The War Which Few People Want
A Separatist Tells Second City Teachers his Story of War
By Stephen Wilson
(Moscow, Russia) - Second-City teacher interviewed a contract-soldier who has just come back from the War in Ukraine.
As the Russian Separatists continue to fall back before advancing soldiers of the Ukrainian army which seem to have caught the city of Donesk on a hook, a crisis appears to have taken place amongst the leadership.
That is, if you can in deed discern an acknowledged leadership. Rumours abound that there are sharp divisions between different leaders and factions, local people and outsiders from Russia who moved in to completely take over the leadership of the rebels.
This is reputed to have created resentment from locals who don't like to be told what to do by 'outsiders'.
After Putin met with the three main leaders they all resigned. Perhaps the biggest blow to the rebel cause is the resignation of its most able and talented leader Igor Strelikov. The soldier Nikita claimed that 'If Strelikov had full control and leadership of all the rebel forces we would have a chance of winning against the Ukrainians.'
This leader is credited with being instrumental in helping Crimea become independent.
The rebel forces are not only losing because they are outnumbered and outgunned (40,000 Ukrianian soldiers via 12-15,000 separatists), but because of very bad organisation and coordination. At times Nikita wondered if there was any coordination at all. 'Every unit seems to be doing their very own bit of action independently of other units.
'For example, when my group was taken over the border there was nobody waiting to pick us up! We had to find our own way'.
Nikita was not very impressed by the support for the rebels. He thought they had very little support amongst local people. Most local people did not want any war and just wanted peace to get on with their everyday mundane affairs. He stated, 'Most of the army does not consist of locals, but outsiders who have volunteered. While 80% of volunteers fight for ideological reasons, other professional soldiers tend to fight because they enjoy the taste of blood. The Chechens who are fighting are brilliant soldiers.'
Nikita was surprised to encounter the corpse of a dead negro who had been fighting for the Ukrainians.
But it was not just the lack of local support which shook Nikita. The worst thing was the fact that some locals were 'police informers' who were ready to report their presence to the Ukrainian police.
Nikita stated that when one refugee family of women and children were fleeing over the border with their well-built husband, the Russian border guards let all his family cross, but refused to let him enter Russia. They told him, 'You are strong enough to go back and fight for the rebels'.
So he was forced to return.
The rebel army appear to be a motley group. Some claim to be part of an 'Orthodox army', others state they are simply 'patriots,' while others became 'contract soldiers' for either adventure, to escape poor marital relations or just to pay off debts. The war attracts all types of people.
The leadership attempted to instill discipline amongst their troops by issuing Stalininst orders where deserters or looters were arrested and shot. In deed, in a recent interview with Novaya Gazeta, 'Alexander Borodai made no bones about shooting deserters. He stated, 'We have an acting tribunal, a military field court which periodically sentence people to be shot. Why? Because in our Republic, we have a critical military situation. Yes, several looters and deserters, thank God were shot.
'Or are you interested as to why this was modeled on the order of Stalin'. (Stalin's order of 270 declared, 'Those who deserted should be shot on the spot and their families arrested' was issued on 16th August 1941'.
When I spoke to local Russians in Moscow about this order, two women answered me, 'How can that be? How can you execute soldiers in an army of volunteers? It is a contradiction. I don't believe it.'
Nikita maintained silence on this issue.
Nikita mentioned that the Ukrainian army would attack them in two waves. The first wave would be young army conscripts of around 18 who charged forward and were mowed down, while the second wave which followed them were the fascists of the National Guard. Nikita said that they never executed any Ukrainian conscript soldiers they captured, but only fascists who were in the National Guard. 'Those guys in the National Guard are very inhumane', he stated.
Less controversial, if a bit eccentric, was Igor Strelikov's order to ban soldiers from swearing and offending the Mother of God. "Each time we use the swear word 'mat', we offend the Mother of God and hence worsen our chances of winning the war. How can anyone call themselves Orthodox if they are constantly swearing in the ranks?"
The atrocities which Nikita witnessed took him back. When he passed through one small village he found all the woman and children had been raped and shot. In some cases, he came across bodies where the stomachs had been brutally cut open and their inner organs removed. After seeing those defiled corpses, Nikita was convinced that the rumours of Ukrainian ambulances going through to pick up the wounded, killing them, stealing and selling their organs to doctors was based on facts. (At present, there are allegations being made against the Kosovian Albanian rebels about a sinister and murky trade in selling body organs).
Despite being promised a sum of 100,000 rubles for payment, he was never paid. Unsurprisingly, he has no intention of returning to fight in this army. There are far worse things than not being paid. Out of 15 soldiers in his unit, three were killed. This represents a high casualty rate of 20% for professional soldiers. They only fought for one month but this month must have seemed so long!
What Nikita's experience indicates is that the war is being prosecuted by the rebels in a very disorganized, chaotic and uncoordinated way and that there is no fully recognised leadership accepted by all the rebel factions. Unless the rebels get their act together, their defeat may be much quicker than even some military observers anticipate. It is worth noting that it was not firing squads that won the Great Patriotic war, but strong motivation, sacrifice and military leadership.
The politicians let experienced soldiers get on with the job. In other words, Stalin stopped interfering so much.
It may well be that at present Separatists have been drawing the wrong conclusions as to how the Great Patriotic war was won. It was certainly not won by Stalin's orders.
