EDITORIAL
How low can you go, Russia?
Russia sank to an unfathomable new low last week.
Reuters reported that the Kremlin was begging fugitive solider Sergeant Alexander Glukhov, who defected across the Ossetian lines to Georgia, to return to Russia. Reuters quotes Colonel Igor Konashenkov, aide to the commander of Russia’s Ground Forces, sating: “Russia’s military command has no disciplinary complaints against sergeant Glukhov, and if he returns to Russia he will continue his service, but in a different unit.”
Now we ask you, dear readers, to tell us which is more pathetic and wretched: If Konashenkov is telling the truth, or if he’s lying?
If he’s telling the truth, that means the Russian army is so desperate for recruits that it is willing to give carte blanche authority to any solider to cross over to the enemy and return without punishment. Think of the precedent! Whole platoons might get up and start walking at any moment, knowing there will no consequences if they do other than a free meal at Mickey D’s like Glukho got.
And if he’s lying? If in fact a horrific bout of dedovshchina (or worse) is wating for Glukho the minute he sets foot back in Russian territory? How neo-Soviet would that be?
No matter which way you look at it, Russia is a nation coming apart at the seams. Russia’s military forces in Ossetia are supposed to be a showpiece for the nation, drawing the scrutiny as they are of the entire globe. If conditions are this bad in Ossetia, do you dare imagine how bad they are in some remote outpost in Omsk or Irkutsk?
The people of Russia, and indeed the people of the world, must act before it is too late.
La Russophobe 
This same type of promise was made to – civilians – during WWII who sought to leave – escape – from the sovok union.
The sovoks used every artifice they could to entice people back to the “motherland,” “fatherland.”
Those who were foolish enough to believe the promises made and returned were promptly – killed.
They are lying.
If this Russian deserter/exile returns, his life will be made hell. He’ll be jailed, beaten, raped and maimed. The Russian High Command cannot tolerate any signs of disobedience. The Russian military are seething with anger at this humiliation, they’re baying for blood.
They’ll let him go home to mom first, do a photo op, utter some compassionate words about the poor confused kid and then when the dust settles he’ll meet some very nasty untimely end.
elmer, Stalin sent liberated Russian POW’s straight to the Gulag.
He sure did, Penny. They had failed the soviet by deliberately being lazy and getting caught. Plus, he was “protecting” the people against possible nefarious ideas from POW’s who might have been somehow infected with bad ideas.
Not from Nazis, but from seeing how people outside of Russia lived, and that it was much better than in Russia.