MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Defense Minister gave a dressing-down to defense officials Friday for using the media to anonymously express concern about conditions in the army, suggesting they played into the hands of journalists seeking to sensationalize the issue.
“Some people would really like our army to be starving, freezing and insufficiently clothed,” Sergei Shoigu said in a conference call devoted to heating preparations for barracks and military housing in the upcoming winter. “So they [journalists] cite certain sources in the Defense Ministry – and all these sources are sitting in on this meeting.”
He warned regional and local officials against using media as a channel to express “speculative appeals,” saying that such complaints aren’t necessarily grounded in fact, and urging them to raise concerns with the ministry directly.
As an example, Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov referenced a letter the ministry had received complaining about allegedly poor heating and terrible conditions in three military schools in Russia’s Siberian republic of Buryatia.
“A check showed that one of the schools didn’t exist at all, and the other two don’t have anything to do with the Defense Ministry,” Bulgakov said.
Shoigu said during the conference call that the ministry has already started re-equipping its troops with modern clothing and equipment, and would continue to do so next year.
