Ukrainian soldiers and mercenaries of the "Russian world". Part 2

What the Ukrainian and Russian military men fight for: Reflections of the veteran of the Second Chechen War

Please follow the link to read the 1st  part of the story

"WE DID NOT SEND YOU THERE." Chechnya

Now, when I communicate with veterans of military actions of the Ukrainian army, I burn with anger once again for the way we were treated during the war in Chechnya. I tell Ukrainian colleagues about their experience, they are shocked and say, "we think we have problems!" Sometimes some things are hard to believe in them.

I got to the second war in Chechnya. After I've seen the army service, I was in ranks of the riot police. In our contract an item was included on fulfillment of tasks in the areas of extremal situations. As part of a mobile group of forces in the North Caucasus, we officially executed "public security tasks" in the counter-terrorist operation (CTO).

No one called this as war. Although during the special operations, for every single day of participation in them, combat bonuses have been accrued. Now it is about $ 500 for 3 months temporary duty.
The group has formed before the temporary duty, we have been sent out a month before the rotation - there was a playwar, both combat training, and psychological preparation. During the " citizenship training " they showed us films with cut off heads and told that after the armistice in 1996 Chechnya has become a breading-ground of international terrorism and peaceful Chechens are asked to protect them. Our heads were filled up by powerful propaganda, after which many of my former comrades-in-arms can not restore until now.

In Chechnya we had to survive not only in the war, but also because of the conditions in which we lived. There were hunger and cold, and friendly firings.

It got to the point that we went through the village and sold everything we could sell - poles, barbed wire (sent to us as "humanitarian aid" to equip roadblocks), etc. to have money for food.



In times of famine we sometimes borrowed from conscripts a sack of potatoes and cooked for a detachment of 50 people a "miracle soup" - a tank of water with some potatoes and remnants of cereals from bags. So, we got a hot gray water with a few pieces of something solid.

When during one temporary duty a mad detachment commander assigned to us for the period of the duty has arranged moping up operations on his own initiative, exposing all of us, after a while we began to refuse to go to a special operation until he shows us the order from the commandant's office to which we had come under command and which he should have.

The commander of our platoon was appointed as the instigator of "rebellion", then a group of officers came urgently to us for investigation and for taking away of our platoon commander changing him to another. The entire platoon said that if he will be taken up we would write reports and leave the service, handing over a weapon to the mad commander and let him fight.

The riot lasted for about a week. We did not come from the territory of our base (a former school). Once we'll be able to agree, and we no longer went to the invented special raids.

Returning from the war we have faced in the way that we are necessary to nobody. Sometimes we drove home during three days instead of one day. Buses broke, we have waited for some chiefs. We have no money, food, the buses froze through. In the Rostov region, I with my partner swingig our machin guns to our backs, pushed a car out of the snow for a fee of 30 rubles, in order to buy then a half portion of buckwheat in a roadside cafe.

In the Voronezh region we have been unloaded to spend the night in some frozen building of a community police office in the settlement. The guys in uniform and with guns went to the nearest village to ask for food. Although it more reminded a moping up.

They brought cans of lard and cucumbers with ice. We ate outside in the snow using knives, handing out food pieces circle wise.

Combat money that had already been written down for us, and transferred somewhere according to the battle book, have disappeared. We sued for one temporary duty during 3 months, for another duty I personally sued for 8 years winning three court cases.

Please follow the link to read the 3rd part of the story:

Dmitry Florin, Russian journalist, Valentina Syamro, Kyiv for Ukrinform

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