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Some talk about racism in Russia in relation to its minorities. I know something about ethnic-based divides, hazing, and violence in the Russian military. If you’re unfamiliar, you will be surprised. A thread?
So, first thing first. A disclaimer - I study civ-mil in Russia and I became familiar with this topic but it is not my main focus. If you're a student of interethnic relations in 
mil, feel free to respond, I will subtweet you.
mil, feel free to respond, I will subtweet you.
So as you know Russia has a lot of ethnicities, around 80% are Russians, but others are the peoples of different origin including Asian and Turkic groups, numerous ethnicities of the Caucasus and so on.
One would say that if 80% are Russians, then minorities are the ones having problems in the army. Well, it does not work this way.
1st deputy head of Duma Defcom Alexander Sherin commented that Slavic soldiers are "disciplined, calm. They are insulted by guys of other nationalities" https://govoritmoskva.ru/news/216784/
In 2009, 1/5 of Russian soldiers disliked "reps of other nationalities". A quarter of the most disliked were labeled as "non-Russians": the Dagestani, Kabardians and so on. The research was conducted by the MoD though its methodology obv sucks http://ens.mil.ru/science/sociological_center/army_in_numbers/more.htm?id=10400033@cmsArticle
In 2009, 21% of respondents claimed their resentment against "the others" developed in the army. But you have to adjust it to the intersectionality of military "identities": race, years of service, regiment's location + civilian traits (urban/rural, education).
HRW Report (2004) on hazing in Ru army: "<..> people from the Caucasus, who are usually called Dagestanis, form a cohesive group, regardless of the length of service, which is characterized by aggressiveness and arrogance towards all the rest" https://www.hrw.org/legacy/russian/reports/russia/army.html
"Many of our interviewees said the "dags" were scarier than the "dedy" (experienced soldiers). Vladimir Z.: "Dagestanis even insulted the dedy ... You just have to do everything they say. Normal dedy also hazed us, but not so much".
The MoD has been pretty much incapable of solving this problem systematically. But... they tried to stop recruiting Dagestanis: "They create their "groups" that do not obey the officers, they begin to impose their orders" https://iz.ru/news/537309
One of the human rights experts told me that there is a vivid correlation -- if a person is raised in an environment where a male doesn't have to do the household chores, it is likely he won't do it in the army.
Why? Ethnic minorities have very strong ethnic/religion-based values that officers don't know how to work with. If Russian conscripts are largely like your schoolmates who played video games after school, minority soldiers are more likely to be more masculine and patriarchal.
In 2016, there was a massive scuffle in a mil unit in Chechnya among Russians, Chechens and Dagestanis. Arguably because Russian scouts beat a Chechen or Siberians motorifles attacked mixed Chechen/Russian recons. https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2016/02/26_a_8095793.shtml
Another notoriously famous ethnic group is the Tuvans. They also have strong horizontal ethnic ties. "On their last day of training, Tuvans with knives and sharpeners allegedly attacked the barracks with local soldiers. At least 14 people were injured" https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2017/08/03/10816477.shtml
I had my ROTC training in a motor rifle brigade near St Petersburg. Even though I did not witness ethnic-based violence directly, I did see Dagestani and Tuvan groups and they indeed were quite close-knit. And the Tuvans were famous for their sharpeners made of stolen cutlery.
What are the causes of it? 1 - Russia is very diverse ranging from progressive Muscovites to deeply patriarchal ethnic minorities. 2 - the military environment makes recruits feel insecure, "disenfranchises" them. 3 - traditionalist soldiers find a safe haven - ethnic groups
4 - Ru officers are not trained how to work on interethnic cohesion in their units. Some simply repress their soldiers, strictly enforce rules with fury and fear. Some just slack off, build clientele that keeps their units "silent" though, as you saw above, it occasionally fails
I have more cases and interviews to add, but I guess it's enough for a thread. Unfortunately, we can't conduct a normal study of the problem — the MoD won't let it. There's very little systemic data and we can't go and survey the troops.
And some of "exterritorial" practices are still alive. I don't have the latest data but less than 10 years ago recruits could be sent far away from home, like from Tula to Khabarovsky krai. There're pros and cons of this policy. https://twitter.com/SofyaDAnisimova/status/1273344186733953033?s=20
BTW: Western analysts should to keep in mind that the military is heavily reliant on its officers. It slowly moves towards the American NCO system but still lags behind. So junior officers are really overburdened with tasks, some of which they don’t know how to accomplish.
military is heavily reliant on its officers. It slowly moves towards the American NCO system but still lags behind. So junior officers are really overburdened with tasks, some of which they don’t know how to accomplish.
