Ukrainian army: the last century and the present
After the collapse of the USSR, the Army of Ukraine was really powerful, but now only miserable crumbs of the same power remained. How did this happen and what can we expect in the future?
An excursion into the past
When leaving the Soviet Union and declaring independence, Ukraine took under its jurisdiction the armed forces and the corresponding infrastructure of the three districts located on its territory - Kiev, Odessa and Prikarpatsky. As a result, the Ukrainian army was one of the most powerful in Europe, possessing nuclear weapons and fairly modern types of other weapons and military equipment.
The number of military personnel at that time was equal to 700 thousand people. Among the military units that were part of the post-Soviet army of Ukraine, one can count 14 motorized rifle divisions, 9 air defense brigades, 8 artillery brigades, 4 tank and 3 artillery divisions, one special forces brigade. The air force of Ukraine consisted of 3 air armies (over a thousand combat aircraft), 7 regiments of combat helicopters and a separate air defense army. In terms of the nuclear weapons situation, Ukraine had 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles and approximately 2600 tactical nuclear weapons.
Today
At the beginning of 2010, the number of personnel of the army in Ukraine is only 196 thousand people. Mass dismissals from military service are primarily due to insufficient funding. Many officers have promised housing from the state since the last century. In total, the housing queue costs about 48 thousands of officer families, and 13 thousands of them are already more than 10 years old. As for wages, a private contractor receives 870 hryvnia, a junior sergeant with a length of 3 of the year - 1100 hryvnia, which is two times less than the average salary in the country, and a lieutenant colonel - a battalion commander with a length of service of 18 years gets 2500 hryvnia, that is, much less than the average official. But for a small salary, the soldier must still support his family and pay rent. It is not surprising that only in 2009 a year 2,5 thousands of officers, including 2000 contract soldiers, left the ranks of the Ukrainian army. And this trend does not stop.
The army is not only the defense system of the state, it protects its traditions, educates young people, as does the school. And this institution of upbringing is falling apart before our eyes, devoting one's life to military service no longer seems honorable. However, many young people are trying to get into the army by hook or by crook. Sometimes even bribes are given so that the recruiting office will close their eyes to minor health problems. But this is not due to the prestige of military service, but to the fact that the unemployment rate, especially in the periphery, is very high. Young people go to the army, hoping then to get to work at the police or guard.
Scanty cash flows to the needs of the army led to the fact that in 2008, out of 112 fighters, only 31, 10 out of 24 bombers, only half of 12 reconnaissance aircraft and 8 of 39 attack aircraft were in operational condition. That is, only 30% aviation. The situation has not changed in 2009.
Armored vehicles and artillery systems are ready for a combat situation only on 60%. The development of the missile complex has stopped. There are no funds for the modernization of aircraft and tanks. With the Navy, the situation is even worse. Only 30% ships left in the ranks. Repair them nowhere. The shipbuilding industry is practically destroyed.
In the budget of Ukraine, defense expenditures are laid out in 6 thousand dollars per soldier. In Russia, this indicator is 8 times higher, and in France, 23 times higher.
The military needs of clothing assets are covered by 20%, food products by 60-70%, fuel and lubricant costs are 10-12% of the necessary, and only 2% funds are allocated for digital communications. New technology is almost no waiting. In 2009, not a single unit of equipment was purchased. Upgraded the entire 2 units - infantry fighting vehicle BMP-1U and one tank T-64B.
With combat training, the situation is very bad. In 2008, the best of the pilots flew only 50 watches. The average 2009 in the year was 4 hours. For comparison, in the NATO forces, this figure is equal to 120 hours. Shooting takes place once every three years, moreover, that the service life of conscripts is one year, that is, only one out of three can shoot. In Soviet times, shooting was carried out every six months.
Army financing
The fact that the Ukrainian army is on the verge of destruction through the fault of the budget allocated for defense, was announced in 2009 year by the press service of the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry states that financing the needs of the army violates even Ukrainian legislation, according to which 3% of GDP should be allocated to the needs of the army. In 2009, 0,83% was allocated. Yes, and these funds were received unevenly, which led to the inability to pay even power supply and utilities. An incredible thing happened - over 70 military facilities were disconnected from electricity, including the air defense base. Ukraine is not able to fulfill 75% of international agreements, and the construction of housing for the military was stopped. And Yulia Tymoshenko at the same time stated that there were no problems with financing the armed forces, and the amount of funds allocated was already a record.
