Riot police and teams in the National Guard. Rosguard: without money and discipline

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. The decision to transfer military personnel of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, as well as soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs units - SOBR and OMON - to the National Guard troops will be made only after the federal law “On the Troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation” comes into force. A law enforcement source reported this to TASS.

“The decision on the transfer of soldiers of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as SOBR and OMON, will be made only from the moment the relevant law comes into force. The preparatory period is currently underway,” the agency’s interlocutor said, noting that recertification is not provided for military personnel of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“They will be transferred to the National Guard automatically,” the source explained.

According to him, the monetary allowance for the National Guard soldiers has not yet been determined. Currently, in the Internal Troops it ranges from 16 to 90 thousand rubles. “In the National Guard, maybe everything will be different, or maybe they will leave a similar monetary allowance. As for benefits, they have not yet been determined, since the document has not yet been adopted and there are no clarifications on this yet. In any case “, the social security of the National Guard soldiers, both those transferred from the Internal Troops and from the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will not worsen,” the agency’s interlocutor said.

In turn, the head of the press service of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Vasily Panchenkov, said that the draft decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the regulation “On the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation”, published the day before, aroused interest. “It has aroused interest, it is being read and studied, but it is premature to comment on anything,” he said.

New form and strength

“The guards, of course, will have a new uniform, emblem, banner. It will take time to develop them. It is expected that the new uniform will appear by the end of the year,” the source added.

The number of guardsmen will be approved by the President of the Russian Federation. “According to preliminary calculations, it could be about 300 thousand people, 170 thousand of them are those who are currently serving in the Internal Troops, more than 20 thousand are riot police, about 8-9 thousand are SOBR. To them we must add about 80 thousand employees of private security, as well as the licensing and permitting department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but they are not numerous,” the source said.

“As for the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Okhrana of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, its founder will change; it will become the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation,” he added.

Bill

On April 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a Decree on the creation of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops and submitted to the State Duma the bill “On the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation” and amendments to legislation related to its adoption.

According to the bill, among the main tasks are participation together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs in protecting public order and ensuring public safety, participation in the fight against terrorism and in ensuring the legal regime of the counter-terrorism operation, participation in the fight against extremism and participation in the territorial defense of the Russian Federation. In addition, its main tasks include the protection of important government facilities and special cargo, assistance to border authorities in protecting the state border, and implementation of state control over compliance with legislation in the field of arms trafficking and private security activities.

According to the draft Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the regulation "On the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation", the new federal service will have a short name - Rosguard. It will include OMON detachments, SOBR, private security units, FSUE Okhrana, the Special Purpose Center for Rapid Reaction Forces and Aviation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The new federal service will provide state control (supervision) over compliance with legislation in the field of arms trafficking and in the field of private security activities, as well as the implementation of private security.

The transfer of special police units - OMON and SOBR - to the Russian Guard caused a number of conflicts between the fighters of these structures and the leadership of the “guardsmen”. They believe that the norms and regulations adopted by the military have led to the fact that special forces officers began to devote less time to combat and physical training. Some special forces even wrote an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him to influence this situation. The leadership of the Russian Guard, in turn, notes that it will not ignore the discontent of the fighters, but will try to find a compromise.

“They forced us to walk into the dining room in formation”

The merger of the former special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - OMON and SOBR - with the troops of the Russian Guard (FSVNG) is not without problems. As it became known, some experienced employees of these structures are dissatisfied with a number of innovations that appeared after the transfer of special forces to the guard.

In particular, one of the officers of the Ryazan SOBR wrote an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Commander-in-Chief of the FSVNG Viktor Zolotov. It was received by the electronic reception of the Russian head of state and is at the disposal of Gazeta.Ru.

“We also continue to work with the operatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so why burden the already loaded paper bureaucracy with additional approvals through fifth hands? What kind of efficiency can we talk about when, not so long ago, being part of the criminal police, we went out on the first call. The specificity of operational units is that they are needed here and now, and not sometime in a week, or even two,” writes the author.

This is not the only thing that angers the SOBR soldier. He is dissatisfied with the fact that the unit’s soldiers are sometimes forced to clean up the territory, since “with the transfer to the FSVNG units, janitors and cleaners disappeared in all units. Probably, guided by the logic that we, like soldiers, must spend the park and maintenance day from morning to night. But the question arises: when to engage in combat training?

