Dissatisfaction in Russian Army May Lead to a Revolution like One in 1917, Kurnosova Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 29 – Increasing dissatisfaction in the ranks of the Russian military in Ukraine, along with the growing number of armed units within the Russian Federation not directly subordinate to Moscow and the ever-larger number of guns in private hands may lead to a revolution just as these factors did in 1917, Olga Kurnosova says.

            The head of the secretariat of the Congress of Peoples’ Deputies, Russian elected officials now in emigration, made that point  in an interview she gave to Ukraine’s 24 Channel television station (rosdep.online/olga-kurnosova-volny-nedovolstva-v-armii-mogut-zakonchitsya-revolyucziej/).

            The possibility of such an evolution toward revolution, Kurnosova says, is increased by the way in which the Kremlin has chosen to fill the ranks of the army with “the most lumpen segments of the population” who ae joining up and remaining in the ranks not because of patriotism but because of cash payments.”

            Moreover, again as a result of Kremlin decisions, she continues, “there is a huge number of different armed formations on the territory of the Russian Federation,” many of which “obey not so much the generals in Moscow as local or departmental leaderships.” Kadyrov’s men are only the most noteworthy of these.

            And she adds, there is now “a huge amount of weapons” both in these units and in the population, weapons not aren’t registered and are already behind the increasing violence of the criminal world, just as was the case in the Russian Empire a century ago. If these groups come together and a leadership again comes out of nowhere, a revolutionary situation may emerge.

Other Russian commentators are now drawin similar comparisons. For a discussion of some of their observatiosn, see jamestown.org/program/russian-army-degrading-in-ukraine-threatening-moscow-both-there-and-at-home/.