Disciplinary battalions (disbats, or, as they are also called conscripts, "diesel engines") are specialized military units that send soldiers who have committed serious offenses while serving in the Armed Forces. Offenses can be very different, but mainly they are criminal offenses. In addition, the disciplinary battalions are designed to stay in them cadets of military schools or institutions with a military direction until such time as they did not have time to assign the rank of an ordinary Russian army.
From the history of disbat
In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, ordinary military personnel were sent to separate disciplinary battalions, as well as junior commanding personnel. The court of a military tribunal sentenced them to imprisonment for periods ranging from six months to two years, most often for absenteeism. Subsequently, the practice was to replace the deprivation of liberty for a period of up to two years with the sending to separate disciplinary battalions of those servicemen who committed common criminal offenses with an insignificant public danger. As soon as the Great Patriotic War began, most of the individual disciplinary battalions (except those deployed in the eastern regions of the Soviet Union) were disbanded. Soldiers serving their sentences were sent to the front line and enrolled in ordinary military or penal units - this depended on the severity of the crimes committed.
At the end of the summer of 1942, in accordance with Order No. 227 (referred to as “Not one step back”), it was decided to create front penal battalions for commanding personnel, as well as army penal companies for sergeant and foreman Red Army personnel.
According to the battle schedule of penal divisions and units of the Red Army in 1942-1945, there were more than 50 penal battalions and more than 1,000 penal companies. After the war, most of these units and parts disbanded or transformed. Thus, the first disciplinary battalions were created, which under this name could survive after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the armed forces of the CIS countries. Such units have retained the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, as well as some other states.
Disciplinary battalions are present in all districts and in the Navy. Soldiers in such units are divided into "permanent" composition (undergoing active military service on conscription or under contract, which occupies command positions ranging from the detachment commander to the battalion commander); as well as the "variable" composition, which are convicts. For servicemen occupying officer positions, military ranks may be assigned one notch higher than that provided for in such combined-arms units and units. Thus, a platoon commander may be a captain, a company commander a major, and a battalion commander (disbat) will appoint a soldier with the military rank of colonel. Soldiers sent to disciplinary battalions, according to the decision of the military tribunal, lose their military ranks, which can be restored after the end of the sentence (or in connection with the release of parole) in cases where convicts were not deprived of those in the sentencing process.
Reasons for dispatch
Nowadays, some conscripts commit crimes for which in any case they have to answer. They are sent to the debat, while their life is not lost, except for some exceptions, which are provided for and are at the mercy of the commander of the military district. Thus, at the end of the term of punishment, servicemen are sent to serve in their units and units for further service in order to complete the remaining time.
There is one reason for the servicemen entering disciplinary battalions to serve their sentences: a criminal offense was committed, and a military court issued a verdict.
If a soldier has fully served his sentence and was released to complete his service, there is no documentary evidence that he committed criminal offenses.
Only the military courts can adjudicate the fate of the perpetrators. The disciplinary battalions can get military personnel whose offenses are not considered serious and do not entail punishment for more than two years. The most common crimes committed by the military, are "AWOL" or the so-called "hazing".
Disbat differs from prison in that convicts are not kept in it according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, but in accordance with general military regulations.
Differences between disciplinary battalions and ordinary military units are manifested in the following:
- Unquestioning obedience to general military regulations;
- Extremely tough day planning;
- Lack of layoffs.
The military personnel who fall into disbats are mainly engaged in the performance of household work.
Features of the penal battalion
The disciplinary battalion contains up to 350 soldiers. The mode of their maintenance and punishment is listed in the special documentation since the times of the Soviet Union, supplemented in the Russian Federation since June 1997, as well as in the order of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation dated July 29 of the same year.
At the end of one third of the term of punishment, if the soldiers are distinguished by exemplary behavior, some of them may be offered a redirection to the detachment to the corrected. In addition, they can be given the opportunity to serve in the daily attire or perform the duties of workers.
Terms of stay in the debate mainly constitute no more than 24 months, mainly due to theft and non-statutory relations. In most cases, soldiers are sent to a disciplinary battalion for a period of 5 to 17 months.
When replenishment arrives at the debat, it must be quarantined. Next, these soldiers appoint 30-day enhanced training. After its passage is the process of distributing them to the companies.
The mode of detention of convicted soldiers
The disciplinary battalions provide for strict adherence to the daily routine, in which there are many restrictions. For example, meetings with convicts are strictly regulated and pass according to a schedule. They are short-term, no more than two or three hours, and only in the presence of escorts.
Any transmission from relatives or friends, with some exceptions, is prohibited. In addition, prohibited coffee, tea, and even more so, alcohol. Bans also apply to stationery. Convicted persons are entitled to one pen with two rods and nine envelopes.
It is forbidden for a convicted person to communicate with each other and to move freely. Soldiers who have committed an offense with accomplices are distributed among different units. In this case, all the time serving the sentence, they may not even see each other. Violation of these rules entails punishment with serving in the guardhouse.
Before arriving in the disciplinary battalions, the military are in detention centers. As a result, young people borrow the behavior of experienced prisoners with many "goings." Such an experience often leads to deplorable changes in the unformed psyche of soldiers.
It is clear that in such places the attempts of escapes are frequent, there were even riots in the debats. But this did not lead to anything good, but merely ensured an increase in the length of time that they served. In cases where convicted soldiers were a model of exemplary behavior, they received the privilege of deducting the time they spent in the disbate from the term of service.
End of sentence
Not so long ago, the servicemen who had served their time provided money with sending them back to the unit to complete military service. It often happened that they committed crimes along the way to the unit, so the command decided to provide them with escort. But due to the fact that finding the attendants is not quickly obtained quickly, sending is often delayed.