I didn’t come to the special unit to wash floors and sweep streets,” the appeal states.

This letter is not the only manifestation of dissatisfaction with the special forces. Gazeta.Ru has at its disposal a copy of a written appeal to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Guard, Zolotov, this time from a riot police officer. He also believes that after the transfer of this unit to the National Guard, many new shortcomings were revealed there.

“Combat training is carried out on paper. The entire service is conducted according to the principle of internal troops (on their basis the Russian Guard was created - “Gazeta.Ru”). All the best that has been developed in the Ministry of Internal Affairs is cut off and not accepted.

The service is based on show and constant reports, which distracts from service and combat missions. Initiative, the ability to take responsibility and make decisions are eradicated by all means. We often hear from leaders from the internal troops that the effectiveness of our units is low, while the internal troops are positioned as professionals, better than us in everything,” writes the author of the appeal.

He further complains that during a business trip to the North Caucasus District, his unit lived in tents of 15-20 people without basic living conditions; also, according to the author of the letter, the special forces had their mobile phones taken away from them.

“We were forced to beat down the beds, straighten the pillows, were forbidden to sit on the beds during the day, were forced to line up 10 times a day, and go to the dining room in formation. In general, they treated us like conscripts. Only the “conscripts” are 30-35 years old and most of them are in the rank of senior officers,” the letter states.

The wipers were found, but the sediment remained

The press service of the Central Command of the Russian National Guard reported that these appeals did not go unnoticed by the leadership of the FSVNG. “The leadership of the Russian Guard pays special attention to the moral and psychological climate in the OMON and SOBR units and does not ignore a single appeal, including an anonymous one, from employees of the above-mentioned units. Based on the requests specified in the request dated June 27 and August 21, 2017, comprehensive internal inspections were carried out to the director of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation,” the press service stated.

The command of the Central District of the National Guard troops held a meeting with the SOBR officer from Ryazan and discussed in a calm atmosphere all the facts indicated in his letter, the press service added.

“The author was given comprehensive explanations about the decisions made by the district command. All of them were adopted in accordance with the governing documents and, above all, in the interests of the service and safety of the unit’s personnel. At the same time, they absolutely do not have a negative impact on the efficiency of the operational and service activities of the unit. At the same time, the opinion of the employees was taken into account, and the district command decided to consider proposals for introducing into the staff of the territorial department workers responsible for cleaning the premises, including SOBR and OMON,” noted the FSVNG press service.

As a source familiar with the situation explained, there would be no negative consequences for the officer after his letter: “He was told that there were no complaints against him in his service.” The press service of the Russian Guard also emphasized that the author of the other appeal is not and has never been an employee of the special forces units of this department. The press service did not explain who he was and what prompted him in this case to write a letter addressed to the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Zolotov.

In other regions, special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs encountered similar problems when transferring to the guard. For example, a video recently appeared on Youtube where a man in the uniform of a Russian National Guard serviceman explains in detail to clearly middle-aged men in camouflage how to make beds. Those standing in the front rows listen very carefully, and those standing behind make fun of the situation.

A source of Gazeta.Ru, familiar with the situation, explained that the events shown in the video took place recently in the training of machine gunners of the Russian Guard in Omsk, where about 30 riot policemen arrived from other regions, and among them were mainly employees with many years of service experience. “The classes on making beds were conducted for them by the major, the battalion commander,” explained Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor.

The soldiers burst into "Thunder"

“After moving to the Russian Guard, there are many shortcomings in the riot police. But among them there are several critical ones. The most important thing is the red tape when making decisions about the use of our unit. In order for an operative to “call us”, he must write a statement addressed to the head of the regional police, after his signature, the head of the department where this operative serves must go to bow to the territorial department of the Russian Guard, where he must sit in line at the reception of a native of the internal troops, who may not know all the specifics of the work of riot police.

Then you have to explain to him the essence of the task, and then it turns out that something is written in the papers that is not military-style and everything needs to be redone. It is not surprising that the detectives from the criminal investigation department prefer not to contact us again. The criminal won’t wait,” said Andrei, a 39-year-old riot policeman from one of the detachments in the Sverdlovsk region.

According to him, the FSVNG leadership also pays increased attention to cleaning the unit’s territory, which often comes at the expense of combat training. “For some reason we were forced to keep a book of those who left the riot police unit without permission. The men here are over 30 years old, where will they run from their place of work?” asks Andrey.

