Many soldiers and officers testify: it is very difficult to serve together with Caucasians. Highlanders, as a rule, do not obey orders and mock anyone who cannot stand up for themselves. The military department prefers to remain silent about the “Caucasian yoke” in the Russian Armed Forces until the next emergency.
The Chelyabinsk court recently sentenced private Zainalabid Gimbatov, a serviceman of military unit 69806 (Ural Military District). The private is accused of hazing with fellow soldiers. In addition, the native of the Caucasus is charged with Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, part 2, paragraph “a” (“Inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity, committed with the use of violence”).
The military investigation department for the Chelyabinsk garrison established the following. In February 2011, Gimbatov arrived at the medical isolation ward of his unit. At the checkpoint, Gimbatov said that he was going to visit his colleagues. Several soldiers from his company were indeed being treated in the medical battalion. The serviceman named their names and ranks and was allowed into the detention center.
Gimbatov went into the isolation ward where the sick soldiers were lying. The private immediately felt superior to them. Firstly, because he was absolutely healthy, and secondly, because he was from Dagestan. Gimbatov guessed that the “Dags” in his unit were secretly disliked, and decided to get even for it. Gimbatov's gaze scanned the beds and settled on three soldiers of Slavic appearance.
The private ordered the sick soldiers to stand up. They initially refused, but the Dagestani used force. The soldiers reluctantly obeyed. Then Gimbatov took out mobile phone and turned on one of the melodies, a fighting lezginka. On the recording, the melody of a Caucasian dance alternated with machine gun shots, the howling of wolves and the roar of cannonade. Perhaps the hot-blooded Caucasian felt proud while listening to her, but a Russian person will not listen to such things. Moreover, the entry began with the words: “In the name of Allah! Dedicated to the warriors of jihad in the Caucasus.”
Gimbatov ordered the sick soldiers to dance. The soldiers refused. Then the Dagestani began to beat them. The sick servicemen obeyed and began to clumsily imitate a Caucasian dance. Gimbatov, sitting on a stool, watched the soldiers. He insulted them in every possible way, and if the soldiers lost their rhythm or moved incorrectly, he beat them.
The mockery of their colleagues was silently observed by the other soldiers undergoing treatment in the medical battalion. It seemed that the actions of the arrogant Caucasian and the suffering of their comrades did not concern them.
Gimbatov received a year for abusing sick soldiers disciplinary battalion. Disbat in the army is a cruel thing, but it is unknown whether it will “cure” Gimbatov. Such measures certainly cannot correct the situation as a whole. Because in the Russian armed forces there are hundreds, if not thousands, of such unpunished gimbatas. Against the backdrop of arrogant Caucasians, the universally reviled “hazing” seems like an innocent prank.
The author of one of the online books, who served as a conscript in the mid-90s, wrote about military personnel from the Caucasus as a “problem for the army.” According to the author, Caucasians, in particular natives of Dagestan, join the army in order to integrate into the army hierarchy in any way and establish their own order in military units:
“It all starts with “warming up” the “grandfathers”: vodka, a guitar, a promise to identify informers, keep order. They approach officers in the same way. The Dagestanis quickly manage to understand that it’s a waste to wash floors in the army, and they try in this regard take on the role of commanders in cleaning the barracks, so as not to wash themselves.They also argue for refusing to wash floors in the army by saying that their faith does not allow it, they must perform namaz (prayer) five times a day, this can only be done with clean hands, I never noticed them praying in the army.
If Dagestanis are hampered by officers and regulations, then they try to get to the part where the power of the officers is not very strong. And here they immediately take everything into their own hands. Dagestanis often try to become sergeants and take control of such vitally important facilities in the army as the quarters and canteen. They usually manage to establish their own rules in military units, where there is no clear authority of officers."
