The army did not like political officers. Should political officers be returned to the Russian army: opinions. Closer to the soldier

Political officers will return to the Armed Forces. Deputy commanders of military units for educational work will become deputies for military-political work. Not only will the title of the position change, the scope of their responsibilities will also be adjusted. Political officers will be responsible for the patriotism of military personnel and provide a “deep understanding” of state policy in the field of defense, whereas previously the main priority was maintaining discipline and educating personnel.

Ideologically convinced

The Ministry of Defense told Izvestia that the department had developed a draft presidential decree on amending the general military regulations of the Armed Forces. New positions will be introduced in the army and navy - deputy commander of a regiment (ship of the 1st rank), battalion, company, echelon and garrison for military-political work. They will replace the deputies in charge of educational work. The document is at the stage of departmental approvals.

The purpose of introducing military-political work in the Armed Forces is “the formation of a professionally trained, ideologically convinced, strong-spirited personality of a serviceman, cohesive and coherent military teams capable of carrying out tasks... in any conditions... ensuring moral superiority when performing troops (forces) ) combat training missions,” stated in the explanatory note to the project.

The Ministry of Defense is forming the Main Military-Political Directorate (GlavVoenPUR). The process must be completed by December 1 of this year. During this time, the staffing structure of GlavVoenPUR, its powers will be determined and personnel decisions will be made.

First after commander

The draft decree, which Izvestia reviewed, notes that deputy commanders of a regiment (ship of the 1st rank) for military-political work will become direct superiors for all personnel and will report directly to the commanders of regiments or ships.

They will be responsible for carrying out military-political work (VPW). The VPR should ensure “deep understanding and support” by personnel of state defense policy. The area of ​​responsibility of political officers is the formation of high military-professional, combat, moral-political and psychological qualities, loyalty to military duty and the military oath.

They will be required to know the “moral, political and psychological state” of military personnel and promptly report the situation to the commander. Political officers will be engaged in strengthening unity of command, preserving military and state secrets by soldiers and officers. The formation of patriotism, vigilance and responsibility among military personnel is also prescribed.

To do this, political officers must conduct classes on military-political training; they will be responsible for “military-political informing personnel about events in the world and in Russian Federation, life and combat training activities of the Armed Forces,” as well as for measures to explain to the personnel the latest “decisions of the President of the Russian Federation - the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.”

Closer to the soldier

In battalions and companies, political officers will be closer to the personnel. The battalion commander will need to know the moral, political and military-professional qualities of each officer, warrant officer and sergeant. Participate in the selection of squads, crews and crews, taking into account psychological compatibility, religiosity and attitude towards service.

The company political officer will be responsible, among other things, for creating an asset, selecting an editor for the combat leaflet, and planning events held in the leisure room. He will have to know the requests and needs of the soldiers and maintain contact with their relatives and friends. He will have to carry out activities to prevent crime and deviant behavior, as well as to prevent drug addiction among personnel.

Against information war

The duties of political officers will differ from those performed by educators. They will focus on classes on military-political training and political information. The main task of the educators was to maintain military discipline and educational work itself “taking into account the national and psychological characteristics, level of education and attitude to religion of each serviceman.”

The new project talks about “forming the moral, political and psychological readiness of military personnel to carry out training and combat missions.”

But the concept of moral and psychological support (MPS), that is, maintaining the ability of military personnel to perform combat missions in extreme conditions, will disappear from the document. MPO classes provide soldiers and officers with confidence in their abilities and military equipment, faith in the correctness of their actions and psychological stability - that is, those qualities without which successful combat operations are impossible.

The troops will not be left without moral and psychological support, says Alexander Kanshin, deputy chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense.

In modern conditions of information warfare on the world stage, this work requires strengthening,” he noted. - There is an external reason - the need to counteract the information war. There is also an internal one. Our country is multinational and multi-religious, and the army should be a single organism. People with different views, different religions, different upbringings should be united through political and educational work.

New emphasis will be placed on the work of people responsible for the psychological microclimate in connections. At the same time, the army will not serve political forces.

Political activities will return, but without communist ideology, the expert noted. - There won’t be anything superficial. Patriotism must be instilled in military personnel, and they must know the Constitution and laws.