“I don’t want to throw mud at the Internal Troops; there are a lot of decent people there who carried out combat missions, including in the North Caucasus. But the leadership of the National Guard, from my point of view, has a poor understanding of the tasks of the riot police, and therefore is trying to make soldiers out of us. The situation with physical training is also extremely poor, at least in my squad. Because of all the innovations, they began to allocate less time to it. In addition, sparring between fighters was canceled - but this is the basis for us! But the management considered that this would lead to an increase in injuries,” the special forces soldier said.

Including this, many riot policemen joined the “Grom” detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which appeared in the police force after the disbandment of the Federal Drug Control Service and the transfer of some of the fighters to the police. It was created for power support of operational services. According to Andrei, in the future, riot police may face a shortage of experienced personnel, and there will remain young fighters who do not know how to think outside the box, are less prepared, but will be absolutely loyal to the leadership of the Russian Guard.

However, some special forces have a different point of view. “I didn’t notice any special changes. The drill guys were already intimidating me. I usually answer that I won’t march until I want to. It is better to ask someone from management about changes. They seem to have added a significant amount of documents. I tend to characterize people who don't like something as whiners. And recommend looking for Sobrov’s salary in the national economy. In addition to the mentioned salary, it seems to me that we should not forget, first of all, about the oath that was given by both the military and the police,” explained Victor, a SOBR soldier from Ryazan.

A source familiar with the situation said that the conflict between a number of OMON and SOBR officers and the commanders of the Russian Guard has several reasons. “Both the Internal Troops and the above units were recently part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The leadership of the ministry was, as a rule, civilian and often did not support the initiatives of the command staff of the internal troops. In a number of regions, the heads of departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs believed that the “veshniks,” as they were called, should not be listened to, although this is unfair: soldiers of the Internal Troops, for example, serve and served in crowded places, helped police officers in the metro, in a word, did their job and did it well.

With the transfer of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the guard, military leaders introduced certain elements of army order. But not all “civilians” liked this,” the interlocutor said. According to him, OMON and SOBR fighters will soon become military personnel, but for now they continue to carry special ranks of police officers.

“This is also a cause for concern among many special forces: they think that after this they will have more responsibilities and fewer rights. But they won’t be able to resign from the Russian Guard so easily, since the status of a military personnel imposes a number of restrictions on the timing and possibility of dismissal,” the source said.

He noted that now there is a “grinding in” of former police officers who transferred to the Russian Guard to new tasks and requirements. “It’s too early to draw conclusions, we’ll see what happens in six months or a year, when they all become military personnel. It is clear that there will be negativity, those who are happy with everything will not write appeals, they will calmly carry out their service. It’s the dissatisfied who write,” he concluded.

How riot police and SOBR screwed up the National Guard. November 10th, 2016

Dear Mikhail Petrovich!

We ask you to help prevent the collapse of the legendary OMON and SOBR units, which have been guarding order for many years. Team members have already repeatedly turned to your trade union for help. We hope that this time we will be heard through your activities.
And the story is this. In April of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin, by decree, created a new law enforcement agency in the country - the Russian Guard. A respected, authoritative leader and professional in his field, General Viktor Vasilyevich Zolotov, was appointed commander. The ranks of the guard also included special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Initially, OMON and SOBR officers were proud to be part of such a force structure and perceived the transition with enthusiasm and hope for changes for the better. After all, since tsarist times, the guard has personified strength, valor and honor, protecting the interests of citizens and the state.
However, the joy from these innovations was short-lived and ended when appointments of leaders to territorial bodies began. At the moment we are talking about management in Moscow.

The OMON and SOBR units have been going back decades. Of course, over the years, our own principles and traditions have developed, which are supported not only by the personnel, but also by the leadership of the detachments.
With the appointment of Vsevolod Ovsyannikov and Vyacheslav Pytkov (OMON and SOBR) as commanders, the soldiers and officers had confidence that these traditions would not only be maintained but also multiplied.
These are respected commanders who have gone through all levels of service in our special forces, who have repeatedly participated in combat operations; they are a shining example of courage and professionalism for all of us. But... There is also a higher leadership in the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard in Moscow, with whose arrival everything has changed.

