The government has celebrated Defenders of the Fatherland Day, 23 February, with ceremonial actions and opposition parties and human rights organizations have held protest actions and have carried out requiem for the deceased in Russian army during military service. According to Levada-Center sociologists, 53% of Russian people would try to evade military service by any possible means if they were called up now. (25-FEB-06)
Red flags in the center of Moscow
The largest protest actions were organized by representatives of left-patriotic forces, who marched in the center of the city with slogans demanding President’s and government’s resignation. In the orator’s opinion, the Government is anti-national. According to organizers of the march, 5 thousand persons took part in the march. Demonstrators had a festive mood and were singing Soviet songs, red flags were flying. The communists’ orators emphasized that they were celebrating the Day of the legendary and invincible Red army, ruined by the Russian government and not so called Defenders of the Fatherland Day. As usual, anti-Semitic literature was being sold, such books as “List of Jews under Disguise”, “Zionism factor” and so on.
Democrats gathered under the slogan “Shame on dedovshchina”
Representatives of democratic parties gathered near the Defense Ministry and the Central Military Commissariat. They demanded abolition of the compulsory military service, transfer the Russian army to a professional one and they also demanded resignation of Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov.
Protest action has been carried out by pacifists – adversaries of army in every way
Representatives of the movement “Autonomous action”, who introduce themselves as incorrigible deserters of principle, held their protest action. The leader of deserters’ movement, Olga Miryasova, is totally confident that State doesn’t need army. In her opinion, creation of a professional army isn’t a way out of current situation, because a soldier undergoes there long and thoroughly training and as a result he becomes a professional killer. So far the movement unites only 150 persons, but actually in the Russian Federation there are many people who don’t want to serve in the army.
23 February is not only a holyday…
Since 1991 every 23rd of February the Mothers Right Foundation has been organizing requiem for the soldiers who have been killed in the military service in the peacetime. About 70 parents who have lost their sons came to the meeting and walked in mourning to the All Saints church of the former Novo-Alekseevski monastery, where the service for the dead took place. Father Artemiy, the dean of the church, supports all mothers in a spiritual way, praying not only for the believers of Russian Orthodox Church but also for soldiers who were not baptized and even for suicide victimes.
There are 3000 deaths in the Russian army per year 
According to Mothers Right Foundation tree thousand soldiers on average die every year in the Russian army. During the last year 6083 families whose sons perished in the army during the compulsory military service applied for help to the Foundation. The Chairwoman of the Foundation Board, Veronica Marchenko, said that in 25% of cases the matter concerns suicide, but often such wording is used in the official certificate in order not to pay compensation to a deceased’s family. Moreover, 23% of deaths in the army are attributed to accidents, 16% to military operations, 15% to other soldiers’ aggressive acts and 11% to illness. Besides, in 17% cases the perished soldier was the only child in the family and 14% of parents, who lost their son in military service, are disabled persons. Parents of a perished soldier can get a pension, which amounts 70 dollars a month, but they receive it only if it was proved that the cause of death wasn’t a suicide or an illness. In addition, investigation often doesn’t take into consideration that in most cases a soldier was driven to suicide after everyday humiliation, brutal tortures and harassment. According to Veronica Marchenko, the last year is characterized by unusually cruel murders and numerous criminal cases.
Photogallery “Requiem for soldiers perished in the Russian army organised by Mothers Right Foundation”
Photos are made by Yanina Savenko
