a hunger strike took place in Ulyanovsk. But these protests went almost unnoticed.
Just the other day, the pay reform was discussed with Russian President Medvedev. As a result of the discussion, it was decided that starting from the New Year, the lieutenant of the Russian army with all allowances will receive 50 thousand rubles from this amount and all other calculations will be made. Growth, as promised, threefold. Military pensions will also rise, but by a much more modest figure. 70% interest on the promises of financiers. It would seem normal growth, but the output is not so much, on average 13-14 thousand rubles, which is equal to the average civil pension.
The mechanism for calculating pensions also does not inspire much optimism. In the draft of the new law, given 20 years of service, it is proposed to calculate military pensions in the amount of only 30% (and not 50% as it is now) of monetary allowance. For each next year, they will throw in another 1.5% (now 3%). In total - no more than 48% of the monetary allowance (now - up to 85%), taken into account when calculating the pension. Most likely, if the Finance Ministry's option is adopted, the issue of keeping experienced personnel in the ranks will soon arise before the Defense Ministry in full growth.
The professional military personnel invited to it are not expecting any constructive solutions and requirements from the current meeting. So, for example, the chairman of the All-Russian professional council of military personnel, captain of the 1st rank in reserve, Oleg Shvedkov, is not going to attend the meeting at all, although he is on the list of invitees.
“Surely the meeting will adopt political resolutions with slogans like:“Down with the president! Down with Serdyukov. And we, the trade unions, are not involved in politics”. - this is how he commented on his unwillingness to attend the meeting of the Swedes.
“You know, I understand very well what Serdyukov intends to do. Moreover, I share a lot. But I do not accept the methods by which the Minister of Defense carries out transformations. No consistency. Either we form a contract army, then we disperse even those professional soldiers whom we managed to recruit. Either we cut officers by the thousands, then by the thousands we recruit them again. In recent years, the Russian officer corps has received heavy blows. Little of. With these reforms we have brought up a dangerous category of commanders. They do everything with an eye only on their superiors. And through those who are below, through their subordinates, they step over with ease. We have lost a normal officer over the years.
In addition, I am very worried about the Ministry of Defense's enthusiasm for all sorts of material and financial issues. The type of division of real estate and land plots. Just look what is happening today in the old building of the RF Ministry of Defense, where Marshal Zhukov once sat and where his memorial office is located. There, it seems, not a single soldier was there. Continuous joint stock companies generated by Serdyukov. The last to be thrown out of the famous building on the Arbat was the Main Directorate of Educational Work,”Captain Shvedkov also noted.