According to the author, gangster chaos begins here. When the unit commander had a summer vacation, the servicemen from the Caucasus felt like they were the only authorities. Some of the “Dags” were commissioned, having agreed in advance with the medical unit, others simply went on an indefinite “AWOL.” Those who remained immediately got used to the situation and realized that anarchy was to their advantage: “Some were destroyed and plundered, there was no bathhouse for three weeks, unauthorized absence was the norm. (...) The Dagestanis got so comfortable that they used the soldiers for their own purposes, forced work in dachas, steal. The officers gave up command of some, and also recklessly used soldiers in construction work."
When the ill-fated unit 52386 was finally disbanded, many soldiers were transferred to military unit 41692. This unit was already “half under the control of the Dagestanis.” Despite the fact that there were at most 15 highlanders. The Dagestanis managed to “build” a unit due to the weakness of the officer’s power: “The Dagestanis imposed a tribute on everyone they could: for example, from every four people ten dollars a day. Whether they steal from objects or go shooting money is their business. The command was unable to take any measures against them. It is worth noting that everyone used this type of extortion, only the Dagestanis knew how to do it in a more organized manner."
Where the entire personnel was staffed by Caucasians, the officers also began to suffer: “Starley Budko said that when he served in a military unit, the entire personnel of which consisted of Dagestanis, the first thing he saw in the morning, opening the door from the office, - this is a mop flying at him."
This was in the 1990s. But this is what is happening in our time.
Not so long ago, the Chelyabinsk military commissar (when he was there) Nikolai Zakharov announced that there would no longer be conscription of Caucasians in his garrison. The military commissar said that this was not his personal decision, but an order of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces concerning all military districts of the country. Colonel Zakharov then said that the Ministry of Defense was concerned about the dominance of national gangs that terrorize military units. Therefore, in the spring of 2011, all natives of the Caucasus and Transcaucasian republics will not join the Russian army. In the Central Military District of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Chelyabinsk journalists received the following comment: “There are no oral orders from the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces regarding whether or not to conscript a certain contingent of persons, and there cannot be. Perhaps the military commissar at the meeting in Moscow misunderstood something, with an appropriate conversation will be held with him." Subsequently, Colonel Zakharov was relieved of his post as military commissar. And in means mass media news appeared that was exactly the opposite of the words of the Chelyabinsk colonel. According to a number of media outlets, the Russian military department has decided to sharply increase the recruitment of Dagestanis into the army. The media believed that this decision was caused by a shortage of conscripts from other regions and the Ministry of Defense decided to plug the gap in the last mass recruitment into the army with Dagestanis.
Pravda.Ru has repeatedly written about how natives of the Caucasus behave in military units. Let us recall only the most high-profile incidents that have occurred in recent years.
In the Baltic Fleet, Dagestani conscripts bullied their colleagues in every possible way. According to the case file, in August 2009, sailors Vitaly Shah, Gadzhibakhmud Kurbanov, Arag Eminov, Sirazhutdin Cheriev, Naib Taigibov, Islam Khamurzov, Jamal Temirbulatov beat about 15 fellow soldiers, and then forced them to lie on the ground so that the word KAVKAZ came out of their bodies . Before this crime, the “grandfathers” repeatedly robbed and beat conscripts.
12/12/2012 /12:35/ This question is increasingly being discussed on the Internet. It is discussed by politicians, political scientists, experts, analysts, etc. etc.. Opinions vary extremely. Some believe that Caucasians, like all Russian citizens, should be drafted into the army. Others, apparently based on their personal hostility towards Caucasians, are categorically against their service in the ranks of the Russian armed forces.
In a situation where the issue of conscription into the army is acute in the country, the number of draft evaders is growing, the desire to serve in the army of healthy and strong guys, according to the logic of things, should be welcomed in every possible way, and not discourage them from serving the Motherland.
The Russian Ministry of Defense does not have a clear answer to this question either. And the policy of forming armed forces along ethnic lines borders on discrimination and can be extremely Negative consequences for the state.
