Meaning of contractnik | Babel Free

Examples

“Touching on the recent tragedy that occurred in the village of Prigorodnyy 7 July, when unknown persons wiped out an entire family of eight people, the Chechen head of government emphasized that this barbarous action was planned by someone and carried out for the purpose purpose of wrecking the talks. That cruel order might have been carried out either by Dzhokhar Dudayev’s supporters, who have long wallowed in violence and crime, or by so-called “contractniks” of the federal forces.”

“A new group of Russian professional soldiers, or contractniki, walks in the Russian military base of Khankala near the Chechen capital Grozny after arriving from Russia’s far east, nine time zones away. Local citizens accuse contractniki of most atrocities in the region where a bloody conflict with Moscow rages for 19 months and in which more than 30,000 people have been killed.”

“In spring 1995, the Russian Defence Ministry launched a wide-ranging campaign for signing short-term contracts (three to six months) with privates and sergeants for serving in Chechnya. But the lack of funds for this programme pushed the so-called ‘contractniks’ to earn their money through all sorts of extortions from the civilian population.”

“Today soldiers in Chechnya “performing combat duties” are paid well according to Russian standards (800 Rub per day or approximately $28), so many enlist as “contractniki”, but the quality of these “professionals” is questionable. […] It’s reported that these “contractniki” are sent to Chechnya without any proper screening or training. Russian officers complain that such “contractniki” are highly unreliable in battle and badly disciplined.”

“The effect of the continued and studied attrition of the Chechen people by Putin, his old chums in the KGB, now called the FSB, the leading organisation in the region, and the contractniki – the mercenaries – is simple, according to [Anna] Politkovskaya – so much hate is being created that there will be another war by 2015. […] I remember the fear hanging over Chechnya like a fog, the 14 Russian checkpoints we bamboozled our way through, the contractniki, armed to the teeth, lords of all creation.”

“Contractniks but not Professionals / Based on our analysis above we can conclude that it is unlikely that the Federal Programme will result in the emergence of truly new, modern, and professional Armed Forces in Russia. But can the country achieve at least the creation of a few combat-ready units? In our view even this is more than doubtful, since the specific culture of conscript Armed Forced seems to prohibit the creation of even a small number of professional units.”

“In response to this, as part of the war of the ‘personal against the state,’ not surprisingly Russians often pay out of or avoid conscription through deferments and/or sometimes simply running away, causing the Russian military to start policies on recruiting contract soldiers (contractniki) even more sharply.”

“At end of the first contract, contractniki are offered another contract or to enter specially designed military education programs to convert to an officer.”

CEFR level