Why Do Military Men Keep Silent?

Our reader expressed her opinion about Yury Budanov's case

On July 25th the court brought down a sentence on Colonel Yury Budanov. There are a lot of opinions about this person: someone think that he is a criminal, others say that he is a victim himself. PRAVDA.Ru decided to publish a letter of one of our readers.

"I am sorry for troubling you, but when I read your article Yury Budanov's Final Plea, I realized that I could express my opinion regarding the issue. Probably, my opinion will be heard. In the article you wrote: "The proceedings are rather demonstrative. On the eve of forthcoming elections the Kremlin doesn't need problems with the Chechen population which are sure to arise if Yury Budanov is acquitted. Now it is obvious that Budanov is involved in serious politics. Is the colonel guilty that Chechnya crushed him and destroyed his soul? He is just a military man who executed an order. It would be wiser to put on trial those who sent him there."

Who needs the demonstrative trial? Our people are dying there, and they just get away with it. They can do it, not to mention Chechen female suicide bombers. Is Budanov guilty at all? Yes, he has killed her, but when you see your friends dying near you, when you see their heads cut and when you know what Chechens do to captive Russian military men, you can easily become a beast. When they showed the tape about Russian soldiers in the Chechen captivity - the tape was shown at the State Duma - the deputies did not have any doubts about the war.

"Why do military men keep silent? Any soldier could have been in his shoes. Why do Russian people keep silent? Where are they? Are they gone? If someone of another nationality is disturbed, it always results in a conflict. They start yelling that their rights have been violated, they recollect the national issue and so on and so forth. The Russian people are being killed and beaten, and it seems to be fine - no conflict at all, no national issue. When the Russians are being ousted from other republics, there is an impression that it is an absolutely normal process, in spite of the fact that the republics' authorities take all their things away. I am not saying anything about the government, but why do Russian people keep silent? Or isn't it the limit? May one be patient about all those things?

"Why do the Russian people - I am talking about the whole Slavic nation here - live on emigrants' rights in our own country? I am not a nationalist person, but it seems that it is so easy to become one. Each and everyone of us is guilty of the things that are happening in Russia. Why do we stay in our shells, why don't we want to do anything? Are we waiting for better times to come? This is not likely.

Elena Yastrebova