Kommersant-Vlast has analysed the minutes of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's last 100 meetings with government members. They contain six instances of "Right you are, Sir," three instances of "May I inform you?" and 17 instances of "Yes, Sir."
The use of such expressions is stipulated by the Russian Armed Forces' Internal Service Regulations. Article 43 of the Regulations states expressly: "After receiving an order, the soldier replies 'Yes, Sir' and subsequently fulfills it." Under Article 69, "the soldier replies 'Right you are, Sir' when it is necessary to give an affirmative reply to his commander or superior's questions." The Regulations also instruct military personnel to obtain permission for numerous actions from their commanders.
Military language is mostly used by civilian officials. Minister of Energy Sergei Shmatko and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Yury Trutnev like such expressions more than anyone else. For instance, Shmatko used "Yes, Sir," three times, "Right you are, Sir," once and one "May I inform you?" Trutnev said "Yes, Sir," and "Right you are, Sir," two times each and also said "May I inform you?" once.
They are followed by Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin with three instances of "Yes, Sir!" each, and Minister of Transport Igor Levitin pronounced one "Yes, Sir," and one "Right you are, Sir." Andrei Krainy, Head of the Federal Agency for Fishery, twice said "Yes, Sir."
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, his deputy Sergei Gerasimov and Minister of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief Sergei Shoigu used military expressions only once each. First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Federal Tax Service Head Mikhail Mishustin and Marina Seliverstova, Head of the Federal Agency for Water Resources, also used military language less than any other government official.
Apart from defence, law enforcement and disaster relief operations, military language is used during the discussion of issues, including the number of persons visiting geyser basins in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States and a reply to an instruction to assess new methods for African swine flu prevention and treatment. Seliverstova, the only lady to use military language said: "Mr. Putin, may I inform you that the situation with water resources and infrastructure is rather complicated but controllable?"
The ministers prefer to use milder military-civilian replies in about 50% of the cases. In July 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin replied: "Yes, Sir! I understand" at a government presidium meeting, after the prime minister approved his initiative to support agricultural producers. And he replied: "Yes, Sir. Good" to an instruction to assess the situation with regional diesel fuel prices.
The speech pattern "Yes, Sir, Mr Putin" is used in a similar way. In his December 10, 2010 speech, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Yury Trutnev was able to use several military expressions in one answer. When asked by Putin about Russian-German consultations on putting out peat-bog fires, he replied: "Right you are, Mr Putin! May I inform you? We have met with the State Secretary of Germany's Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and with top ministerial officials. Germany has been flooding bogs for about 20 years."
It is clear from the minutes that the prime minister does not provide his subordinates with a pretext for using such expressions. Judging by the official minutes of meetings, he is always ostentatiously polite, calls the ministers by their full names and says "Please" and "You have the floor." Nevertheless, some officials prefer to address the prime minister as their commander.
Olga Shkurenko