If some “statesmen” had been given free rein, they would not only have banned Caucasians from joining the army, but would have driven them all into the ghetto.
There are a lot of so-called Russian patriots among these.
A considerable part of these “patriots” for the state have villas behind the “hillock”, a well-functioning business and accounts with funds stolen from the people with many zeros in offshore companies. Of course, they don’t need the Russian army to protect them...
What kind of “dogs” have not been broadcast to the Caucasians. Although it has long been obvious to a sensible person that all of Russia is sick and what we have in the regions are metastases of a nationwide disease. The entire Russian society needs to be treated.
And in such a sick society, a priori there cannot be a healthy army.
Some “experts” say that mass conscription of Caucasians into the army will lead to hazing in its worst form - on an ethnic basis. This is despite the fact that humiliating drills, executions and violence against soldiers in the Russian army are its birth defect and Caucasians have nothing to do with it.
All this is said as if in military units where there are no Caucasians, there is no hazing and violence.
In general, a strange situation is developing around the conscription of Caucasians into the army. When in the North Caucasian republics conscription into the army is limited or it is suspended in the media, a fuss begins - so, they say, “everyone serves, and these are special.” The call for military service begins, heated discussions begin again on the topic of whether they are needed there or not.
Conscripts from the Caucasus are accused of illiteracy, unwillingness to obey military regulations, and the fact that they refuse to perform household work unworthy of men; They are accused of establishing their own rules and even of lacking the concepts of military discipline, honor and duty.
Thus, according to some “experts” and “analysts”, an increase in the number of Caucasian conscripts will undermine the combat effectiveness of the Russian army. In this way they talk about everything, but not about the real reasons for the lack of order in the army.
By the way, I note that conscripts from the Caucasus have nothing to do with the emergency situation in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation...
Unlike many of their more “literate and advanced” compatriots, Caucasians did not sell their homeland for yachts and imported sausage. And the concepts of duty, honor and manhood in the Caucasus do not require artificial instillation; they are absorbed here with mother’s milk. The army is demoralized not by the Caucasians, but by the corruption that has permeated the Ministry of Defense, the negligence and carelessness of a certain part of the officer corps, aimed at extracting personal gain rather than serving the Fatherland. What are the efforts of officials from “Oboronservis” or designers from “Yudashkin” alone worth, due to whose fault the entire army has been freezing for many years now...
The army is a place where a man should learn the art of war, and not polish the staff corridors to a shine. After all, it’s no secret that a soldier for a certain category of senior management is free labor. And it is not surprising that, due to their religious and mental characteristics, Caucasians refuse to clean out pigsties or rebuild generals’ dachas.
Where service is properly established, there are no problems with Caucasians. On the contrary, officers give them excellent performance characteristics. This means that the problem is not with the Caucasians, but with the army itself.
Problems arise where they are accustomed to treating a soldier as a silent “creature”, where soldiers are left to their own devices and are busy with anything but combat training.
It is not young conscripts who set the rules in military units; they find themselves in an environment that already has its own long-established “traditions” that determine the behavior of the new arrivals.
Speaking about the mental characteristics of Caucasians, for some reason they lose sight of the fact that other peoples also have their own characteristics, which are not entirely pleasant to representatives of the Caucasian peoples. If for some, for example, swearing is the norm, then for a Caucasian it is wild and, naturally, in such an environment a conflict situation develops.
And here again the issue is not the Caucasians, but the inability of some commanders to work with personnel. After all, the whole world knows that Caucasians make excellent warriors. And to say the opposite is to make the world laugh.
There is another important reason for the difficult adaptation of Caucasians not only in the army, but also in ordinary civilian environments - this is an off-scale level of xenophobia or, more precisely, Caucasophobia in Russian society. In isolated groups this disease manifests itself especially acutely. In particular, many military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took part in hostilities in the North Caucasus and this, naturally, leaves a certain imprint on their attitude towards conscripts from the North Caucasus republics.
