Maxim Andreyevich Kokorev,
Postgraduate Student, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
“The Password is One − Afghanistan”: The Social Movement of Internationalist Soldiers and Its Role in the Fate of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-6-17
The scientific article is devoted to the study of the importance of the social movement of internationalist soldiers in the fate of veterans of the war in Afghanistan. In contrast to the military and political aspects of the war in Afghanistan, the issue of the post-war fate of veterans of the Afghan war and the activities of public associations “shuravi” has not been practically studied. However, it was the social movement of internationalist soldiers in the conditions of socio-economic and political instability, the collapse of the united Union state at the turn of the 1980s−1990s that took on the state tasks of social security for veterans, war invalids, and families of the dead. In this, the “Shuravi” saw a moral duty to their comrades-inarms, from whom the war had forever separated, to their loved ones and relatives. Many of the associations of “afghans” actively help veterans, including other wars, and in our time. The purpose of the article is to fill in this issue, which allows for a more representative understanding of the legacy of the Afghan war and its consequences. The study, based on an objective and systematic study of various groups of sources (archival materials, complexes of normative, departmental, party sources, periodical press materials, sources of personal origin), highlights: the socio-political and social context of the emergence of the movement of veterans of the Afghan war, historical memory and public attitude to the military presence of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan (December 25, 1979 − February 15, 1989), perception of the image of war and man in war, formation and development of the social movement of internationalist soldiers − veterans of the war in Afghanistan. The article introduces previously unknown and unpublished sources, collected and studied during the research.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 25/09/2024
How to cite: Kokorev M.A. “The Password is One − Afghanistan”: The Social Movement of Internationalist Soldiers and Its Role in the Fate of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 250−266. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-17.pdf]
Links: Issue 6 2024
Keywords: War in Afghanistan; USSR; soldiers-internationalists; “shuravi”; “afgantsy”; public associations; memory of the war