Internal Troops of Russia

Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation
Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел
Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del
Common name Internal Troops

Emblem of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Internal Troops of Russia[1]

Flag of Internal Troops: a 2:3 white flag with rose madder cross pattée and emblem of Internal Troops in the center of it[2]
Agency overview
Formed March 27, 1811
Dissolved April 5, 2016
Superseding agency National Guard
Employees 182,000 in 2012[3]
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency Russia
Governing body Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia)
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters Moscow

Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation) (MVD RF) (Russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел, Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del; abbreviated ВВ, VV), was a gendarmerie-like paramilitary force of the federal government in Russia. On April 5, 2016 it was officially split from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to form the basis of the National Guard of Russia.

Internal Troops supported and reinforced the Politsiya, deal with large-scale riots, internal armed conflicts and safeguarding of highly-important facilities (like nuclear power plants). As such, the service was involved in all conflicts and violent disturbances in modern Russia, including and First and Second Chechen Wars. Internal Troops fell under Armed Forces military command during wartime and fulfill the missions of local defence and rear area security.

Internal Troops consisted of both volunteers and conscripts and hence the number of active service members keeps fluctuating. On the moment of their disestablishment, it had less than 200,000 active members and had had shortage of officers since 1998. Its strength plunged to this level from the peak strength of 350,000 active members. The commander of the Russian Internal Troops was Colonel General Viktor Zolotov until their disestablishment occurred in April 2016.

History

A group of Internal Troops of the MVD RF in 2007

Police dragoons

The first example of internal security troops in Russia are the police dragoons established during the reign of Peter the Great. As early as 1763 police dragoon units were raised in both Moscow and Saint Petersburg as part of their police forces. Regulations made on 12 (24) February 1802, 8 (20) June 1804 and 23 February (7 March) 1806 standardized the size of the police dragoons as:

Internal Guards

The MVD Internal Troops of Russia traced their lineage and heritages from the Internal Guards Gendarmerie units, established in 1811 and tasked with public security, rear area defense and police duties, and the Gendarmerie Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army, raised in 1815 with the re-designation of the Borisoglebsk Dragoon Regiment which served in Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812.

The Internal Guards were founded by an Ukaz of Tsar Alexander II on 17 (29) January 1811 and 27 March (8 April) 1811, officially disbanding the police dragoon troops and the paramilitary police formations, plus military garrison battalions and/or squadrons under the Imperial Army, which were reorganized into Internal Guards brigades and districts, all under the leadership of Adjutant General Yevgraf Fedotovich Komarovskiy, its first commander. The aforementioned decree approved the "Regulations for the Internal Guard", according to which the guard was mandated to aid in public order and security and help enforce law and order and the judicial process, as well as in firefighting.

Meanwhile, the need for and benefits of mounted troops as part of the service presented the government with the formation of personnel, even as the French 1812 invasion of Russia interrupted its work. Based on that assumption, and as it turned out on the experience of disadvantage depending on the civil authorities of military commands in the years after the war, the Police Dragoons, now the Gendarmerie of the Internal Guards Corps, were reactivated in 1817.

By 1817, the Internal Guards units and the Gendarmerie evolved into a national organization with units all over the Empire, and with the growing power and duties of the Internal Guards, the office of Chief of Gendarmes, tasked to manage the organization, was created in 1826, and the Gendarmerie units nationwide were, together with the Internal Guards themselves, in 1827 were integrated into the new Special Corps of Gendarmes,[4] with its organization always changing as per regulations made in 1836–37. (At the same time the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was established, but it was starting 1837 that the Chief of Gendarmes also assumed concurrent duties as its chairman.) Personnel were either retired or reserve Army personnel or had separate training within command headquarters, the military heritage was also seen in its military ranks and military styled uniforms. In 1842 the IRA's Gendarmerie Regiment was transferred to this organization.

A separate command for the railways was raised in 1846, originally the Reserve Squadron. By 1881 the 3rd Section was transformed into the Okhrana, and several personnel of the SCG moved to the new organization.

From USSR Internal Troops to disestablishment

The modern Internal Troops were raised by the All-Russian Central Execuitive Committee as part of the NKVD in 1918, and was reorganized in 1919 unto the Internal Security Forces (Voyska vnutrenney okhrany Respubliki,VOHR). In 1919, these were transferred to the Cheka and in 1922-23 into the OGPU.

On 28 July 1988, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet issued a decree “On duties and rights of the Internal Troops of the USSR MVD when safeguarding public order”, clarifying its role in the cracking USSR.[5] However, the Internal Troops were still a part of the Soviet Armed Forces and this state of affairs pleased no one. The Armed Forces did not want to be seen as a force of internal suppression, especially after the disastrous Afghan War. The MVD was finding itself having to extinguish increasingly frequent and violent hot spots and to cope with growing and increasingly well organised and equipped criminals. For this the MVD needed more fire power. On 21 March 1989, the Presidium decided to take the Internal Troops out of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense[6] and give them to the Internal Affairs Ministry.