In fact, for the existence and development of the Ukrainian army in 2010, it took about 32 billion hryvnias, just for the existence - 19,8 billion, and 11,6 billion were allocated. In 2009, 11,7 was allocated billions of hryvnia, of which 4,2 - from a special fund, that is, the military was offered to sell something.
Corruption in the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The level of corruption in the armed forces is very high, despite the low funding, and, accordingly, the low level of salaries, the management feels rather well. And corruption flourishes for three simple reasons. Low wages lead to the fact that, being honest, you will not live well. According to the legislation, army assets are assessed and sold by the Ministry of Defense itself, and their inventory is carried out; accordingly, it is easier to close your eyes to all sorts of violations. But ordinary officers are brought to trial; very rarely can one be seen in the dock of someone from the leadership team.
Doors to the army - military enlistment office. As before, officers of the military commissariat are periodically held accountable for bribes, allowing the conscript to avoid urgent service. Recently, they began to take bribes to get into the army, despite minor deviations in health status, because for most young people the army is the only chance to get a well-paid job in the police and protection.
A real chance to make money on kickbacks gives food to military personnel. If you look at the prices of products from soldiers rations in supermarkets, it is easy to see that its cost is much lower than the declared price, and after all, it buys bulk food for soldiers. Of course, the costs will become prohibitively high if the armed forces themselves are engaged in food, but why not announce a tender, and not enter into agreements with specific private owners willing to pay the rollback.
Good bribes have to be given to servicemen to get housing out of turn or to go to serve as a peacemaker, because their salary is about 2 to thousands of dollars, compared to the Ukrainian in 300 dollars per month. And an apartment can be obtained "only" for 15-20% of its value, just from where does a simple officer get that kind of money ...
Not bad army officials are cashing in on the sale of fuel abroad, in the performance of peacekeeping missions, or the sale of decommissioned gasoline and fuel to truckers. Budget funds are “saved” on unreported equipment repairs, on conducting exercises, on developing automated control systems for the needs of the army. Huge money was paid to designers, computer equipment was bought, which had been in warehouses for many years and was morally obsolete for a long time, only the works are still in embryo, even the project has not been created yet.
For a pittance sold land belonging to the military. Sometimes it “changes” to apartments for military personnel, and the cost of land and apartments on the periphery are incomparable. Or the foundation is sold in the field for 10 thousand hryvnia, and in addition to it, the field itself is worth several millions. Sometimes the land is transferred to the wrong hands by refusal letters. So the armed forces lost their children's camp for children of military personnel and many coastal territories in Sevastopol.
The main person in the looting of military property is called Anatoly Gritsenko, the former Minister of Defense. At that time, as the army was falling apart before our eyes and plundered, he had enough hypocrisy to loudly talk about the need for a strict inventory of the capital's real estate, which is under the jurisdiction of the defense department. But it was he who took care of the transfer to the private hands of military camps in the center of Kiev. Sensing the threat of the dock, he began to no less loudly accuse the authorities of political repression.
Who needs it all?
It is said loudly that there is no external threat to Ukraine, so there is no need to maintain the army inherited from the Soviet Union, so reducing the army is only for the benefit of the budget.
At the same time, a demoralized, weak army has access to the tools of violence. And the ruling class perfectly understands who the army bayonets will turn against in the event of a popular uprising. It is not for nothing that the army is weakened, and the police, on the contrary, are encouraged by wage growth, attention to the training of internal troops is increasing, and the nuts in the media are tightened.
The army has been brought to the stage when the danger is borne not by the armed forces themselves, but by military depots that will open access to weapons for the rebels, which has already happened in stories Ukraine.
There is a situation when on one side of the scale there is a police state and paramilitary structures of FIGs, that is, tens of thousands of excellent fighters. And on the other side there is an angry, but unarmed people, in which discontent and radical moods are growing. It is the army that has reached the extremes that can drastically change the balance of forces towards the people. And it is perfectly understood at the top.
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