A Separatist Tells Second City Teachers his Story of War
By Stephen Wilson
(Moscow, Russia) - Second-City teacher interviewed a contract-soldier who has just come back from the War in Ukraine.
As the Russian Separatists continue to fall back before advancing soldiers of the Ukrainian army which seem to have caught the city of Donesk on a hook, a crisis appears to have taken place amongst the leadership.
That is, if you can in deed discern an acknowledged leadership. Rumours abound that there are sharp divisions between different leaders and factions, local people and outsiders from Russia who moved in to completely take over the leadership of the rebels.
This is reputed to have created resentment from locals who don't like to be told what to do by 'outsiders'.
After Putin met with the three main leaders they all resigned. Perhaps the biggest blow to the rebel cause is the resignation of its most able and talented leader Igor Strelikov. The soldier Nikita claimed that 'If Strelikov had full control and leadership of all the rebel forces we would have a chance of winning against the Ukrainians.'
This leader is credited with being instrumental in helping Crimea become independent.
The rebel forces are not only losing because they are outnumbered and outgunned (40,000 Ukrianian soldiers via 12-15,000 separatists), but because of very bad organisation and coordination. At times Nikita wondered if there was any coordination at all. 'Every unit seems to be doing their very own bit of action independently of other units.
'For example, when my group was taken over the border there was nobody waiting to pick us up! We had to find our own way'.
Nikita was not very impressed by the support for the rebels. He thought they had very little support amongst local people. Most local people did not want any war and just wanted peace to get on with their everyday mundane affairs. He stated, 'Most of the army does not consist of locals, but outsiders who have volunteered. While 80% of volunteers fight for ideological reasons, other professional soldiers tend to fight because they enjoy the taste of blood. The Chechens who are fighting are brilliant soldiers.'
Nikita was surprised to encounter the corpse of a dead negro who had been fighting for the Ukrainians.
But it was not just the lack of local support which shook Nikita. The worst thing was the fact that some locals were 'police informers' who were ready to report their presence to the Ukrainian police.
Nikita stated that when one refugee family of women and children were fleeing over the border with their well-built husband, the Russian border guards let all his family cross, but refused to let him enter Russia. They told him, 'You are strong enough to go back and fight for the rebels'.
So he was forced to return.
The rebel army appear to be a motley group. Some claim to be part of an 'Orthodox army', others state they are simply 'patriots,' while others became 'contract soldiers' for either adventure, to escape poor marital relations or just to pay off debts. The war attracts all types of people.
The leadership attempted to instill discipline amongst their troops by issuing Stalininst orders where deserters or looters were arrested and shot. In deed, in a recent interview with Novaya Gazeta, 'Alexander Borodai made no bones about shooting deserters. He stated, 'We have an acting tribunal, a military field court which periodically sentence people to be shot. Why? Because in our Republic, we have a critical military situation. Yes, several looters and deserters, thank God were shot.
'Or are you interested as to why this was modeled on the order of Stalin'. (Stalin's order of 270 declared, 'Those who deserted should be shot on the spot and their families arrested' was issued on 16th August 1941'.
When I spoke to local Russians in Moscow about this order, two women answered me, 'How can that be? How can you execute soldiers in an army of volunteers? It is a contradiction. I don't believe it.'
Nikita maintained silence on this issue.
Nikita mentioned that the Ukrainian army would attack them in two waves. The first wave would be young army conscripts of around 18 who charged forward and were mowed down, while the second wave which followed them were the fascists of the National Guard. Nikita said that they never executed any Ukrainian conscript soldiers they captured, but only fascists who were in the National Guard. 'Those guys in the National Guard are very inhumane', he stated.
Less controversial, if a bit eccentric, was Igor Strelikov's order to ban soldiers from swearing and offending the Mother of God. "Each time we use the swear word 'mat', we offend the Mother of God and hence worsen our chances of winning the war. How can anyone call themselves Orthodox if they are constantly swearing in the ranks?"
The atrocities which Nikita witnessed took him back. When he passed through one small village he found all the woman and children had been raped and shot. In some cases, he came across bodies where the stomachs had been brutally cut open and their inner organs removed. After seeing those defiled corpses, Nikita was convinced that the rumours of Ukrainian ambulances going through to pick up the wounded, killing them, stealing and selling their organs to doctors was based on facts. (At present, there are allegations being made against the Kosovian Albanian rebels about a sinister and murky trade in selling body organs).
Despite being promised a sum of 100,000 rubles for payment, he was never paid. Unsurprisingly, he has no intention of returning to fight in this army. There are far worse things than not being paid. Out of 15 soldiers in his unit, three were killed. This represents a high casualty rate of 20% for professional soldiers. They only fought for one month but this month must have seemed so long!
What Nikita's experience indicates is that the war is being prosecuted by the rebels in a very disorganized, chaotic and uncoordinated way and that there is no fully recognised leadership accepted by all the rebel factions. Unless the rebels get their act together, their defeat may be much quicker than even some military observers anticipate. It is worth noting that it was not firing squads that won the Great Patriotic war, but strong motivation, sacrifice and military leadership.
The politicians let experienced soldiers get on with the job. In other words, Stalin stopped interfering so much.
It may well be that at present Separatists have been drawing the wrong conclusions as to how the Great Patriotic war was won. It was certainly not won by Stalin's orders.
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