Actor, director and social figure Nikita Mikhalkov has promised to mark an imprint on fight with hazing in the Russian army.
Photo: Yury Martyanov
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Nikita Mikhalkov Gets a Job in the Army
The first session of the Public Council at the Russian Defense Ministry was held in Moscow Tuesday, electing film director Nikita Mikhalkov as its chairman. Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov said the eradication of hazing and crime in the army would be the council’s top priorities. The session showed, though, that the body would rather fight the public uproar against violence than hazing itself.
The new body brings together 51 members, among which are Interros CEO Vladimir Potanin, film maker Nikita Mikhalkov, actress Inna Churikova and other public figures.
Head of the Russian Union of Cinematographists Nikita Mikhalkov was elected to chair the assembly and coordinate activities of the council which is to focus on six major issues. These are expertise of the defense ministry’s bills, social welfare for military men and veterans, cultural projects for military units, relations with the press, tightening discipline in the army and enhancing the image of the military service.
The first session focused on discipline in the army. Minister Ivanov reiterated that the situation in the army reflects the situation in society on the whole. This idea was first voiced at a Duma session last year when Sergey Ivanov was reporting on the probe in the case of the mutilation of Private Andrey Sychev, a case which caused great uproar throughout Russia. Yury Polyakov, editor-in-chief of Literaturnaya Gazeta, noted, though, that “we ought not to picture the army as the GULAG.” Some members of the session also lamented the limited media coverage of army life in Russia.
The council is to convene for the next session this fall.
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All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 17, 2007
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