The National Guard is created on the basis of the Internal Troops. With great respect to the experts, on what basis? Territorial? Spiritual? Which? According to the situation currently taking place in our units, it is understood as follows: Soldier, forget about everything, now you are in the army!!!
Forget about what, about the spirit and traditions, about the combat path of the units? The opinion of the leadership of the Main Directorate is that we came to them and now we owe it to them for the rest of our lives.

There are many sayings about how you shouldn’t go to Tula with your own samovar or enter a monastery with your own charter. But Colonel Viktor Derkach does not know this. He decided to come to the riot police with a charter and turn the special unit into a construction battalion.
Each member of the detachment has served in the army and knows first-hand what the hardships and deprivations of military service are. Everyone wishing to continue serving in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation signed contracts.
The rest chose a different path. We went to serve in the special forces. But, unfortunately, after working for ten years, we are returning to square one. And there is no need to confuse a conscript soldier with a special forces soldier, who has more than one business trip to the Caucasus and more than one arrest of a dangerous criminal behind him.

Colonel Derkach, who is now acting as head of the Moscow Department of the Russian Guard, felt omnipotent in this position. Instead of solving the real existing problems of the units that arose in connection with the transition from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the new department, he issues inadequate orders and instructions. Apparently everything that is written below is a priority task!

Any movement on the parade ground was prohibited. Only march or run. Or as part of a unit. Although riot police officers at the base in Strogino have been moving freely around the parade ground for more than 15 years, this did not in any way affect the quality of performance of official tasks.

Tags of the established type must be placed on all premises - red with bronze letters. All leaders from squad commanders to battalions are now puzzled not by the organization of service and preparation for it, but where and how to print these tags.

All uniforms should be stored in identical cases, and shoes - in special identical bags for shoes. Each department has metal cabinets for equipment and uniforms, where employees always carefully stored their property without any covers and nothing happened to it for so many years. And it turns out we have to buy the covers at our own expense?!

Remove flowers, calendars (!!!) and equipment that is not on the department’s balance sheet from office premises. Unfortunately, there is not enough funding for all office equipment, and some employees who take a responsible approach to performing their tasks, whenever possible, perform work on personal computer equipment.
This never interfered, but only facilitated the work process. How calendars interfered with Derkach - no one still understands, and we have not yet been taught to determine the day of the week by the sun,

Within the established time limits, OMON and SOBR officers were required to visit two museums and a concert of the song and dance ensemble of the Internal Troops, and the commanders were required to report on the activities carried out.
In accordance with Derkach’s order, it is necessary to visit the specified places within 10 days from December 15 to 25, and 100% of the personnel must attend excursions and concerts! That is, people for such an important task must be recalled from vacation!
Not to mention the fact that employees who already work almost seven days a week will be required to attend cultural events on their days off. And what good will be the culture that they are trying to impose by force?
What kind of responsibility will follow in the event of failure to comply with such an order of national importance is scary to even think about! And Colonel Viktor Derkach himself, together with riot policemen, will probably serve in the protection of public order during the cultural recreation of the soldiers.

This may seem like complete nonsense to some, but the destruction of the national idea and spirit comes precisely from the useless, incomprehensible innovations of incompetent leaders. By the way, the leadership of the State Administration is already demonstrating its competence at mass protests in the capital.

The leadership of the riot police provided a base for the deployment of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard in Moscow. And he probably already regretted it. Here we must pay tribute to Deinichenko. The riot police headquarters were evicted from the renovated offices, freeing up these premises for the main administration.
Where did the riot police officers go? They will be comfortable in the basement, in the production building, and maybe even on the roof - this is a universal special forces, according to Derkach.
The personnel department employees were packed like sardines into a barrel in one office along with personal files - about fifteen people. You walk in and are amazed - try to find your personnel officer in this confusion and resolve service issues! If they do this to the headquarters, then what should the soldiers (combat soldiers, according to the new leadership) expect?

Why does Derkach need to think about his personnel? The main thing is to line up on time, report and draw a map. This is his priority.

Here's another case. The law prohibits smoking on premises. On the territory of the base there are specially designated areas for smokers outside. But the law is not written to Derkach. He smokes right at his workplace.
Some squad members also don’t mind smoking at work, but for them it will most likely end in dismissal.