To solve the problems of the Russian army, in particular, the problem of conscripting young people from the republics of the North Caucasus into the army, it is necessary to have in the army a sergeant and command staff corresponding to the time.
A clear example of such organization of service and work with conscripts are the “North” and “South” battalions of the Russian Ministry of Defense stationed on the territory of the Chechen Republic.
Today, all hope is that the new Minister of Defense, as a person who has extensive experience working with people, who knows how to identify problems and quickly solve them, will create the necessary prerequisites for solving the problems of the modern Russian army.
Commissioner for Human Rights in the Chechen Republic,
Chairman of the Human Rights Commission
Public Council of the North Caucasus Federal District N.S. Nukhazhiev
In chapter
Against the background of increasingly frequent incidents throughout the country with a pronounced ethnic overtones, in early July a statement was made by the Khanty-Mansiysk Military Commissariat Autonomous Okrug about the growth of Wahhabi sentiments among conscripts from the North Caucasus. While acknowledging numerous problems with conscripts from the region, the military said the troops had received tacit instructions to limit conscription from some national republics. “Our Version” looked into how acute the national issue is in the army.
One of the few decisions for which the army is grateful to the previous Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov is the refusal of conscripts from the North Caucasus. The military department tries to avoid commenting on the fact of the ban on their service, since the Constitution does not allow officially ending conscription in any subject of the Federation. However, the de facto conscription campaign in the Caucasus is somewhat recent years it is only imitated: registration of conscripts is kept at military registration and enlistment offices, commissions operate, but only a few manage to get into the troops. So, last fall, for example, only 179 people were drafted from the most populous southern republic - Dagestan.
The mountaineers openly refused to obey the officers
Meanwhile, in recent years the problem with the shortage of conscripts has sharply worsened. Today, even in permanent readiness units, the shortage of soldiers is up to one third. The new leadership of the Ministry of Defense is feverishly looking for ways to correct the situation. One of the options is the resumption of mass conscription from the republics of the North Caucasus. A huge conscription resource is truly concentrated there. Until 2010, 15–20 thousand people were drafted into the army annually from Dagestan alone. However, the necessity of the presence of these conscripts in the troops was then strongly doubted. Such a strong concentration of Caucasians in the troops led to an incredible aggravation of the crime situation; the army was agitated by a number of hazing incidents. The mountaineers openly refused to obey the officers and actually kept entire garrisons in fear.
As Alexander Perendzhiev, an expert at the Association of Military Political Scientists, told Our Version, it is fundamentally wrong to restrict the right of Caucasians to serve in the army, especially in a situation where the country has a huge shortage of conscription resources, and they even want to attract women and foreigners to serve. According to the expert, it is unacceptable to create a precedent when people are not drafted based on their nationality.
Apparently, the new Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu partly agrees with this. At the end of last year, the leadership of Dagestan reported that they had managed to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Defense that the number of conscripts from the republic would be sharply increased. According to some reports, it was planned to conscript about 5 thousand people this spring. The trend towards an increase in the number of Dagestan conscripts in Russian army indeed visible, but on a much smaller scale. This year the republic received an order for 800 people.
In other North Caucasian republics the situation is even worse: about 400 people are being drafted from Ingushetia, and the last large-scale draft in Chechnya was carried out more than 20 years ago. Most likely, the military has not yet fully decided on this issue. For comparison: from neighboring Russian regions the number of conscripts is an order of magnitude greater - from Krasnodar region this year more than 5 thousand people are preparing to be sent to the army, more than 2 thousand from Stavropol region.
Dzhigits are eager to join the troops
It should be noted that the leadership of the Caucasian republics is concerned about the opportunity to serve for their conscripts, although not only and not so much out of patriotic motives. For example, after the actual end of conscription in the republic, Dagestan youth began to have problems finding employment in law enforcement agencies (where almost every young horseman strives to get into) and where they are not hired without military experience.
