Protest video gets Russian officer sent to far east

BBC:

A Russian army lieutenant is being sent to the Russian Far East after making a rap video complaining about conditions in his St Petersburg barracks.

The video, posted on the Russian equivalent of YouTube, is set to the tune of 'Stan', by US rapper Eminem.

In it the lieutenant laments the peeling walls and filthy bathroom and mouldy showers at his base.

But he is now being sent to Ussuriysk, a coal-mining town which is nine-hours flying from Moscow.

The video - titled "A letter to the minister of defence" - features footage of the squalid living conditions in the barracks.

The soldier's musical complaint sees him read out an email he is writing to the Russian defence minister, asking what happened to the mortgages promised to soldiers to buy decent places to live.

And why did he never receive a reply to his previous letters, he asks?

...

The video is at the BBC link above. Squalid conditions appear to be the norm in the Russian army. I am sure this creates morale problems. It is also an indication of a lack of discipline.

During the recent war with Georgia Russian troops had to use second rate equipment that was barely serviceable. While their leaders are asserting grand new designs, the troops are not living them.

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