MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Concerned about morale, Russia's Defense Ministry is considering a proposal to formally recruit Russian Orthodox chaplains into some military units.
In his annual news conference last week, President Vladimir Putin called for greater efforts at moral education in the military, after a New Year's Eve hazing that led to a conscript's legs and genitals being amputated.
Sergei Burda, a Defense Ministry official, said military bases that have Orthodox churches have lower rates of suicide and hazing than elsewhere in the military, The Moscow Times reported Monday.
Burda said Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov would consider chaplains after a round of public consultations this year.
However, non-governmental organizations are warning about the exclusion of other faiths and denominations, and about official pressure on soldiers to attend Orthodox services.
Sergei Mozgovoi, head of the Liberty of Consciousness Institute, said that at seminars held jointly by the Orthodox Church and military leadership, senior priests told officers that other Christian groups, including Protestants, were cults.
"There is also a lot of hate speech against Muslims," Mozgovoi said.
Sergei Melkov, a consultant to the Council of Muftis on military issues, said the position of the senior Muslim clergy was that no single faith should dominate in the military.