As a result, today there is a unique desire of young people from the Caucasus to join the army. For the last few years, there has been a tendency for people to pay a bribe of 20-150 thousand rubles for conscription in Dagestan. Some conscripts move to other regions and register there so that they can be called up at the place of new registration.
In order to achieve an additional quota for conscripts, local military commissars promise that they will send only the best to the army, most of whom will be higher education, and also intend to introduce a guarantee system into the work of military commissions, in which diaspora leaders will be personally responsible for each soldier.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the North Caucasian republics self-critically admits that their youth are unsuitable for military service: a considerable part of the hot-blooded Caucasian guys are poorly managed. Moreover, the situation is aggravated by modern realities in society: if earlier the elders in the family taught the younger generation that in the army it is necessary to unquestioningly obey commanders, now the main emphasis in the instructions is the need to first of all observe religious canons.
You can’t argue with the facts - cases of open disobedience to the orders of commanders and opposition of national customs to military regulations are far from isolated. True Muslims refuse to participate in household work, dumping hard labour on your colleagues. Sometimes it reaches the point of absurdity: Caucasians refuse to shave their beards, undergo examination at a psychoneurological dispensary and examination by a surgeon. All these whims lead to the erosion of discipline, aggravation of contradictions and become the cause of conflicts. In addition to this, some have a craving for the dangerous ideas of radical Islamism (Wahhabism).
What affects the hotheads of the southerners?
As the commander of one of the military units Southern Military District, commanders at all levels prefer not to accept people from the North Caucasus into their units and, under any pretext, try to get rid of their presence in the units. The officer notes that today, when conscription service has been reduced to a year, commanders literally do not have time to understand the worldview of each soldier.
It must be said that in the Soviet army the situation with Caucasians was not completely cloudless. The main way to fight the compatriots was to distribute the highlanders evenly across all parts of the large army; their “critical concentration” was not allowed. But the main instrument of influence on southern hotheads was public associations, such as the Komsomol, and strict control over sentiment among military personnel.
Unfortunately, the optimal levers for ideological and propaganda work in Russian Armed Forces has not yet been invented. The situation became even more complicated with the collapse of the institute of political workers and was aggravated by the abolition of the guardhouse.
POINT OF VIEW
Alexander PErendzhiev, expert of the Association of Military Political Scientists:
– The emerging critical situation with representatives of the Caucasus shows the weakness of the military command system, especially its educational component. Essentially, the Armed Forces lack mechanisms that can influence this category of military personnel. No matter how offensive it is to admit it, today the state ideology and the system of military-patriotic education cannot counteract the very ideas of Wahhabism, which are actively spreading among Muslim youth. There is a feeling that the army is giving in to this problem rather than trying to solve it. Perhaps the leadership of the Ministry of Defense does not even know how to do this. I myself commanded a construction company, in which 60 immigrants from the North Caucasus served. Of course, managing such personnel was difficult, but possible. In my opinion, conscripts from these republics have not changed, they have become neither better nor worse, but the methods of working with them have been forgotten. For example, previously Muslims were drafted mainly into construction or railway units, where they served without weapons. Officers were purposefully trained to work with problematic national minorities. And today, to work with Caucasians, it is also necessary to select the most prepared, strong-willed, knowledgeable of national characteristics and better trained officers and sergeants. At the same time, it does not hurt to closely interact with Muslim religious organizations - for example, contact was previously established with the Council of Muftis of Russia.
Which peoples of Russia are not conscripted into the army?
Service in the Armed Forces is a fairly important, responsible and mandatory stage for every citizen. Thanks to constant modernization, the army can provide young people with not only general military training skills, but also master many interesting professions. However, not everyone is destined to join the troops, because due to the nature of the conscription campaign, citizens who belong to small nations are not subject to conscription.
What nations are not conscripted into the army?