Now we are beginning to envy the SOBR and OMON officers, who probably foresaw that with such authorized commanders the spirit of the police would be suppressed, and did not join the Russian Guard, remaining in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It seems that after everything that begins to happen in the units, the shortage will only grow, and accordingly people will be removed from the weekend, as is happening now. Just how to give away days off, or the soldiers don’t need them. How long will all this continue???

With this approach to management, the Russian Guard in Moscow will soon be left without professionals from the OMON and SOBR. Our units have repeatedly proven their loyalty to the oath and professionalism, fighting lawlessness and disruption of order.
And if we stand on the threshold of the Ukrainian scenario, who will protect the country? Are they really the young conscript soldiers that the unbridled personnel policy of all sorts of jerks is turning us into? And most importantly, will the person be able to give an order?

Dear Mikhail Petrovich!

The Federal Service of National Guard Troops (FSVNG, Rosgvardia) has begun a large-scale reform of special forces. As the department told Izvestia, the plan is to gather SOBR, OMON, as well as individual reconnaissance detachments (ORO) and special purpose detachments (OSpN) into the directorate of special forces (USpN) of the Russian Guard.

The new departments will be organized on a territorial basis and will be responsible for certain regions of the country. The USpN will be linked directly to the leadership of the Russian Guard, or more precisely, to the Main Directorate of the Special Forces of the FSVNG, formed last spring. In addition to law enforcement units, it is planned to include aviation in the USPN: special-purpose air squads, which were previously transferred to the department from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to military experts, the concentration of the special forces of the Russian Guard in a single fist will increase its mobility and effectiveness. Special forces will be able to redeploy at lightning speed to any point in the country to maintain law and order and conduct special operations. The opinions of the employees and military personnel of the special forces of the Russian Guard interviewed by Izvestia were divided: some believe that the new structure will solve the problems of interaction with the operational structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, others call the USPN an unnecessary bureaucratic superstructure.

From riot police to intelligence

In 2016, special forces units of the police and Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which differ greatly in the level of training and types of tasks solved, joined the Russian Guard. In the Russian Guard, special forces are conventionally divided into police and military. The military unit includes 19 separate reconnaissance detachments and special forces units, as well as the legendary 604th Red Banner Special Purpose Center “Vityaz”. Military special forces are trained to detect illegal armed groups and destroy their leaders. The number of detachments is not disclosed by the department.

The police unit includes 123 riot police units and 82 SOBR units. More than 20 thousand people serve in them. Riot police officers are involved in ensuring security during public events. SOBRs were created to fight organized crime. Both of them have been successfully used more than once in military anti-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus.

Now these units will be brought together under one roof.

“All changes are designed to increase the efficiency of the power component of the Russian Guard,” the FSVNG told Izvestia.

The first control has already been created

The reform is already underway. The first experimental USPN of the Russian Guard was created in the Moscow region. It is located on the territory of the Dzerzhinsky operational division. The new structure included SOBR from Dolgoprudny and riot police units stationed in Shchelkovo, Sergiev Posad, and Podolsk. The National Guard confirmed the creation of the new center to Izvestia, but declined to comment further.

It is planned that the second USpN will appear in Pyatigorsk this year. It will include the 17th Special Forces detachment, parts of the 98th Special Motorized Regiment and riot police. From Moscow, the work of such USSpN will be supervised by the Main Directorate of USSpN of the Russian Guard.

The issue of optimal structure of services and units of the Russian Guard, including special forces departments, is currently being discussed, the FSVNG told Izvestia. - By the end of 2018, it is planned to have four departments, each of which will cover a specific territorial-geographical area.

After the reform, the FSVNG special forces will become ultra-mobile. For this purpose, the USPN, if necessary, will be assigned aviation units of the Russian Guard on a permanent or temporary basis. In the event of a threat, special forces must be anywhere in the country within a few hours. Previously, the Special Forces Center for Rapid Reaction Forces and Aviation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which included SOBR “Lynx” and OMON “Zubr”, operated according to this scheme.

Legal difficulties

When creating the USPN, the leadership of the Russian Guard already had to face legal problems. Special Forces and Oro units are staffed by military personnel who are subject to army legislation. They serve according to military regulations. The labor activities of SOBR and OMON officers are regulated by the Law “On Police”.

Now the employees of these detachments are waiting to become military personnel,” Mikhail Pashkin, chairman of the interregional Moscow police union, told Izvestia. - After signing the contracts, they will begin to live according to military regulations. Before leaving the unit, they will have to inform the commander. The command in these units will be able to introduce a barracks situation.