In 1990, the establishment of the RSFSR MVD meant that the Internal Troops in the SFSR were now subordinated to the republican ministry.

With the April 2016 foundation of the National Guard, the IT became the National Guard Forces (Войска национальной гвардии, Voyska Natsionalnoy Gvardi) and now reports directly to the Security Council and its chairman, the President of Russia, and thus removed from the MVD proper.

Legal basis

A VV MVD RF serviceman in 2012

The Federal Law No.27-173 was signed into law on 6 February 1997. The law set the operational standards for the Internal Troops of the Russian Federation. The law is entitled "On the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs Internal Troops".[7] When supporting a state-of-emergency regime, Internal Troops were paid salary increases and additional monetary payments according to federal laws and other legal acts approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Article 38 granted senior operational commanders the right to call in subunits of special motorized formations and military units outside their deployment areas for a period of up to one month.

The federal law also detailed the important role that the Russian Ministry of Defense played in the affairs of the MVD's Internal Troops when crises arose. For example, MOD was responsible for providing airliners for supporting Internal Troop activities during emergency situations, and conditions of armed conflicts; carrying out the stockpiling and echelon armaments and military equipment, ammunition, fuel and supplies for the mobilization deployment of the Internal Troops in wartime; and transferring arms and military equipment free of charge to the Internal Troops through support services based on special decisions of the federal government, and rendering assistance in the repair and restoration of damaged arms and military equipment.

General organisation

An elite group of Vityaz special forces personnel during a public show in 2012

Despite being subordinated to civilian MVD authority, Internal Troops were a paramilitary force with centralized system of ranks, command and service. The Chief Commander and Staff of the troops reported only to Ministry of Internal Affairs, maintaining their separate chain of command. The Chief Commander was concurrently First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. VV units in Soviet Union were predominantly formed up of conscripts drafted by the same system as for the Soviet Army. Modern Internal Troops in Russia, as and in Ukraine, experienced a slow transition to the contract personnel system. VV officers were trained in both own special academies and Army's military academies.

The main kinds of Internal Troops were field units, various facility-guarding units, special motorized units, riot control and patrol units, and special forces like Rus. Since the 1980s, the several spetsnaz (special purpose) units were created within the VV to deal with terrorism and hostage crises. Fields units were essentially light motorized infantry, similar to respective regular army units by their organization and weapons. They and the special forces have been heavily engaged in the armed conflicts in Chechnya and the broader North Caucasus.

Districts and formations

The VV 33rd Special Purpose Unit "Peresvet" during a training exercise in 2013

The organization of the Russian Internal Troops comprised headquarters, military units, military training institutions and the institutions for Internal Troops activities, and maintenance and administration bodies. The largest units were located in all major cities.[8]

Internal Troops districts:

Military units under direct subordination:

Missions

A ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun crew of VV special forces during an exercise in 2013

Equipment

Internal troops ABS-40 "Lavina" riot control water cannon on BAZ-6953 chassis.

Internal Troops' equipment included:

Shoulder patches


Ministry of Internal Affairs

Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Internal Troops High Command

Moscow District

North-West District

North Caucasian District

Volga District

Ural District

Siberian District

Eastern District

Internal Security and Military Colleges

Separate Rapid Deployment Division (ODON)

Management of the Protection of Important Public Facilities and Special Cargo

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies.

  1. ↑ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 10.11.1998 г. № 1333 "Об учреждении геральдического знака — эмблемы органов внутренних дел Российской Федерации и внутренних войск Министерства внутренних дел Российской Федерации"". Kremlin.ru. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 31.12.2015 г. № 687 "Об учреждении флага внутренних войск Министерства внутренних дел Российской Федерации"" (PDF) (in Russian). Kremlin.ru. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  3. ↑ Национальная гвардия Владимира Путина — На базе подразделений МЧС, Внутренних войск, ВДВ и военной полиции может появиться новая силовая структураArchived July 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Корпус жандармов наименован Отдельным корпусом 29 января 1875 года.
  5. ↑ Organy I Voyska MVD Rossiiy, MVD Moskva 1996, p461.
  6. ↑ Organy I Voyska MVD Rossiiy, MVD Moskva 1996, p.332
  7. ↑ 'Rossiiskaya Federatsiya Federal'ni Zakon o vnutrennikh voiskakh Ministerstva vnutrennikh del Rossiiskoi Federatsii' of 25 December 1996.
  8. ↑ Neil Baumgardner, Russian Armed Forces Order of Battle, see bottom of page.

Further reading

External links

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