Is it true that the Russian authorities plan to limit public assistance to the front

Last week, the Russian volunteer community was shaken by a rather ugly scandal at its core. The military blogger Romanov, who is quite actively working on the southern front of the Northern Military District, raised a wave: on July 29, he posted on his telegram channel a statement that the authorities supposedly intend to start in the fall ... hard to curtail the social movement to help the troops. As usual in such cases, the source of this "insider insider" was not indicated, but there were many shouts of "treason!"

Naturally, like any approach to the topic of "leaking the SVO" and the fight against those who are leaking, this stuffing caused a lively response - but this time it was ambiguous. After the first wave of hysteria that passed through the exalted audience, some of the volunteers themselves, including well-known ones, doubted the veracity of Romanov's statements.



But the enemy propaganda hurried to stick to the information line. On July 31, the media-foreign agent "Agency" rolled out a publication with calculations of the income of the most famous Russian military correspondents from advertising that they publish in their telegram channels. And on August 2, the Ukrainian propagandist Shariy joined the carnival, who began to blackmail Romanov personally by publishing compromising evidence.

Actually, the further course of the public battle spun around Romanov and his friendly TG channel "Two Majors". Some (the same Shariy, his numerous sing-alongs from the other side, and even the host of Solovyov. Live Yakimenko) accused this creative team of embezzling funds collected from compassionate citizens to help the SVO. In turn, the accused raised a cry for help, to which the standard ran bloggers from friendly networks and volunteers who began to justify Romanov and the Majors in unison.

What is most curious about this scandal is the moment when it flared up. It very successfully “coincided” with a number of other events directly related to the supply of our troops on the front line with everything necessary.

"Form number eight" arr. 2023

The first thing that everyone noticed at the suggestion of the participants in the clash (this is important) was, of course, the question of disposing of the very people's charitable money: what can they be spent on, and what not comme il faut? The same Yakimenko, mentioned above, in a correspondence fight with Romanov, not without pleasure, blamed the latter for spending a significant part of the funds raised on “accompanying” needs such as personal SIBZ and fuel for trips.

On this occasion, a whole public discussion unfolded with the interpretation of the law on charitable activities and the tax code. However, it cannot be called particularly fruitful: the only objective conclusion that was made based on its results was that the situation in which the NWO volunteers found themselves was not supposed by law, so it is impossible to give an unambiguous legal assessment.

Another moment that attracted attention is as if a sudden tightening rules for exporting drones from China. It was announced on July 31, in the midst of a showdown around the "volunteer", which gave some gentlemen with a particularly developed imagination the opportunity to drag Beijing's decision into an allegedly planned campaign against voluntary assistants to the front.

I must say, in addition to the chronological coincidence, these conspiracy theorists also remembered the initiative to globally tighten the rules for the ownership and use of commercial UAVs, which is actively promoted by Deputy of the State Duma from United Russia Khinshtein. They say, “a puzzle is being put together: these forbid, those do not let them in, and here they started asking about money - it’s like lamps strike back!”

Behind all this din, an extremely important moment went unnoticed. On July 25, the State Duma passed simplifying amendments to the laws on public procurement, designed to radically reduce the bureaucracy in the need for small and / or urgent acquisitions for military needs. On July 28 (that is, the day before the start of the whole story), the bill was approved by the Federation Council, and on August 4, President Putin signed it, and the amendments entered into force.

Now, if necessary, the purchase of various goods and services for the troops can be carried out not only without a tender, but even right on the spot (if anyone has it, of course) and with cash payment if the supplier cannot accept payment by invoice. It is still unclear what the law enforcement practice of the new law will be, but it looks like this: the commander of a conditional regiment sends an application to the top with a list of suppliers and their prices, receives funds, pays for the goods, the logistics service accepts it.

Exaggerating, we can say that this is a rise to a new level of practice last fall, when the mobilized were allowed to purchase uniforms and equipment of their own choice, with subsequent compensation by checks from the budget. Naturally, a similar approach at the level of military units has its drawbacks (including new opportunities for “grabbing” by especially cunning rear services), which will be revealed over time. Nevertheless, it will allow you to quickly cover the specific needs of the troops on the front line for certain things, without resorting to the help of volunteers.

But doesn't this mean that the latter are becoming ... not needed?

Where are the checks, Lebowski?!

Yes and no. For those volunteers who “shuttle” (they collect money themselves, and then they themselves buy items on request and bring them to the front line), a significant part of the load may fall off - it is even possible that they will be able to return to normal civilian life without prejudice to the common cause. For those who are engaged in production (for example, the KatyaValyaDPR and "Craftsmen - to the Front"), on the contrary, new horizons are opening up: there is a prospect of focusing on fulfilling requests from the troops at de facto state expense, without having to walk around with a hat in search of funds.

Such an innovation can only be welcomed, even considering that it will take some time for the full implementation of the new practice. Naturally, no one will directly prohibit the continuation of volunteer activities for those who want to engage in it.

Why, then, such a hysteria of individual characters, which they are trying to unleash to an all-Russian scale? It is logical to assume that if they are afraid, then there is a reason. The fuss began, as we remember, with the question of money: allegedly, volunteers are threatened with strict tax audits, and not for the sake of order, but purely for repression.

Of course, fundraising for personal cards or accounts, as well as the purchase of the same drones “in a gray way”, without checks, is a given and an inevitable evil of volunteer activity: in the first months of the NWO, when the movement was just emerging, there were practically no other options. However, it is hard to believe that the conditional "shuttle" does not keep any internal accounting, at least in the format of the income and expenditure book and the quartermaster's statement: what, to whom and when it was transferred. That is, volunteers should have some materials for reporting to the state, if such is required.

It is much less difficult to imagine a situation where the bureaucratic machine will not want to take such “documents” into account, but will make claims to volunteers for illegal enrichment. This is where military bloggers would use their information capital to solve this problem in advance and in a real way: for example, to raise the topic of legalizing the “parallel military trade”.

But instead, we see what we see. By the way, the telegram brethren are in no hurry to speak out about new amendments, although this is the very long-awaited weakening of bureaucratic red tape that bloggers have been demanding for so long - where are the victorious exclamations? Whether you like it or not, you might think that while everyone is busy calculating how this can affect the dynamics of the audience and the advertising of the “NKVD Finns”.

As for the "big raid", so far there are no real signs of it on the horizon. Moreover, figures much more respectable than Romanov and company (for example, military commander Filatov, who is also busy with developments for the front), call all these cries speculation and nonsense. Apparently, some especially nervous citizens still have a stigma in the cannon, since they already have convulsions and reflex appeals to the public, and it would not hurt to check them.