Ready for the Front or Just a Front?

It was as if the shuttered doors of Voyentorg -- the Bloomingdale's of the Soviet battlefield -- had suddenly swung wide open.


Tents. Uniforms. Boots. Helmets. Sleeping bags. Even the lowly military tea cracker. The Russian Army wanted to show just how well it cares for its soldiers in Chechnya, and, like a bride trying to impress the in-laws, everything went on display.


Yes, there are problems supplying troops under fire. And yes, there are times when supplies don't get through. "But you can't make the exception the norm," Colonel General Vladimir Churanov, deputy defense minister for support services, declared Wednesday. "But I should tell you, the system that we have working today is proving itself. It's proving itself!"


The Defense Ministry has taken to holding a series of press conferences in recent weeks devoted to such topics as troop morale and military medical care. It is part of a strategy to prevent an "information vacuum" from imploding, ministry spokesman Ivan Skrylnik said.


"A lot of people don't know very much about the Russian armed forces," Skrylnik said.


But the press conferences have also become occasions to box with the media, and Churanov didn't miss his chance.


"I am surprised by these newspapers and their tear-jerking stories that supposedly paint a picture of conditions in Chechnya," Churanov said. "They are supposedly cold and hungry, barefoot and naked, without even the means to wash themselves."


With the pride and authority of the executive chef at a five-star restaurant, Churanov said "the food in the army has really gotten much better." Military rations, with a content of 4,189 calories a day, he said, "practically allow us to restore all of a soldier's spent energy."


Nutritious, perhaps. Gourmet, hardly. The rations on display looked like a cross between astronaut food and the servings in Aeroflot's economy class.


"It's not exactly like in a restaurant," said Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Stelmakh, 23. "But it's completely satisfying." Eyes straight ahead.


Throughout the press conference, a living display of soldiers including Stelmakh showed how the typical fighter is outfitted. At the start, a group of officers scurried about making sure everything was just so: buttons buttoned, collars fastened. The room reeked of boot polish.


Are all the soldiers in Chechnya turned out as dashingly?


"Approximately," said one of the soldiers, who would not give his name.


Not so, according to Shchit (The Shield), a soldiers' benevolent organization. Only about 70 percent of the soldiers in Chechnya are adequately supplied for battle conditions, and conditions are going to get worse.


"Many people don't have enough food or warm clothes," said Georgy Getman, coordinator of the organization. Getman said Shchit members stationed near Chechnya have been examining troop supplies, and he predicted conditions will deteriorate as the war drags on. "This is only the first stage," he said.


Churanov said that no matter how long the war lasts, the army has all the supplies it needs.


Last week Churanov was named deputy defense minister in a reshuffling of the ranks immediately beneath Defense Minister Pavel Grachev. Three deputy ministers critical of the Chechen campaign were left without jobs.


Vladimir Nikonorov of the ministry's information department said Wednesday that Grachev had promised to find them "new posts that are not any lower than the rank of deputy minister."


Stelmakh, for his part, would not criticize the Chechen operation. But the question of whether he wanted to go there was cause for much hesitation. "My desires play no role here," he said.


After the cameras and notebooks went away, the elevator witnessed a moment of candor. One of the living mannequins, in a uniform so clean it likely never saw a Moscow sidewalk, let alone a field in Chechnya, explained why everything was so scrubbed.


"It was for the journalists," he said.