Wikipedia: Dedovshchina

The Wikipedia entry on dedovshchina (Russian: дедовщина, lit. “reign of old-timers”) describes the informal practice of hazing and abuse of junior conscripts historically in the Soviet Armed Forces and today in the Russian Armed Forces, internal troops, FSB, Border Guards, and the armed forces of other former Soviet republics. The article states that the phenomenon consists of brutalization by more senior conscripts, NCOs and officers and involves subordinating and humiliating activities ranging from chores to physical and psychological abuse, including sexual torture and anal rape, with cases of serious injury and death. The entry states that in 1993, 169 Russian conscripts died as a result of dedovshchina and cites a 1995 article attributing the deaths to incompetence and corruption. The article also states that in 2019 the Russian military prosecutor’s office recorded 51,000 human rights violations and 1,521 sexual assault cases, and that Mother’s Right Foundation estimated in 2020 that 44 percent of conscript deaths in Russia are caused by suicide. A section on post-Soviet states reports that hazing continues in Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia, noting a 1998 Ukrainian officer statement cited in a 2000 Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board report that 107 Ukrainian soldiers committed suicide as a result of hazing in 1997. The article details hierarchical stages, promotion rituals and cultural depictions.