In the territory modern Russia About 140 million citizens live, while among the total population there are small nations with an average number of people of about 10,000 - 100,000 individuals. The small group of peoples includes: Ingush, Yakut, Lezgin, Avars, Mari, Kumyks, Chuvash, Chechens, Dargins and Kabardins. The general list includes indigenous residents of all remote areas, in particular Taimyr and Evenkia. Most domestic military registration and enlistment offices also do not conscript Dagestanis, with the exception of certain cases when a citizen independently applies for the purpose of service and further employment.
The main reasons for the lack of conscription
The absence of military conscription among the listed groups of peoples is due to the fact that citizens live in fairly remote areas where there is virtually no infrastructure and administration. It is problematic and sometimes simply impossible for representatives of military registration and enlistment offices to organize a conscription campaign. For example, in order to register all young men in Yakutia, it is necessary to set up special points for medical examination and paperwork. Northern military registration and enlistment offices do not have such funds, because any conscription activities are, first of all, large financial costs.
However, lack of money is not the only reason. For example, in Chechnya there is virtually no conscription into the army only because the republic does not have a set up military registration system. Moreover, not all areas have military registration and enlistment offices. In addition to the listed reasons, the absence of conscription among small peoples is facilitated by the adoption of a provision in the Constitution in 1993, which clearly states that each conscription is regulated by federal laws, and the number of people for service is established by the president. However, the specific regions from which recruitment should be carried out are not indicated.
Why don't Chechens serve in the Russian army?
Not so long ago, at the end of 2014, the Chechen people greeted with delight the news about the beginning of conscription into the Russian army. Last time Chechens were called up for military service in the Russian Federation 20 years ago. However, in the spring of 2016, conscription from Chechnya was suspended again.
The essence of the problem
According to the liberal press, over the previous year not a single citizen of Chechnya was called up for military service in the Russian army. About 7,000 potential soldiers were left behind. According to the same sources, in all other republics of the Caucasus with conscription, everything is strikingly different. It was also noted that the decision not to draft the Chechens came directly from the top leadership.
Dubious privilege
In 2017, residents of Chechnya will again have to miss the spring draft, as reported by the republican commissariat. The decision was made in connection with the desire to minimize the risk of clashes within military units, which, alas, do occur. Most often, conscripts from the Caucasian lands form so-called fraternities in units, provoking conflicts on cultural and national grounds.
There is another version of this decision: the General Staff does not want to train future Chechen fighters. It’s no secret that many residents of Chechnya are, albeit distant, but still relatives of real militants. There is no point in teaching military skills to your enemies. At the same time, it is practically impossible or too expensive to implement a thorough selection among Chechens on the basis of the “loyal/not loyal” principle.
Prospects for solving the problem
If we look at the statistics from 2014, when Chechen soldiers were accepted into the Russian army for the first time in 20 years, they are very positive. The dynamics of the service of conscripts from Chechnya are characterized in an optimistic manner: about 181 military personnel from the North Caucasus region returned home from letters of gratitude. 100 of them were promoted to junior commander. From this we can conclude that the conscription of Chechen residents may be resumed in the near future. Moreover, from the point of view of public policy, such an approach is, at a minimum, unacceptable, and at a maximum may lead to interethnic strife. After all, not all Chechens are militants. Plus, today there are solid databases for every family in Chechnya, which allow you to automatically obtain information about each conscript.
The fraternities among immigrants from the Caucasus – “Caucasians” in terminology – stand apart Soviet army. Nowadays, in the army they are usually united under the common name “Dagestans” or “Dags”. It is fundamentally important that people from the Caucasus unite under any conditions and can even organize resistance to their grandfathers, as well as to the actual and official leaders of the unit. Moreover, Caucasians unite not only within one unit, but throughout the unit as a whole. At the same time, in any conditions, they rush to help their own, which is a manifestation of the national mentality (you can read more about it in the chapter “Army in the Caucasus”).