Telephone interaction

Riot police officers say that there are already problems with interdepartmental cooperation between the Russian Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In particular, this concerns force support for police operations.

Before the reform, the head of a police unit could personally call the commander of the SOBR and OMON and within five minutes agree to go for detention, said Mikhail Pashkin. - Now we need to ask for support from the Russian Guard and wait for approval.

Former deputy commander-in-chief of the Internal Troops of Russia, Lieutenant General Pyotr Rovensky, told Izvestia that issues of interaction are already being resolved at the level of operational duty officers of the two departments, and this takes minutes.

According to the officers, the USPN will primarily have dispatch functions - accept applications from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation or the police to conduct special operations and dispatch the appropriate forces.

According to riot police officers, cooperation can be improved. To do this, the leadership of the new USPN needs to include employees with experience in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They know the specifics of police special operations and all the nuances of interaction with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee.

Locals fear “headquarters superstructures”

During the reform, the leadership of the Russian Guard will have to solve several difficult problems. One of the OMON officers told Izvestia that the emergence of new departments could affect the interaction and controllability of units.

The goal of any reform should be to increase efficiency, he noted. - There is a management system for SOBR and OMON, which has already proven its worth. Is it worth changing anything? The emergence of a superstructure in the form of the leadership of the USpN will inevitably affect the efficiency of decision-making.

Special forces officers interviewed by Izvestia noted that combining OMON and SOBR into one structure could lead to problems. If only because the status, level of education and special training of the employees of these detachments are too different. SOBRs have always been staffed by officers, usually with the rank of major or lieutenant colonel. Riot police are mostly warrant officers. The unification of SOBR "Lynx" and OMON "Zubr" into a single structure precisely for this reason created many problems that affected the interchangeability of these units.

The reform will increase the mobility of SOBR, OMON and military special forces into a single structure of the Russian Guard, as well as equalize the level of training of fighters from different units.

Now hundreds of OMON, SOBR and military reconnaissance units of the Russian Guard are scattered throughout the country, military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia. - The new USPN will become mobile forces. They will be able to quickly and effectively redeploy to different areas and solve a wide range of tasks there: combat riots, detain criminals and terrorists, and carry out special operations.

According to the expert, in the new centers these units will undergo a unified combat training program, using the same equipment and according to uniform departmental standards.

Now the police are partially financed from regional budgets,” said Vladislav Shurygin. “Uniforms and auxiliary equipment are purchased with this money. As a result, the SOBR and OMON detachments, although they moved to the Russian Guard, still do not look uniform. The differences are especially pronounced in equipment and uniform. Riot police from different regions may look completely different from each other.

The most difficult thing for military reconnaissance officers to find a place in the Russian Guard. Now, unlike the 1990s and early 2000s, there are no numerous militant gangs in the North Caucasus. And the fight against terrorism is the responsibility of the FSB.

However, the presence of units with different specializations with a competent approach will allow the special forces of the Russian Guard to solve almost any problem - from protecting public events to searching for particularly dangerous gang groups in forests.

OMON and SOBR officers of the Russian Guard will transfer to military service until the end of January next year, deputy director of the department, Colonel General Sergei Melikov, told reporters on Wednesday.

According to the military leader, the formation of National Guard troops takes place in three stages. During the first, territorial governing bodies of the Russian Guard were created in all regions of Russia.

At the second stage, which will be completed by August 31, 2017, it is planned to complete the formation of groups in the regions of Russia to ensure the fulfillment of “legally assigned tasks and ensuring public safety, including during the Confederations Cup.”

The latter will be held in Russia in the summer of 2017 under the auspices of the International Football Federation (FIFA) with the participation of the national teams of Russia, Germany, Portugal, Australia, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand and Cameroon. The competition is considered to be a kind of rehearsal for the World Cup in the host country.

“During the third stage, until January 31, 2018, the main task of the National Guard troops will be to transfer OMON and SOBR police officers to military service and carry out joint activities with other law enforcement agencies to prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup,” Melikov explained.

According to the Regulations on the Federal Service of National Guard Troops (FSVNG), signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last fall, the National Guard can have on its staff employees with both military and police ranks, as well as state civil servants.

