Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people in Russia wear a military or militarized form of dress. Although, common sense would dictate that they shouldn’t be wearing the uniform. For example, security guards or doctors, journalists or jurists. BUT in the cities and towns of Russia you can often encounter people in clothing that is incomprehensible, but obviously in military style. These people wear trousers with stripes with gaps on them, they wear epaulets – also with gaps.

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But the life of Russians doesn’t become any brighter from the quantity of gaps on trouser stripes and on epaulets.

Somebody once calculated that with the coming to power of the chekists, the number of people in uniform in our country increased sharply – to as many as eight (!) million people. Moreover, it’s increased not in the army and on the fleet, as might have been thought or assumed (there has actually been a reduction there), but in various incomprehensible structures. For example, in security-guard services. All these PSFs [Private Security Firms] – what is this? Or narcocontrol. Or customs. Or the MChS [The Ministry for Affairs of Civil Defense, Extraordinary Situations and Liquidation of Consequences of Elemental Calamities, usually shortened to “Ministry of Emergency Situations” in English–Trans.]. Why are these siloviki structures in our country? Or the FSB? Why do they wear uniforms and have ranks?