Izvestia Help

Commissars appeared in the Red Army in 1918. They supervised the activities of the command of military units and were responsible for propaganda work.

Later, they received the right to interfere in the work of commanders. Subsequently, the institution of commissars was replaced by the institution of deputy commanders for political affairs (political officers). In 1991, they were replaced by deputy commanders for educational work.

The Ministry of Defense is returning company political officers. The first positions have already been created in motorized rifle units and formations. The changes are related to the formation of the Main Military-Political Directorate (GlavVoenPUR). In 2008, these positions were reduced, although it was the company political officers who directly participated in the hostilities and, if necessary, supervised personnel.

The Ministry of Defense told Izvestia that in staffing table motorized rifle companies with more than 100 military personnel have already introduced positions of political commanders. Next, they should be received by units with more than 75 soldiers and junior commanders.

The emergence of new positions in the Armed Forces is associated with the formation of GlavVoenPUR of the Ministry of Defense. by December 1 of this year. During this time, management powers, staffing structure will be determined and basic personnel decisions will be made.

Political officers will report directly to company commanders. They will have to form a “deep understanding” among their subordinates and support from personnel public policy in the field of defense. They will instill patriotism, loyalty to military duty and the military oath among military personnel. First of all, they will be responsible for the professional training and ideological beliefs of fighters and junior commanders, and the cohesion of military teams.

To do this, company political officers will have to work closely with sergeants and soldiers. Know not only the personnel of the company, but also religious affiliation, individual psychological, moral, political, military and professional qualities and characteristics of subordinates. The political officer will regularly compile and clarify the socio-psychological characteristics of the company. On its basis, the commander will form crews, crews, squads and shifts.

Political department deputies will have to organize leisure activities, amateur art groups and weekly prepare materials about distinguished military personnel for the unit’s newspaper, radio newspaper and wall press. They have to ensure that the unit does not take drugs or drink alcohol. And also maintain contact with relatives and friends of soldiers and sergeants serving on conscription. They will report directly to the company commander on the moral, political and psychological state of the personnel.

Political officers will have to achieve the main thing - to instill in soldiers confidence in their weapons and readiness to carry out combat missions in any conditions.

The return of political officers will improve the moral climate and increase the combat effectiveness of military units, says Colonel Valery Berestov, a member of the presidium of the All-Russian organization “Officers of Russia”.

In the Soviet army, a company or battery was the center of educational work, Valery Berestov told Izvestia. - The company's political officers were well versed not only in political issues, but also in psychology. They worked with the soldiers individually. In their unit, political officers had to identify informal leaders - positively and negatively motivated. If the latter had a bad influence on the microclimate in the company, the qualifications of political officers made it possible to direct them on the right path.

The Institute of Political Workers was formed during Civil War. In 1918, the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars appeared in the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. They supervised the activities of the command of military units and were responsible for propaganda. In 1919, the Bolsheviks created the Political Directorate of the Revolutionary Military Council (PUR). Subsequently, despite all the renamings, the structure was called GlavPUR.

The Main Military Command has been established within the structure of the Russian Ministry of Defense political administration(GVPU). This is stated in the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was published the day before on the official portal of legal information. Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov was appointed head of the institute.

The GVPU disappeared in 1992. Responsibility for the moral and psychological state of military personnel was borne by the Main Directorate for Work with Personnel (GURLS). This structure changed its name several times. Now, the Center for Military-Patriotic Work of the RF Armed Forces, the Center for Psychological Work of the RF Armed Forces and the 49th Center for Technical Equipment will be subordinate to the recreated GVPU.

Military historian, director of the Air Defense Forces Museum Yuri Knutov answered questions from Russian Planet about the reasons for the creation of the GVPU. According to him, the revival of the Main Military-Political Directorate within the Ministry of Defense should have a positive impact on the discipline and moral and psychological state of the personnel of the RF Armed Forces.

The initiative of the Ministry of Defense unwittingly resembles a reconstruction of Soviet practice. Any hint of politics in the army and the word “political officer”, which returns to the lexicon, are associated on a subconscious level with sickening propaganda, absolutely useless and even harmful for the army.

