Putin establishes director to politicise the military

Vladimir Putin has established a new director within the Russian Army to promote patriotism, which is similar to a Soviet practice that once set up political commissioners to teach soldiers the rules of Marxism and Leninism. Putin's approved move in a presidential decree published Monday will affect 1 [...]
The move, adopted by Putin in a presidential decree published Monday, will affect over 1 million members of Russia's military service and appears to have been designed to ensure the loyalty of soldiers at a time when Moscow is isolated in a geopolitical stalemate with the West.
“Under the terms of a global information and psychological confrontation (with the West), the role of political and moral unity within the military and society increases drastically”, the Interfax news agency said.
In the Soviet Union, a similar director has worked to ensure that the army remains loyal to the communist party at the time.
Putin, commander of the Russian Armed Forces, ran as an independent candidate when he was re-elected to a new mandate in March, but is supported by Russia's United Party in power.
His decree said the new directorate would be responsible for <x0-patriotic military-patriotic work” and, under a special decree, Putin made Colonel General Andrei Kartopolov, a veteran of the Russian conflict in Syria, its new leader.
The defence ministry has not published the details of the new directorate, but an unidentified military source told the daily “Kommersant” that Kartopolov would also be responsible for the activities of Yunarmiya, a patriotic organisation of military youth sponsored by the ministry.











