Скачать или смотреть RUSSIA: DEFENDER DAY - PUTIN PAYS TRIBUTE TO ARMED FORCES

(23 Feb 2000) Russian/Nat

Russia paid tribute to its armed forces on Defender of the Fatherland Day on Wednesday.

While thousands of communists took to the streets in a rally in Moscow, politicians praised the efforts of the army in Chechnya.

But in a military hospital in Reutovo near Moscow, wounded servicemen took a more pessimistic view of the campaign.

Thousands of communists took to the streets of Moscow on Wednesday to mark the event.

The military holiday commemorates a 1918 clash with German troops, which has gone down in history as the birthday of the Red Army.

For Communist Party Leader Gennady Zyuganov, it was an opportunity to chase the military vote.

Recent polls show him to be the main challenger to Acting President Putin in the forthcoming March elections.

Today he praised the efforts of the Army in Chechnya.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"The army in our country always commanded enormous respect. They are fighting against terrorists and bandits so the country doesn't become a criminal zone. We will overcome the bandits."
SUPER CAPTION: Gennady Zyuganov, Communist Party leader

Like his main rival, Putin, Zyuganov showed himself as attentive to the needs of military, demanding better weapons and pay.

SOUNDBITE:(Russian)
"Lots of military bases have been closed, the army doesn't have enough equipment. There isn't any up to date armour. I had meetings with the military yesterday. They don't even have night vision equipment for helicopters fighting the bandits in the (Argun) gorge. The government is in no state to solve the problem."
SUPER CAPTION: Gennady Zyuganov, Communist Party leader

But for the wounded in military hospitals across Russia - it wasn't a political occasion.

The Chechnyan campaign has cost the Russian Army dearly.

Official sources say 1500 servicemen have died in Chechnya, several times this figure have been wounded.

Reutovo military hospital near Moscow sees the most severely wounded.

Soldiers here were drafted from all over Russia, some as far as Eastern Siberia, to fight the Chechen separatist rebels.

While officials in Moscow insist on calling Chechnya an "anti-terrorist operation", those who fought in the breakaway republic just recall the savage fighting.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"We were ordered to set up a checkpoint on the road and search the passing vehicles for weapons and such. One of the trucks we stopped turned out to be full of Chechen saboteurs. We were just ten meters away when they opened fire."
SUPER CAPTION: Captain Mikhail Dementyev, wounded soldier

The majority of Russians continue to support the war in Chechnya.

A poll released this week by the independent ROMIR polling agency showed that about 65 percent of Russians backed the military action.

But some of those who fought don't even try to hide their pessimism.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"We didn't have to go there. If it was so necessary to conquer Chechnya why wasn't it done in the first war over there? It's not true when they say that the Chechens (rebels) are trapped in the mountains. If they will manage to escape it will go like it went in Afghanistan. They are on their turf when they fight in the mountains."
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant. Sergei Kraskov, wounded soldier

The Day of Defenders of the Motherland has acquired new meaning this year, as Vladimir Putin has made a point of restoring the army's faded glory.

The military has been crippled by a severe funding shortage since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and its reputation was badly tarnished by the defeat in the previous, 1994-96 war in Chechnya.



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