Don't rush to conclusions. IN Soviet army There was a political administration, which was actually part of the CPSU apparatus. It was mainly engaged in the dissemination of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, and patriotism and the organization of leisure were in secondary roles. Such close and sometimes artificial involvement of the army in politics brought contradictory results.

Before the Great Patriotic War Even decisions that had nothing to do with ideology were not made without the consent of the political commissar. The commissar was the second person in the unit after the commander. Dual power had a negative impact on the combat readiness of the Red Army in the difficult year of 1941. An ardent opponent of this state of affairs was Marshal Georgy Zhukov. By the way, his irreconcilable position was one of the reasons for his disgrace.

In the post-war years, political instructors and political officers did not have the same power. But a radical restructuring of the propaganda machine in the Armed Forces did not occur. It still didn't work at its best.

Very often, the officer responsible for political education could not find a common language with the personnel, conducting a dialogue at the level of complex terminologies that did not fit into the soldier’s head. At the same time, political officers often had little understanding of their nominal military specialty, devoting more time to studying ideological dogmas. All this caused ridicule and negativity.

However, the situation began to change in the late 1970s. The USSR Ministry of Defense began to pay much more attention to the training of commanders. In the 1980s, the level of professionalism of the command staff, including political officers, increased significantly. Proof of this is the fact that many political officers who were trained in the last 10-15 years of the existence of the USSR did successful career in military service in the Russian Federation or had a good political career.

These were political officers who could actually replace the commander of a unit or unit in an emergency. However, the lion's share of the problems of the USSR Ministry of Defense could not be solved. Hazing remained the most terrible scourge of the army, although political workers responsible for the moral state of personnel were supposed to curb it.

Were there any successful “forms” of coexistence between political workers and commanders and military officers in the Soviet army?

Yes. This was the practice. As a rule, this concerned units led by front-line soldiers. The commanders were responsible for combat training, and political officers did not interfere in this process, carried out ideological work and organized leisure time. However, there were not many examples of such coexistence.

Why is the Russian Ministry of Defense restoring the not-so-successful practice of having a political institution in the army?

Firstly, the army must have an officer who performs the functions of a political officer minus the ideological background. There is no need to somehow demonize the institution of the Main Military-Political Directorate. This is also very important work, which has a huge impact on the moral and psychological state of the fighters and on the atmosphere in the team.

IN Soviet years all political officers were divided into two categories. The first professed the principle of “do as I do” and, by its example, inspired the personnel and helped them master a military specialty, while the second personified the principle of “do as I said.” This clumsy, thoughtless and inhumane approach formed the basis of an extremely negative attitude towards the GVPU.

I don’t think that now there will be a revival of the vices of the Soviet institution of commissars, political instructors and political officers. There are no prerequisites for this. After all, there is no ideology in Russia. The creation of the Main Military-Political Directorate, in my opinion, is justified by the fact that today we are witnessing with our own eyes the consequences of the information war against Russia.

In the minds of young people and 30-year-old contract workers entering the military service, the idea of ​​the current political situation should be put into perspective. Military personnel should not succumb to provocations that regularly appear on the Internet.

I mean the numerous fakes circulating in the media and social networks with the aim of discrediting Russia, its Armed forces and constitutional system. They are trying to portray our country as an aggressor, they are trying to hold it responsible for crimes that it did not commit. There should not be such unrest caused by absolutely false statements in the army.

But won’t such political education lead to the formation of the “only correct point of view” on events in the country and in the world? Wouldn't this be tantamount to ideological indoctrination during the USSR period?

No, this is completely different. I repeat: there is no ideology in Russia. Modern political officers will focus more on explaining the agenda, patriotic propaganda, tightening discipline, organizing leisure and sporting events. The main task is to make the life of a fighter rich intellectually and culturally without imposing sympathy for any political force. This is a delicate and complex job, but I am sure there are appropriate personnel for it.

"Vaccinate them to modern conditions a practically impossible task... The lack of ideology in Russia, as such, is the first problem that appointees may face..."