With a small number, Caucasians are relatively harmless, at least they do not violate the unity of the team, do not destroy the existing hierarchy of hazing or regulations. Their grandfathers are afraid of them and keep them at some distance, or include them among the privileged members of the unit. In any case, whether they are among the chosen ones or simply left to their own devices, Caucasians are distinguished by excessive and often senseless cruelty towards others. They have only two psychological models of behavior: they either recognize others as higher than themselves in status, or lower; In principle, they do not consider representatives of other nationalities as equals.
When there are too many Caucasians in a unit, the situation gets completely out of control. Caucasians completely crush hazing under themselves, ceasing to maintain relative neutrality with grandfathers, and deal a serious blow to the regulations, introducing their excessive cruelty into relations in the unit. Needless to say, they completely replace their grandfathers in the worst sense of the word and turn young people into personal slaves. And if with hazing such slavery is based to a large extent on a voluntary basis, on the understanding that the oppression will pass with service, then with the dominance of Caucasians, all representatives of other nationalities are doomed to a subordinate position until the very end of their service. Inequality thus takes on especially striking forms, without any admixture of social justice, when respect comes with service.
It gets to the point that the officers themselves treat Caucasians with fear, avoid them and do not take any measures to restore order. There is a strong belief in the army that a Caucasian is capable of any extreme, including simply stabbing an offender with a knife, regardless of his status. This belief did not arise out of nowhere; it is connected with the general “recklessness” in the extreme situation of the Caucasians, especially the Chechens. They are simply blown away, and they stop being guided by reason, completely surrendering to the instincts of a fighter. So, in principle, Slavic patience is not characteristic of the Caucasians, and they turn out to be foreign inclusions in the basically Slavic army.
The only control over Caucasians can be found only if the unit has a Caucasian grandfather, a contract soldier or an officer, who will immediately build a strict hierarchy among his own. Also, among Caucasians, a strong de facto leader may stand out, who will also build a rigid hierarchy, but it will be even more difficult to introduce him into the official hierarchy than grandfathers.
Nowadays they say a lot of flattering words about the white movement and the officers of the times Russian Empire However, they forget one interesting point in the social practice of our feudal ancestors: balanced nationalism. The overwhelming majority of officers of the Russian Empire were of Slavic nationality; the inclusion of Jews among them was an exceptional phenomenon. There were special qualifications for educational institutions on a national basis, moreover, these qualifications were aimed at limiting penetration into Slavic educational establishments foreigners, while the Soviet qualification, on the contrary, aimed to place immigrants from national republics in a privileged position.
But another aspect of imperial national policy is important for us. Indigenous peoples (including Samoyeds) of the Urals and Siberia, residents of Turkestan, foreigners of the Trans-Caspian region, Muslim peoples of the North Caucasus (paid a tax instead of service), residents of Finland (the state itself paid for them there is a fixed contribution to the treasury of the Russian Empire). Cossacks, close in spirit to the Caucasians, served only in special Cossack troops. And this is not the whole list. Here we can say that the Russian top leadership did not trust some of the conquered and constantly rebellious Caucasian peoples, but how then can we explain the exemption from conscription of a number of foreigners and Samoyeds? It can only be explained by a historically developed clear understanding that people who undermine the combat effectiveness of the Russian army have no place here. Too much at that time depended on the army (see the chapter “Some interesting features of the organization of the army of the Russian Empire”).
Thus, in the policy of the Russian Empire, which did not accept representatives of a number of Caucasian, Asian and Trans-Ural nationalities into the army, even in the conditions of universal conscription, there was a sober calculation and balanced national policy. Now all this is gone, and army personnel officers are forced to proceed from the officially accepted ideological postulate about the need to create all conditions for national republics to the detriment of national Russian interests. According to the official position of those in power, a people like the Russians with a special mentality does not exist in our country. In this regard, the government continues the policies of the USSR, which partly led to its defeat in the Cold War.
