“Beating with the ruble”: for those fleeing the country, it was proposed to introduce a defense tax

Difficult times dictate new problems and new solutions. Processes are taking place in society that are unfamiliar to modern Russia – part of the population stands up for the defense of the homeland, and someone hastily leaves abroad. Some continue to work and pretend that nothing is happening around, others drop everything and run into the outback – if only the agenda does not find him. To understand how society and the authorities can react to previously unfamiliar difficulties, MK talked to a well-known expert, a veteran of the special services, Alexander Georgievich Mikhailov.

Alexander Georgievich Mikhailov began his service in the state security organs under Andropov. He also worked in political counterintelligence; in 1989 he was appointed head of the first press service in the Union in the KGB. He retired in 2008. Major General of the FSB, Lieutenant General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“It is already clear today that the confrontation is entering a new phase,” Mikhailov believes, “Most likely, it will be transferred to the territory of Russia, and not only because of long-range artillery strikes, but also in terms of the development of reconnaissance and sabotage groups on the territory of the country . Now we are very actively feeling the formation of a marginal environment, on which the Ukrainian special services will rely to create chaos in the Russian army, in the rear and further in the country. This is a very important point that we need to be concerned about. We need to form a civil activist who will be engaged in carrying out various kinds of preventive measures on the territory of Russia. These can be people’s squads, for example, or operational youth detachments.

– What do you think about those who are leaving the country now?

– I can predict that their life will not be raspberry. It will be even worse than the wave of emigration after the Civil War. Because the people who today meet this wave of fugitives do it with a high sense of contempt. Probably, some politicized structures praise the fugitives and say that they are doing everything right, but people in Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan have preserved the principles of patriotism and citizenship. They do not really understand such a mass emigration, and they have nothing but contempt with a subsequent reaction. Those who fled there will run out of money very quickly, and they will very quickly be left on the sidelines of life.

Is there any way to control them?

– I believe that for those who left the defense of their homeland to other people, a defense tax should be introduced. And it should be in the amount of the cost of the equipment of one fighter. And this would be correct, because those who leave do not fall under the current version of mobilization. It is clear that now they will be filtered, those who fall under the draft will be returned, but the fact remains that a person who leaves his homeland deprives it of tax revenues, and in the case of general mobilization, of a mobilization resource. It would be right if the State Duma would promptly consider this issue.

– There are those who have not left the country, but in every possible way avoid mobilization on the ground …

– Today we are witnessing a curious story, when a certain amount of the population moves from their place of permanent residence to the countryside. They close apartments, rent a dacha for themselves and leave for where they will be out of reach of the military registration and enlistment office and the law enforcement system. Therefore, control should also be over the private sector. If we catch a coward and a deserter every day, there will be little sense from him at the front as a combat unit – if he himself is so programmed. In that case, these people must somehow support the special military operation. With their own means and forces, and there is nothing special about this – during the Great Patriotic War there was a so-called general loan, when every citizen was obliged to buy bonds in the amount of two of his monthly salaries. We will not need to take this money from pensioners and from people who have gone to the front, but we initially have a category of people who sabotage all decisions of the country’s leadership, and they create the most tense situation in society. I think that this is also an option, because we are forced not only to provide for the front, but also for the families of people who are at the front. We will provide for the families of people in case of death or injury.

– What other problems do you see inside the country?

– We must tighten the counterintelligence regime inside the country. We have a huge number of industrial and infrastructure facilities that have almost never been guarded – it simply did not need to be done. If the nationalists now start to blow up something, from gas stations to low-pressure stations for gas pipelines, these will be very serious problems. We must identify these bastards at an early stage and take action on them. They must understand that everyone is under control, the inevitability of punishment will take effect literally after a while. Plus, we need to increase visual control over the situation on the streets and various objects.

“To enhance security, we need a large staff of personnel. Where to find so many specialists with proper work experience?

– You and I feel that a certain category of people who are now working in some areas, mostly young people, of course, cannot be touched, but we need to think about one more thing – we see that there are quite a lot of people in the country with great life experience, with extensive experience in operational and law enforcement work. But they are no longer in demand, although these are people who are able to provide education, training, and work with personnel. These people can be in demand in various fields. I communicate with many of my colleagues with whom I served, they are confident that they will be able to establish work where young specialists cannot establish it. They say that time has changed, everything is no longer the same – this is not true. I have already been in a situation where, after a long stay outside of operational work, I returned to her and realized that nothing was changing. The people who carry it out are changing, but in general the situation is the same as before – we live in a state in which people are imprisoned for collective activity, which makes it possible for us to achieve something. And people have a good genetic memory. Here I look at my colleagues – still young men. Yes, some of them have illnesses, some problems of their own, but many of them do not go to work in private security companies, because it is humiliating for an officer. And they are sitting at home, retired, but the head is bright, the opportunities are good and the experience is enormous, which no one can surpass. And this is also one of the options that can be considered for the future.