Russia army suicides cause alarm

I. Citation

Russia army suicides cause alarm
May 29, 2008
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7425694.stm

II. Summary

This article is about the large number of suicides in the Russian army. A total of 341 Russian soldiers, almost an entire battalion committed suicide in 2007, and although this is a 15% decrease from the previous year, it is still extremely worrying to Russia’s deputy prosecutor general, Sergei Fridinsky. It has been speculated that these suicides was due to extreme and often violent bullying. This might not necessarily be true though, as most suicides were committed by higher ranking soldiers who would not be prone to the bullying. It was also suspected that this issue was due to the extremely harsh conditions that Russian soldiers face during training and combat. Fridinsky suggested that the only way to get over this is to “use the experience of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan to help their troops deal with the psychological trauma of combat” that may be causing these deaths.

III. Reflection

Ø This article relates to the AP theme of “impact of interaction among and within major societies” because part of the problem is how the soldiers are being treated internally.
Ø This issue has gone back many years. The Russian army is known to be harsh and strict and these suicides have always been common, just not in the quantities that they are in today.
Ø Although a name is not given, you can assume that the author is an outsider.
Ø The writer definitely feels that the Russian army needs reform and feels that they are at fault.
Ø I would like to hear from a Russian military official to hear if the conditions are improving or if they are doing anything to help matters.
Ø I feel that the Russian government is definitely to blame. They treat the soldiers terribly and force all men to serve for at least one year in these horrible conditions. Even if nothing happens while they are on duty, the trauma might be so bad that something happens later in life.