TRADITIONAL AND ADVANCED MEASURES OF MILITARY-POLITICAL WORK AIMED AT COUNTERING THE IDEOLOGY OF EXTREMISM

TRADITIONAL AND ADVANCED MEASURES OF MILITARY-POLITICAL WORK AIMED AT COUNTERING THE IDEOLOGY OF EXTREMISM

Sergey Merkulov

postgraduate student, Novosibirsk Military Academy of national guard troops,

Russia, Novosibirsk

Last year, the world was shocked by the news that the United States of America decided to withdraw its contingent of troops from the territory of Afghanistan. Later on the Taliban group, recognized in the Russian Federation as an extremist organization, seized the authorities in the country. Against this background, the spread of the ideology of extremism began to increase exponentially.

At the final meeting of the National Antiterrorist Committee 2021, the main attention was focused on the result of preventive measures taken by the Federal Security Service, together with the National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosguard).

It was possible to prevent 65 terrorist acts preparing to be carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation at the preparation stage. "During special events, 23 bandits were neutralized, 312 militants and 821 accomplices were detained. The activities of 211 criminal groups specializing in the manufacture of weapons of destruction were suppressed. A large number of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices were seized" [1].

Statistical reporting data compiled by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation show that in 2021 the number of detected extremist crimes increased by 36.4% compared to last year and amounted to 603. More than the half of the registered crimes (398, which is 66%) were committed using the Internet [2].

Undoubtedly, the main source of the spread of the ideology of extremism, today, is the information and telecommunications network "Internet". Since the servicemen of the Rosguard actively use the information resources of the "Internet", they may directly or indirectly be among the objects of influence of the ideology of extremism. Consequently, the organization of military-political work in military units aimed at countering the spread of the ideology of extremism becomes a priority task of commanders of all degrees.

The main task of military-political work in the troops is to maintain a high level of moral, political and psychological profile of the military. To this end, it is organized in the following areas: propaganda and propaganda work; psychological work; strengthening and maintaining military and service discipline and law and order; military-patriotic work and interaction with public associations; military-social work; cultural and leisure work.

Among the traditional measures that contribute to countering the spread of the ideology of extremism, the following can be distinguished:

• registration of military units and subdivisions with state symbols and stands with texts of the Military Oath, extracts from regulatory documents, examples of the exploits of soldiers, historical events of successful battles of the Russian army and the like;
• conducting military-political training classes on the relevant topics;
• military-political information about the socio-political and socio-economic situation in the world and the country, the participation of military units in measures to prevent extremism and terrorism and other crimes and offenses, bringing information about the customs and customs of the peoples of the Russian Federation, their moral culture and traditions;
• perpetuation of heroic feats of military glory in monuments of art (contests of drawings or sculptures, photographs, etc.), museum exhibitions of military glory, study of military-historical facts, provision of socio-political events (elections, referendums, etc.), together with state authorities and local self-government, mass media information and propaganda campaigns dedicated to significant events of the country, region, military unit;
• evenings of meetings with veterans and participants of counterterrorist operations, honoring the Days of Military Glory, the release of printed materials, the creation of videos and films, the release of newspapers and leaflets, the organization of readers, scientific and methodological conferences, thematic library exhibitions and book reviews;
• carrying out cultural events in order to introduce military personnel to moral and cultural values: reviews, contests, participation in municipal and interregional festivals, visits to museums, theaters, exhibitions, etc.

As can be seen, it is necessary to comprehensively and systematically carry out activities within the framework of all the above-mentioned areas of military-political work. It should be noted that the academic disciplines of the combined arms training program for military personnel are quite specific and are aimed at developing the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities as military specialists. Conducting classes does not contribute to the formation of tolerance, sensitivity, humanity and other personal qualities that contribute to the hostility of the ideology of extremism.

