| http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2002-daily/05-04-2002/world/w7.htm
'Russian army rites kill, wound 150,000' MOSCOW: A leading Russian politician called Thursday for a drastic reduction in the draft, claiming that brutal initiation rites have killed, maimed or injured 150,000 recruits to military service since the end of World War II. Boris Nemtsev, leader of the Union of Rightist Forces, called for the sacking of the chief of the armed forces general staff General Vladislav Putilin who he said had justified the rites, known in Russian as "dedovshchina", as "useful" for discipline in the armed forces. The "hazing", or initiation rites, inflicted on virtually all new army conscripts, often involving astonishing brutality, are known to traumatise many recruits, and a spokeswoman for the Soldiers' Mothers organisation said in February that around 500 soldiers commit suicide every year. Official army figures show that 1,800 Russian troops per year die outside combat, but the spokeswoman said she believed the true figure is between 2,500 and 4,000. Nemtsev said that since 1945, 150,000 young recruits had "fallen victim" to the practice, though he did not indicate his source for the figure or give a breakdown indicating how many deaths were directly imputable to "dedovshchina" as opposed to serious injuries. He said he had been moved to speak out after meeting a 15-year-old girl who said her brother, called up to a missile unit in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, had hanged himself, unable to bear the sadistic practices of his more experienced comrades. Putilin should be dismissed for defending the practices, he said, presenting his party's plans to organise meetings in Moscow starting on Saturday, and subsequently in around 50 other Russian regions, calling for a radical overhaul of the Russian army. Among the most notable measures his party is calling for is a reduction of obligatory military service to six months, to be followed by voluntary conscription for servicemen would be paid "a salary 20 percent higher than the average wage." Recruits who completed five years in the army would be entitled to free higher education, a driving licence and a permit to work as an armed guard, he said. Nemtsev admitted that there was little chance that President Vladimir Putin, who has also called for military reforms, would share his views. |
