Dedovshchina Dedovshchina ( ; lit . " grandfatherism " ) is the informal system of subjection ( see : hazing ) of new junior conscripts , formerly to the Soviet Armed Forces and today to the Russian armed forces , Internal Troops , and ( to a much lesser extent ) FSB Border Guards , as well as the military forces of certain former Soviet Republics , to brutalization by the conscripts serving their last year of compulsory military service as well as NCOs and officers . " Dedovshchina " involves a spectrum of subordinating or humiliating activities performed by the junior ranks : from carrying out chores of the senior ranks to violent and sometimes lethal physical and psychological abuse , being not unlike an extremely vicious form of bullying or even torture . It is often cited as a major source of poor morale in the ranks . Often with the justification of maintaining authority , physical violence or psychological abuse can be applied to make “ youth ” to do certain fatigue duties . In many situations , hazing is in fact not the goal . Conscripts with " seniority " exploit their juniors to provide themselves with a more comfortable existence , and the violent aspects arise when juniors refuse to " follow traditions " . There have been occasions where soldiers have been seriously injured . In extraordinary situations , there is a lethal outcome . Etymology . The term is derived from " " ded " " ( , meaning grandfather ) , which is the Russian Army army slang equivalent of " gramps " , meaning soldiers at their third ( or fourth , which is also known as " dembel " ( ) , stemming from a vulgarization of the word " demobilization " ( ) - this word is erroneously used by soldiers to name the event of resigning from the army ; this event is also called by soldiers " dembel " or " DMB " ( ) ) half - year of conscription , with the suffix " - shchina " which designates a type of order , rule , or regime ( compare Yezhovshchina , Zhdanovshchina ) . Thus it can literally be translated as " rule of the grandfathers . " This is essentially a folk system of seniority based on stage of service , mostly not backed by code or law , which only grants seniority to conscripts promoted to various Sergeant and Efreitor ranks . History . The origin of this problem is often attributed to the change in conscription term brought about by the law of October 12 , 1967 , causing two different groups of conscript s to be simultaneously present in the army : those who were drafted for 3 - year service and those only for 2 - year service . During the same year , a decision was reached to draft conscripts with a criminal history into the ranks , due to a demographic crisis following World War II . While oppression by older conscripts has probably always taken place in the army , after that date , with the introduction of the four - class system it became systematic and developed its own rules and ranks . Current situation . Many young men are killed or commit suicide every year because of " dedovshchina " . " The New York Times " reported that in 2006 at least 292 Russian soldiers were killed by " dedovshchina " ( although the Russian military only admits that 16 soldiers were directly murdered by acts of " dedovshchina " and claims that the rest committed suicide ) . The " Times " states : " On Aug . 4 , it was announced by the chief military prosecutor that there had been 3 , 500 reports of abuse already this year ( 2006 ) , compared with 2 , 798 in 2005 " . The BBC meanwhile reports that in 2007 , 341 soldiers committed suicide , a 15 % reduction on the previous year . Union of the Committees of Soldiers ' Mothers of Russia works to protect the rights of young soldiers . In 2012 , a draftee from Chelyabinsk region , Ruslan Aiderkhanov , was raped and tortured to death by his seniors . The lone witness who testified against the alleged perpetrators , Danil Chalkin , was later found shot dead in his military base . A contract soldier , Alikbek Musabekov was later arrested in this incident . Government actions . Overall , the state has done little to curtail " dedovshchina " . In 2003 , on the specific issues of denial of food and poor nutrition , Deputy Minister of Defense V . Isakov flatly denied the existence of such problems . Since 2005 , the Ministry of Defense has published monthly statistics of incidents and crimes including cases of death . Dedovshchina in popular culture . Several Soviet and Russian films portrayed the " dedovshchina " despite the military ' s abstention from helping the production . Following is the selected filmography :