As conflicts grow, Russian Army bolsters its image

Plagued with corruption, hazing, incompetence: for years generations of young men have done all they could to avoid being drafted into the Russian Army.

Now, with state media as its main cheerleader, the country’s military is shaking off its grim image and projecting itself as a key element of Russia’s resurgence under President Vladimir Putin.

In the West the 2014 military seizure of Crimea and the year-old bombing campaign in Syria are condemned as brutal and illegal.

At home, however, these events have bolstered national pride, burnishing the Army’s standing and even acting as a recruitment tool.

And it’s boom time for businesses that specialise in military-themed goods and clothing for men, women, and even babies.

Among those making a profit is salesman Dmitry Yeremeyev, whose company Voentorg has seen military-style clothing for all ages, shoes and Army rations fly off the shelves.

“When they buy our clothes our customers feel pride because they see the logo of the Russian Army on them,” he told AFP.

The firm — privatised in 1997 but working exclusively for the Russian military — says it has recently opened more stores around central Moscow.

“We help to bring the Army closer to the people,” says its president Vladimir Pavlov.

“We can see that it is getting closer because there’s much more interest in the Army than before.”

Views of Russia’s Army have for years been shaped by the painful legacy of the disastrous Soviet involvement in Afghanistan and then Russia’s two bloody wars against separatists in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya.

Ill-equipped conscript soldiers were tossed into the meat grinder by corrupt commanders and episodes of brutal hazing surfaced occasionally, shocking society.

Under Mr Putin — a hawkish ex-KGB agent who has sought to claw back Russia’s lost prestige — the military budget was vastly increased thanks to an influx of oil dollars and planned spending reached $50 billion (44 billion euros), or some four per cent of GDP, in 2016.

Wide-ranging reforms were also introduced in 2008 designed to streamline the bloated behemoth and modernise what was an outdated force.

Meanwhile, commemorations of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II have gone from sombre to pomp-filled celebrations that see intercontinental ballistic missiles paraded across Red Square as they were in Soviet days.

And as the Kremlin has plunged into a stand-off with the West over Ukraine, fears of a possible broader conflict have also seen many put their faith back in the Army.

For the first time in almost a decade, this year a majority of people said they supported keeping the current mandatory draft, polls by the independent Levada Centre showed.

“In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea we observed a sharp rise in people saying that you should be obliged to do military service,” Karina Pipiya from Levada told AFP.

“That goes hand in hand with the increase in the number of Russians who feel that the country is threatened by enemies.”

But while the Army has seen some reforms, rights activists say that it still has the same failings and families continue to pay big bribes to get their sons out of military service.

Russia has been accused of fighting a secret war in Ukraine, sending in thousands of troops to back up a brutal local rebellion and then denying their presence.

“The daily living conditions have gone down dramatically since the conflict in Ukraine,” said Valentina Melnikova, president of the Committee for Soldiers’ Mothers.

“The defence ministry does not pay any attention to this.”

But this is not the image the authorities want to promote.

The defence ministry has pumped major funds into building Patriot Park — a sort of military Disneyland outside Moscow — and its Army game contests involving tanks and pyrotechnics have been broadcast on television. The aim is clear — to seduce a younger generation into wanting to sign up.

“For the young the Army has to be cool and prestigious and military service has to be the key to a successful career,” said Andrei Ilnitsky, who teaches the military how to use social media.

While most of those aged between 18-24 still say they’d prefer to see the draft abolished, some youngsters appear to be heeding this call to arms.

After taking a selfie in front of a tank at a recent military display near Moscow 13-year-old Maxim Kitayev said he would not hesitate to enrol.

“The Army is powerful and fights against terrorism,” he said.

To bolster interest among school kids the Army has also launched a new movement — a sort of scouts with gun training — that is meant to help coach 12,000 pupils towards a future in the armed forces.

“It’s a good idea,” said Natalya, who has a three-year-old son. “Before, I would have found a way to help him escape military service — but now I think that if he doesn’t go into the Army he can’t be a real man or a real Russian.”