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced his intention to restore educational structures in the army. “In Soviet times, political deputies played a very important role. A lot depended on them. Not only the moral and psychological state of military personnel, but also promotion. Currently, deputy commanders have lost their role. Their value is greatly reduced. The decision of the new Minister of Defense to increase the status of deputies will affect the image of the Russian army, as well as improve the ideological and political state of military personnel and officers. I think that this will only play a positive role in solving the problems facing the army,” he shared his opinion with Finam FM reserve lieutenant colonel Sergei Ermolenko. “I can’t imagine an army without officer-educators. However, it is fundamentally important to train educators, and not treat them as “a remnant of the Soviet era.” It cannot be allowed for a teacher in the army to be a “deputy for general issues“,” Sergei Shoigu said in an interview with the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”. According to him, the officer-educator “is obliged to know how a soldier lives, what he does, which of the personnel smokes, who drinks, what the situation is like at home for the guys.” “He must be able to work with the soul of a soldier...”, the minister added. defense In addition, Sergei Shoigu said that the Ministry of Defense plans to create a special commission that will search for solutions to the issues raised before the department. “I am sure that we are able to solve every problem, and we will solve it, but a balanced approach is required. Why is it important to hear different opinions? And those professionals who serve in the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, and those who are already in the reserves or retired. Therefore, we intend to form an expert community under the ministry. In my experience, such specialists are able to give many useful recommendations,” the head of the defense department emphasized.

IAREX: Do I need to return it to Russian army political officers?

Grigory Trofimchuk, political scientist, first vice-president of the Center for Modeling Strategic Development: What - the priests in the army did not cope with their task? So then we need to say this directly, and not give them resurrected political officers as assistants, with a slightly different, shy and vague job title, so that it doesn’t hurt anyone’s sensitive ears.

But, again, we need to start with the most important thing, as after the resuscitation of another Soviet artifact, the “five-year plans”: with the cleansing of the oligarchs and the return of Soviet prices for essential goods, including free apartments for working people. Why do we need political officers without these main Soviet preferences?

It’s time to also pay attention to the internal army address “Comrade”. All around are gentlemen, beggars, oligarchs, all comrades outside the army have long been abolished, except perhaps Comrade Bilalov, who bears this title personally. But for some reason they remained in the army - are they waiting for the political officers to return? Addressing the Commander-in-Chief as “Comrade President” sounds as ridiculous as “Mr. Servant.” Therefore, if we are to re-introduce an officer-educator, then we should call him that, in tandem with the existing “comrade” and without any hesitation - political officer. Or: introduce, in tandem with the existing priests, an “educator officer.” There must be, after all, some kind of coherent set here.

Since the army has abandoned the battle flag with the “hammer and sickle” that fluttered over the Victory Parade-45, since the country no longer awards its heroes with Soviet awards, but only solid crosses, then we should seriously think about the transition to all these glorious “ Your Excellency", "Your Excellency" and "Your Honor".

And it would be nice: all good traditions would have a place here, just like on the eclectic banner of the Russian army. Here you have five-pointed stars, here you have Russian folk patterns with Slavic script, here you have a double-headed eagle.

Approximately the same ingredients that exist should now appear in army life: here you have priests, and political officers with “comrades”, and “your Lordships”.

There is only one question left: will this terrible mess inspire soldiers to go into real battle under it and risk their own lives? And what will the resurrected political officer say about this? How can educational work be carried out in principle in such a mess, when there are no principles or ideology? It turns out that Russia today not only does not have a probable adversary and external enemies (we are afraid to even name them), but also a basic understanding of what the Russian army itself should look like.

Roman Liskin, journalist:

I think that the institution of “political officers” has always been “bastard”. Political officers were never loved, but they were feared because of their official denunciation. To adapt them to modern conditions is an almost impossible task - this is an attempt to refit the cart with high-quality winter tires. The lack of ideology in Russia, as such, is the first problem that appointees may face. The best option for the Russian army is regular visits by famous religious leaders to various concessions of military units. Missionary work in Africa or China too necessary task, but missionary work in the homeland on such nutritious soil as soldiers is much more important. Various kinds of “registered priests” or psychoanalysts will be subject to no less obstruction, just as “political officers” of all stripes will not create an atmosphere of trust among yesterday’s hooligan schoolchildren. They are the ones who fall under the call, unlike the “refined majors” for whom there is someone to pay.