"Soldiers' Mothers of Petersburg" protest against dispatch of their sons to Dagestan for military service

In September the non-governmental organization "Soldiers' Mothers of St. Petersburg" held a series of solitary piquets near the command headquarters of interior forces in Petersburg as a sign of their protest against mass dispatch of conscripts to Dagestan.

According to the members of the organization, the parents of the young soldiers who were at military service in the settlement of Lebyazhje in the suburbs of St. Petersburg had been forced to sign contracts and secretly dispatched to Dagestan for further service.

The military authorities declared that the reason for mass conscription to Dagestan had been the forthcoming Olympic games of 2014 in Sochi. Radio "Svoboda" informed that the soldiers' parents had not taken this explanation seriously.

Ella Polyakova, Leader of the "Soldiers' Mothers of St. Petersburg", says: "There naturally come a number of questions: why do they conscribe untrained young soldiers? Why do they force them to sign contracts? Why are the soldiers forbidden to use mobiles?"

She thinks it looks very much like the situation before the military confrontation of 2008 between Russia and Georgia.

Vasily Panchenkov, Aide of Commander in Chief of inner troops of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, produced no comments on the statement of the representatives of "Soldiers' Mothers of St. Petersburg".

"Specific task of the unit sent to Dagestan is guarding public order and providing public security together with the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Dagestan", the colonel declared.

He said he understood the mothers' concern, their emotions about their sons' future and assured that the conscribed soldiers were not experiencing any pressure from anywhere.

Vasily Panchenkov is sure that "The four mothers' piquet held in St. Petersburg does not represent the opinion of all Russian solders' mothers. The majority of them realize the significance of inner troops in Russia for the state's security".

Konstantin Kazenin, one of the experts on Caucasian affairs, political scientist and journalist, sees no direct connection between the Russian-Georgian confrontation and the dispatch of inner troops units from Leningrad district to Dagestan.

"However, the situation in Dagestan itself is today rather complicated. There is a great number of local confrontations: criminal, religious and political ones, especially before the elections", he says.