1/ The wife of Colonel Vadim Boyko, the Deputy Head of the Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School (TOVVMU) in Vladivostok, has condemned widespread failures by the Russian army for his death by suicide on 16 November after his involvement in Russia's troubled mobilisation. ⬇️
2/ His wife Yulia says in an open letter addressed to Vladimir Putin that "there is a disaster happening, that something must be done, that the motherland is in danger". She says he was given impossible tasks and threatened with criminal prosecution for not fulfilling them.
3/ In particular, she names his supervisor who she says pressured him and in whose chair he shot himself five times, "not aiming for his head, not trying to end it as quickly as possible". Boyko wanted to send a message about "the disgrace that is happening ... in the Far East."
4/ Here's an excerpted translation of the letter, which provides a lot of interesting details about the difficulties that the Russians have with their mobilisation system and the poor leadership and equipment maintenance that has contributed to the problems they've encountered:
5/ "As of 16.09.2022, a unit for the reception of mobilised citizens was deployed on the base of the Naval Military School. My husband Colonel V.E. Boyko was put in charge of reception, accommodation and control of mobilised citizens.
6/ At that time this system was not well established, the staff of the educational institution did not have experience in this work, there was a lack of personnel.
7/ At the mobilisation points there were many problems, the mobilised citizens who had served many years ago found it hard to get used to the new realities, such as the observance of discipline. Therefore, fights and abuse of alcoholic beverages were not uncommon.
8/ The responsibility for their resolution was entrusted to my husband. Since that time, Colonel V.E. Boyko practically did not sleep at home; however, he never complained about his work, he made every effort to fulfill the assigned tasks,…
9/ …but he increasingly noticed that he could not find support among the leadership, who were dumping all the tasks on him. The leaders preferred to distance themselves from all problems.
10/ Vadim began to understand that slowly but surely he was being "appointed" as the main culprit in all the failures and shortcomings, because we understand that sooner or later the time would come when someone would have to answer for gross violations…
11/ …leading to such grave consequences as faulty military equipment and the lack of material and technical support for our troops.
12/ First of all, I would like to note that the equipment that needed to be repaired and sent to the combat zone was unsuitable for performing tasks, part of the documentation was missing and it was physically impossible to prepare it from scratch.
13/ My husband … repeatedly reported to the head of TOVVMU [Rear Admiral Oleg] Zhuravlev about all the problems with the equipment, including the necessity to create a headquarters of at least 100 people, and he was allocated the bare minimum number of people.
![13/ My husband … repeatedly reported to the head of TOVVMU [Rear Admiral Oleg] Zhuravlev about all t...](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fi0CLzaX0AAxydP.jpg)
14/ However the head of the institution ignored these problems and did not help at all, despite the fact that he had seen what a depressed moral-psychological state my husband was in, having insomnia for about a month, during this period he had lost 15 kg in weight.
15/ The first serious reprisals against my husband started long ago, but on 14 November 2022 a commission from Khabarovsk had started checking mobilisation complaints and made it clear that those responsible had already been identified and no arguments to justify…
16/ …the revealed violations would be accepted. My husband did not try to keep silent about the existing problems, it could be said that he had shouted that he would not be able to solve the fatal difficulties that arose during the execution of the order.
17/ He wanted to solve all the problems, not just turn down the inspections. But his immediate superior, the head of TOVVMU, Admiral Zhuravlev, showed a mastery of disguise, and instead of getting involved in solving the problems…
18/ …he just took a sick leave, blaming everything on his deputy V.E. Boyko.
The inspection revealed many shortcomings, of which Colonel V.E. Boyko had previously informed Chief Zhuravlev, and he remained true to himself and told the inspecting party as well,…
The inspection revealed many shortcomings, of which Colonel V.E. Boyko had previously informed Chief Zhuravlev, and he remained true to himself and told the inspecting party as well,…
19/ …once again pointing out that he was unable to independently remove the systemic errors made many years ago, to which Chief Zhuravlev replied "everything will be fine" and took no action.
20/ As I understand it now, only Zhuravlev himself and other senior managers were supposed to be fine.
21/ During the inspection, the inspectors openly told Colonel V.E.Boyko that he would be charged with over 100,000,000 rubles ($1,644,332) debt for loss and damage of state property and he would be subject to criminal prosecution with confiscation of property.
22/ This was the last straw for [Boyko]... One must agree that if for many years military equipment was used as a museum exhibit and was handed over to Colonel Boyko to be sent to the front,…
23/ …he would not be able to eliminate mistakes made by someone before with a wave of the hand; for that he must honestly report to the management and involve all authorised persons in the work. Otherwise the issue cannot be resolved.
24/ By his actions, his supervisor and the inspecting officials trampled on my husband's honour and made it clear that no one wants to change the situation for the better.
25/ He realised that no one wanted the truth, no one wanted to correct the mistakes, everyone just wants to sit on the seat of power. He realised he couldn't help the army he gave his whole life to.
26/ [He] arrives at his workplace in Vladivostok, enters the office of the head of TOVVMU, ... sits in [Zhuravlev's] chair and fires five bullets at himself with a service weapon, not aiming for the head, not trying to end it as quickly as possible.
27/ If this tragic death occurred at the hands of Boyko himself, which the investigation has yet to find out, then this is probably the first case of such a suicide in Russia, that is, in fact, self-execution, then by his actions he clearly wanted to attract the attention of…
28/ …the leaders of the Russian Federation and give you a signal that there is a disaster happening, that something must be done, that the Motherland is in danger.
29/ Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, I ask you to … bring to justice the deserved responsibility of all those directly or indirectly involved in his death, as well as to fulfill my husband's last request,…
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