Aleksandr Kanshin
Press reports yesterday and today say that Mr. Kanshin and his commission have been dropped from the composition of Russia’s Public Chamber (OP) in 2010.
Kanshin is the ex-zampolit and board chairman of the MEGAPIR empire–the National Association of Armed Forces Reserve Officer Organizations, who for several years chaired the OP’s Commission on the Affairs of Veterans, Servicemen, and Family Members.
Kanshin and his commission served as a loyal, but objective and critical, voice when it came to the Defense Ministry and its policies. His loss, and especially the loss of the commission altogether, is quite a blow against independent information on what’s occurring inside the armed forces. It means one less critic the Arbat military district will have to fend off.
It will be interesting to see who and why someone got rid of them. Also, what will come of Kanshin; he’ll probably stay engaged on military and defense issues, but probably without the same kind of access and platform for his views.
Mr. Kanshin particularly followed premilitary fitness and training, manpower, conscription, ‘social protection’ issues, the OPK, and dedovshchina and hazing problems. He frequently visited the MDs.
Russian Defense Policy 