A notable event in the life of higher military educational institutions of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was the competition on the laws and customs of war "General Skobelev"organized by the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Department of Military Education of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Russian Federation. The name of this contest is not accidental. The fact is that General of Infantry Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev entered Russian history not only as the hero of Shipka, but also as a military commander who strictly followed the traditional principles of humane treatment of the defeated enemy and the civilian population in all situations. "A commander who allows looting and violence against the inhabitants and prisoners,"he wrote," lays the most pernicious foundations for the moral disintegration of the troops and guarantees their certain defeat by the enemy."

The competition was held on the basis of the training center of the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and was aimed at popularizing the provisions of the law of armed conflicts among future officers of the Russian Army. It was attended by ten cadet teams from among the third-year students of the Combined Arms Academy, the Moscow Military Institute, the Far Eastern Military Institute, the Yekaterinburg Artillery Institute, the Tambov Military Aviation Engineering Institute, the Military Institute of Radioelectronics, the branch of the Balashov Military Aviation Institute (Chelyabinsk), the branch of the Military University of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection (Tambov), the branch of the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute (Yeisk), a branch of the Military University of Communications (Ryazan). Each team consisted of three cadets and one teacher-mentor.

This event should be considered a logical link in the multi-faceted work that is unfolding today to form a humanitarian and legal consciousness among military personnel. In this regard, it is necessary to mention the order signed at the beginning of this year by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation on the creation of courses on improving the knowledge of officers in the field of the law of armed conflicts on the basis of the Combined-Arms Academy. The relevance of all this activity today, as never before, is great. The lack of understanding among some commanders, especially those who perform combat missions in Chechnya, of the need to strictly comply with the requirements of the Hague and Geneva Conventions ratified by our country not only has negative consequences for the army, but also causes some damage to Russia's international prestige.

The organizers of the contest managed to arouse a keen interest in their project.

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find the best means to achieve the project's goals. All ten higher military educational institutions of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which fielded their teams, reacted with maximum responsibility to their training. This is evidenced by the exceptionally high intensity of the fight, which did not decrease during all four tournament days. Leadership was constantly shifting from one participant to another. The successful solution was to include not only theoretical, but also practical tests in the competition program. Especially intense and spectacular were the tasks related to the presentation of the teams ' vision of the topic "Laws and customs of war in the Russian, Soviet and Russian armies", the development of a plan - summary of the class on the law of armed conflict with platoon personnel, and the discussion on the topic "Commander and law in war".

At the final stage of the competition, four teams that reached the final were already competing against each other. Participants had to meet in the "brain ring" and the competition of team captains, pass a field test. The latter consisted in testing the ability to implement the requirements of the law of armed conflict in combat situations, as well as when performing tasks at the checkpoint.

According to the results of the final round, the winner was a team of cadets from the Moscow Military Institute, who received an invitation to visit the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva as a prize. The second place - with a margin of slightly more than one point - was taken by cadets of the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The third place went to the team of cadets of the Far Eastern Military Institute.

The result of the competition was not only the determination of the strongest. All participants noted the important role that this event played in forming among cadets a qualitatively new view of the principles of warfare, understanding the importance of observing the rights and customs of war in all circumstances.

At the same time, the results of the practical tasks of the competition revealed a number of shortcomings characteristic of representatives of all higher military educational institutions. Among them, there is an insufficient level of methodological training of cadets, low skills in organizing and conducting various types of classes with subordinates, and a weak level of personal training of individual cadets in combined-arms disciplines. The reason for this, most likely, is that the formation of qualities so necessary for future officers is conducted inconsistently in military educational institutions, without clearly defined stages of their development from the training of a soldier to the platoon and company commander.

The Russian Federation, being a party to almost all international treaties that constitute the law of armed conflict, as well as most countries of the world community, has undertaken to comply with the norms of this law. The path chosen by outstanding Russian military leaders-Nevsky, Rumyantsev, Suvorov, Zhukov and many others-provides their current followers with a real opportunity to strengthen military discipline, organization and order in the troops, and improve the professionalism of their actions, which helps them successfully complete their tasks. Given the importance of officers ' knowledge of the laws and customs of war, the organizers of the contest decided to hold it annually, for which a special rolling prize was even made - the image of General Skobelev.

Lieutenant-General Viktor VINOGRADOV, Deputy Head of the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for Research, Candidate of Military Sciences, Professor

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