When they say about the ex-Minister of Defense: what do you really want: everyone and everyone is accused of harboring the grandiose scale of corruption, and he did not even think to conceal it - he just waved someone concocted papers … Like, with what a boss does not exist … Only at the same time, not all persons who are trying to somehow soften Anatoly Serdyukov's situation are trying to raise the topic of who, if not the ex-minister himself, started an amazing bureaucratic machine with his own hands that threw itself piles of papers, while demonstrating the very essence of the modernization of the Russian army. Take, for example, the notorious order number 1.818 of October 5, 2011. This decree can be considered a classic example of how the main military department itself, with one stroke of the pen of its immediate head, plunged itself into a real swamp of a terry bureaucracy.
This decree said that from a certain time all decisions in terms of appointment to certain positions, assignment of regular military ranks and other actions on the personnel of the army and navy would be personally made by Anatoly (His Majesty) Serdyukov. This document was adopted, as usual, purely for positive reasons … They say, if the right to confer military ranks from the commanders of armies, military districts and chiefs of central administrations is taken away, then the so-called nepotism, multiplied by cronyism and fellowship, will be forever eradicated in the Russian army. Allegedly, only the hand of the minister himself can sign an order on awarding the next military rank to a certain lieutenant, even in the most remote military district. Let, they say, the lieutenant knows that Anatoly Eduardovich personally cares about him, and will always be with him - both in sorrow and in joy … However, it is well known where the road can be paved with good intentions.
As a result, the Ministry was forced to systematically rake through heaps of various orders on the personnel of numerous military units of all military districts without exception. Yes, not just to rake, but also to make sure that the signature of the head of the military department appears on every order, regardless of which direction of work on personnel he represents. You need to get the same lieutenant leave - write a statement and if you please wait, when Anatoly Eduardovich's hand reaches the order of your "petition".
In general, if you translate all the orders for the officers of the Russian army signed by the dismissed minister of defense, then you simply wonder: when did Anatoly Serdyukov directly engage in the transformation of the army? After all, apparently, all his working day, and even at least midnight in addition, he had to display his ministerial signature on the documents. And if we consider that the minister also had to suppress nepotism, which, as it later turned out, for some reason in the higher spheres of the Ministry of Defense was even allowed, then the official simply did not have time for reforms and modernization to have a cup of coffee.
Apparently, it was then that he, a sinner, was slipped to sign the very documents that are associated with the sale for a pittance of the property of the Ministry of Defense, and papers relating to transactions with shell companies, and in general a lot of other things. And he - Anatoly Serdyukov - only had time to change the core in his fountain pen (or the gold feather that was worn down from zeal), and then he went to work: he signed, signed, signed … In the sun, in the moonlight, in the heat, a blizzard and snowfall …
Naturally, the state of affairs with the fact that even such elementary things as the assignment of regular military ranks to officers were determined exclusively by the minister, caused, to put it mildly, bewilderment among many servicemen. Some waited for ministerial approval to go on regular leave with their families for months. During this time and vacation, it happened, already ended, and the hand of Anatoly Eduardovich did not have time to get to the necessary paper … And after all, the matter did not reach open criticism in the military environment either. It seems like it is necessary to execute the minister's directives: since he said that nepotism would be eradicated, it means … After all, orders in the army are not discussed …
However, as soon as Sergei Shoigu was appointed to the post of minister, it turned out that order No. 1.818 of October 5 of the year before last would not only be worth discussing, but also canceled altogether all this whim with the need for the minister's direct participation in resolving very modest issues. As a result, we discussed it and canceled it.
Deputy Minister Valery Gerasimov made a statement that Sergei Shoigu returned the right to the generals to appoint their subordinates to positions, remove them from these posts, assign them military ranks, as well as make decisions on vacations, business trips and other quite everyday things. From now on, the professional fate of their subordinates will be decided by the chiefs of the central administrations, the commanders of the districts, and the heads of the central directorates. The ranks of junior officers can be assigned in accordance with the orders of the military personnel in the positions of commanders of formations and above. The professional future of the colonels will be determined by the Ministry, and the fate of the army generals will be in the hands of the President of the country as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. In other words, for generals and colonels, the situation remains unchanged.
In connection with a kind of "counter-reform", the bureaucratic burden on the military department will obviously decrease, and servicemen on the ground will no longer wait for a decision on their fate from the Ministry of Defense itself for months.
But many will say: here they are! For what they fought, they came to that again. But what about the eradication of nepotism?.. What about the cutting of the Gordian knot of employees (not employees) "by pull"?
On the one hand, it seems, indeed, everything is again at the mercy of the generals, but on the other hand: can the Minister of Defense personally (even the most three times active) physically control all those proposals that come from the bottom in terms of a wide range of personnel issues? Does anyone really have illusions that a federal official should directly track the fate of each individual contract serviceman in the Russian army? reduce at least the same number hundreds of times.
So, it turns out why there were such large-scale reductions in the number of officers … Apparently, the ex-minister wanted to make the Russian army in numbers such that he himself had the opportunity to know each lieutenant in his face and put new stars in his hands when assigning the next military rank …
In general, Anatoly Serdyukov's "modernization" decree can now be considered history, and far from the most rosy … The main thing is that the Russian generals who have now received their previous powers do not hit all the hard in terms of ill-considered decisions of the fate of their subordinates. And that is how it happens with us: as soon as the power is in the hands, then immediately and for the cause - to show their official superiority. In this regard, what Deputy Minister Gerasimov said is important. And he said about avoiding official excesses. I would like to believe that the Ministry of Defense will finally put an end to excesses, including officials.