Agitation and propaganda work and its main form of military-political training come to the fore in the formation of personal qualities among military personnel that contribute to countering the ideology of extremism. The topics of military-political training include topics related to the problem of spreading the ideology of extremism. The peculiarity of conducting a lesson on such a topic with military personnel was in the form of its conduct – a problem lecture, a provocation lecture.

Since social networks and the Internet are the prerogative of social communication in the modern world, the line between the real and the virtual is being erased. Military personnel can carry out "reposts" of bright and, in their opinion, interesting information posts on social networks, attracting the attention of ideologists of extremism, who, in turn, begin to apply special mechanisms of influence and recruitment to them.

Individual educational work is becoming particularly relevant. Upon arrival of military personnel in the unit, the unit commander studies the documents characterizing subordinates, summarizes independent characteristics, analyzes the results of their training before entering military service. In a personal conversation, which can play a supportive or corrective role, the officer finds out inclinations, addictions (to literature, video games), can make adjustments and direct them to the right path in life, outline the prospects for the formation of a serviceman as a person, his further development in the military team.

Considering the apt expression of A.S. Makarenko "educates every square centimeter of our reality" [3, p. 348], an important role is assigned even for the military community. For example, the organization of contests for wall and photo newspapers, information and reference bulletins on topics aimed at countering extremism. Information covering the positive experience of the Rosgvardiya units in the fight against extremism and other offenses is issued monthly on information stands. Such events contribute to the development of the creative abilities of military personnel, their nonlinear thinking, imagination, ingenuity and reasonable initiative.

Military-patriotic work has a huge potential for improving the moral, political and psychological state of military personnel. In this direction, round tables, quizzes, parliamentary debates should be held with military personnel on the relevant topics.

S. Marchenko [4] in his writings revealed the possibilities of a form not previously used in the process of organizing military-political work with military personnel - psychological and pedagogical training. The use of psychological and pedagogical training helps to increase the confidence of military personnel in constructive social interaction, the development of emotional stress tolerance and the disclosure of the possibility of taking a reflexive position in relation to countering extremism. The potential of using reflexive tasks is considered in the study by N. Maksimov [5]. Reflexive tasks related to countering the ideology of extremism make it possible to maintain an optimal level of intelligence activity of military personnel, as well as, thanks to immersion technology, to make decisions related to value-semantic choices similar to those that may arise when performing service and combat tasks. Servicemen fully become participants in interactive communication, assessing the activities of state and public bodies. The acquired values and ideals aimed at countering the ideology of extremism will be used by military personnel in their professional activities in the future.

Thus, the features of military-political work aimed at countering the ideology of extremism in the military units of the Rosguard will be: a comprehensive combination of all areas of military-political work; the use of traditional and advanced forms of organization of military-political work; qualitative study of social personal data of military personnel; systematic conduct of cultural and leisure activities.

As a result of the implementation of measures of military-political work, the number of military personnel increases:

• conviction in the legality of their actions in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation;
• the level of awareness about the current socio-political and socio-economic situation in the areas of performance of service and combat tasks;
• the ability to behave confidently under the influence of negative information and psychological impact.

References:

1. Final meeting of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee for 2021 // URL: https://nac.gov.ru/ (date of application 15.02.2022).
2. Statistical data on extremist crimes for 2021 // URL: https://epp.genproc.gov.ru/ (date of application 15.02.2022).
3. Makarenko, A.S. Collected works: in 5 vols. / under the general editorship of A. Ternovsky. – М.: Pravda, 1971. – Т. 2. – 384 p.
4. Marchenko, S.M. The model of education of readiness to counteract the glorification of Nazi criminals and their accomplices among the servicemen of the National Guard of the Russian Federation: abstract diss. … k. ped. n. – Spb., 2017. – 23 p.
5. Maksimov, N.V. Formation of a value attitude to countering extremism among university cadets of the National Guard troops of the Russian Federation: abstract diss. … k. ped. n. – Chelyabinsk, 2019. – 27 p.