Thus, the OMON, SOBR, and licensing and permitting service officers who came to the Russian Guard from the Ministry of Internal Affairs retained their special ranks, while the soldiers and officers of the Internal Troops retained their military ranks.

Even disciplinary responsibility for guardsmen, according to the document, is divided between two charters: the Disciplinary Charter of the Armed Forces and the Disciplinary Charter of the Internal Affairs Bodies.

In February, Melikov clarified that the process of transferring riot police and SOBR officers would take the entire 2017. According to him, the procedure is complicated, in particular, by the fact that when transferring former police officers, they must undergo a military medical commission.

At the same time, the process should not affect the social guarantees of employees, advisor to the head of the Russian Guard Alexander Khinshtein explained to Gazeta.Ru.

“The director of the Russian Guard, Viktor Vasilyevich Zolotov, has clearly set the task that police officers, when transferring to military service, should not lose either money or social guarantees. Today, they are subject to all the norms of the current police legislation, including social guarantees, cash payments, bonuses, medical care, and so on. Today we are actively working on rulemaking so that no one loses anything,” adviser to the head of the Russian Guard Alexander Khinshtein explained to Gazeta.Ru.

According to the presidential decree on the creation of the Russian Guard, OMON and SOBR officers “are accepted for military service in the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation in 2018 in the prescribed manner and are assigned the appropriate military ranks.”

The purpose of the transition of riot police and special forces to military service is the unification of fighters and officers of former police special forces and special forces of the Internal Troops. According to the country's leadership, this will make the interaction of the relevant units closer, and will also allow officers and soldiers to move from one unit to another.

Among the additional opportunities that former police officers will automatically receive upon becoming military personnel, in particular, is the choice between a preferential military mortgage or allocated ready-made housing instead of a one-time allowance for improving housing conditions.

Now the Russian Guard includes troops (former units and formations of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), as well as regional detachments of SOBR and OMON.

According to an informed interlocutor of Gazeta.Ru in the security forces, the total staffing level of the OMON and SOBR detachments transferred to the guard alone totals more than 45 thousand soldiers. Their integration into the National Guard troops will increase the number of the latter by almost 30%. In addition, the department was transferred to the private security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Special Purpose Center for Rapid Reaction Forces and Aviation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Okhrana.

The service, headed by Putin’s former bodyguard, Army General Zolotov, reports personally to the president. The leadership of the National Guard will discuss the procedure for interaction with colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs with them independently.

At a board meeting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in March, the head of state said that the capabilities of the police department should increase through deepening coordination with the Russian National Guard, and not through “the growth of [its own] security component.”

As a source of Gazeta.Ru said earlier, there was talk of forming the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ own special forces from former employees of the “Grom” special forces of the abolished Federal Drug Control Service.

Starting Monday, a sudden check of combat readiness was announced in the National Guard troops, which is being carried out for the first time since the creation of the National Guard. The decision to check was made personally by Zolotov.

The activities began in the Central Federal District and will continue in other federal districts, according to a message published on Monday. Command and control bodies, formations, military units and subunits are put on combat readiness. A special control system has been deployed to manage forces and assets. At the central command post of the National Guard troops, “gathering, summarizing, analyzing the current situation and monitoring the actions of formations and military units are carried out around the clock.”

“We are working on issues of testing readiness to fight sabotage and reconnaissance groups, terrorist and extremist groups,” the Russian National Guard clarified.

In addition, during the inspection, the Russian Guard intends to work out mechanisms to strengthen the protection of particularly important state energy, industry and transport facilities. In accordance with the plans, to strengthen their security, reserves were created from special forces units, ready for immediate action.

“A set of measures was carried out to counter terrorist threats near objects guarded by troops of the Russian National Guard; tactical and special exercises were planned with military units with access to training grounds and training centers,” the Russian Guard added.

During the exercises, “operational, special forces and intelligence units of the Russian Guard, using special and armored equipment, practice practical actions to neutralize mock terrorists.”

In February, the head of the contractual and legal department of the Russian Guard, Alexander Shkolnikov, said that the Russian Guard was preparing a bill to tighten liability for non-compliance with the rules of anti-terrorist protection of objects of national importance.

According to the Regulations on the Russian Guard, the department created in the spring concentrated in its hands full control over the sphere of security services, including state protection of especially important facilities, communications and facilities in the fuel and energy industry, as well as over the circulation of civilian weapons.