MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Defense Ministry is planning to develop a course on the history of the Russian army as part of mandatory training for conscripted soldiers in an effort to reinvigorate patriotic and cultural climate within the military.
“We will finish in November the development of a brief course on the history of the Russian army for conscripts,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday.
“The conscripts will have to pass exams and learn at least the basics of the Russian military history,” Shoigu said.
Shortly after his appointment as defense minister in November last year, Shoigu stated that patriotic instruction in the Russian military should be mandatory in order to stress the importance of traditions and to underscore the sacrifices that were made by previous generations of Russian soldiers to make Russia a great nation.
As part of the “patriotic boost,” Shoigu ordered in July that all Russian military units should begin their mornings by singing the national anthem.
Russia’s armed forces are currently in the midst of a major program of reform, including a gradual transition to an all-volunteer makeup, organizational changes and re-equipment with advanced weapons, in a bid to create a military more suitable for future challenges while keeping patriotic traditions left over from the Soviet era.
Although Russian soldiers’ daily schedules vary by region and military branch, their regimes are now being “liberalized” to give conscripts more time to rest and recover after intense training and studies, according to a website offering useful information for military officers. In recent years, Russian ground force units have started introducing naptime and buffet-style meals.
