On Belarusian Recruits

The scandalous "law on deferments" will make the Belarusian army even more Sovietesque.

The "House of Representatives" adopted a law "On Changing the Laws on the Effective Functioning of the Military Organization of the State". Simply put, it means that the rules for conscripts are changing. In the Belarusian version, it means that it will only get worse. After all, nothing good has been adopted in the Belarusian "House of Representatives" for the last 20 years.

One can only be sorry for our guys. Their situation is even worse than that of pensioners, for whom the retirement age has been raised. Not only that the Belarusian army is far from ideal. This is not NATO with their clothes, food and living conditions for the soldiers.

Only the Russian army can be worse than the Belarusian army, as the latter is participating in dubious military operations as well. Unfortunately, the Belarusian army is still a Soviet-style army. Hence the hazing and suicide attempts...

So instead of reforming the army somehow, making it really Belarusian, there appears a law that will make the army even more "soviet" and unpopular. The most important thing in the changes is that the deferral for training will be provided only once. That is, if one has studied at a technical school, it is possible for him to go to university only after serving in the army.

The same applies to master's and post-graduate studies. One can do scientific work after the university in Europe. But not in Belarus. In Belarus, first, you have to wear kirz boots for a year, and then you can study how to save humanity from cancer. Ihar Martynau, a member of the "permanent commission on national security," sees nothing wrong with possible changes. He says you can take an academic leave. Of course, there is nothing wrong with it. No big deal - the most productive time for a young man that could be spent on studying will be spent on the army, which, and that's the most unpleasant thing, might not defend us from a potential aggressor.

Yuliya Sivets, Radio Racyja