CONCERN FOR ARMY GROWS ON ELECTION EVE

The government recently passed a resolution whereby, in pursuance of a presidential decree, servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have their pay increased by 40%.

This increment is to be paid career officers from September 1. Earlier, from July 1, epaulet stars also went up in price: the military had their rank-related pay also raised. The authorities have never paid so much attention to the army as now, in the presidential election campaign, which will also mean a new commander in chief.

The Army seems in fact to have forgotten that the regime can really take care of its problems. However, manifestations of its concern are now flowing in cornucopian measure. A committee has been set up under the President to deal with the social problems of retired servicemen. And both those retired and those still on active duty — were promised goodies including back pay. Of course, these will not be tanks or rocket launchers, but safe articles which do not fire and have been lying on store shelves for some years now.

Can the supreme commander in chief be sure now, against the backdrop of direct calls and broad hints of civilian and military chiefs to vote for Leonid Kuchma, that the army vote precisely for him? To answer this question, one has to take into account the experience of the last presidential election. The then Defense Minister Vitaly Radetsky issued a directive to his subordinates to vote for his commander in chief Leonid Kravchuk. At that time, those in power had a real opportunity to monitor the choice made by individual officers or even whole military units because soldiers, officers, and their families voted on base. Still, even under those, so to speak, controlled conditions, 30% of the Ministry of Defense central apparatus voted for Mr. Kuchma in the primary contrary to the Minister's appeal, and only 22% supported Mr. Kravchuk.

However, the Army, like the whole country, voted by the principle, throw the rascals out. Nobody paid attention to the appeals and advice from above. The coming elections will hardly change anything in the Army's behavior. Yet, an allowance may have to be made for the following: A straw poll of nearly 2000 servicemen conducted late last year showed that over a fourth of those polled favored the Left. One can say, of course, that this is obsolete data, but it should be noted this was the last serious sociological study, with the results processed quite recently. On the other hand, has anything changed in the life of the Armed Forces so radically as to fundamentally influence the army's political orientations? Perhaps the change lies in the authorities' promise to issue servicemen something like field kitchens or rubber boats in lieu of their back pay?