Internal Troops of Russia

The Internal Troops claimed descent from the Separate Corps of Gendarmes of the Russian Empire, which began forming on 27 March 1811 as gendarmerie units of the Imperial Russian Army. The Corps evolved into a uniformed security police agency responsible for law enforcement and state security for most of the 19th century and a small part of the 20th century. The Corps also fell under the command of the Ministry of Police of the Russian Empire and the Guberniya.

The modern Internal Troops of Russia were raised in 1918 by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, one of the main government bodies of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), as a paramilitary force attached to of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the interior ministry of the RSFSR. In 1919, it was reorganized into the Internal Security Forces (Voyska vnutrenney okhrany Respubliki, VOHR) and transferred to the Cheka, then in 1922 into the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) in 1922. The Cheka and OGPU were the secret police agencies of the RSFSR and later the Soviet Union.

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 Soviet regime.[8] 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[9] and give them to the Internal Affairs Ministry.

A group of Internal Troops of the MVD in 2007

Internal Troops conscripts in 2009

In 1990, the establishment of the Russian SFSR's MVD meant that the Internal Troops in the SFSR were now subordinated to the republican ministry. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the Internal Troops of the Soviet Union were reconstituted in the Russian Federation as the Internal Troops of Russia on 23 January 1992, with their last commander as the Soviet force, General-Polkovnik Vasily Savvin, becoming their first commander as a Russian one.[10][11][12] In 1997, 14 controllers of the Internal Troops were arrested for corruption and collaboration with a local organized crime group for having stolen more than 400 kg of gold from an industry of gold in Kasimov, during the Kasimov war.[13]

With the April 2016 foundation of the National Guard of Russia, the Internal Troops were removed from the MVD and dissolved, becoming the National Guard Forces (Войска национальной гвардии, Voyska Natsionalnoy Gvardi) which now reported directly to the Security Council of Russia and its chairman, the President of Russia.

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

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.[15]

Internal Troops districts:

• Northwestern District
  • 63rd, 33rd Operational Brigades of Special Designation ((OBrON) в/ч 3526, Lebyazhye); 124th VV Regiment, 614th VV Regiment Koryazhma; 2nd Marine VV Detachment; 110th Separate Special Motorised Police Battalion, St Petersburg; 2nd Separate Special Motorised Police Battalion St Petersburg; five other Special Motorised Police Battalions; 28th VV Special Purpose Detachment.
• Moscow Orshansko-Hingansky Order of the Red Banner District
  • Separate Operational Purpose Division (the "Dzerzhinsky Division") (Balashikha, in the east of Moscow)
  • 604th Red Banner Special Purpose Centre "Vityaz" ODON (V/Ch 3179); 12th, 55th, 95th VV Divisions; 551st, 687th, 503rd, 649th, 591st VV Regiments; one independent brigade of special designation, 21st at Sofrino, Moscow Oblast, established 10 October 1988 from 504th Training Regiment; eight independent VV battalions; 16 Special Motorised Police Battalions; three special purpose detachments including Zubr; other units.[16]
• North Caucasus District
  • 2nd Independent Special Purpose Division;[17] 47th, 49th Independent Mountain Warfare Brigade of VV (V/Ch 3748, Vladikavkaz), and 22nd (military unit 3642, Kalach-na-Donu), 46th Order of Zhukov Independent Brigade of Special Designation (V/Ch 3025, Groznyy), 50th Independent Brigade of Operational Designation (military unit 3660, Novocherkassk), 102nd Separate Brigade of Operational Designation (Makhachkala) (Military Unit Number 6752), 424th Independent Brigades of Operational Designation; five VV regiments; 140th VV Artillery Regiment; seven Special Motorised Police Battalions; 10 independent VV battalions; 358th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (military unit 6776, Grozny); 358th, 346th, 372nd, 398th VV Reconnaissance Battalions; special purpose detachments; other units.[16] The 674th Regiment of Operational Designation was later reported at Mozdok.[18]
• Privolzhsky District
  • 94th Red Banner Order of Zhukov Division, Sarov; 43rd Regiment VV, Sarov; another VV regiment, Sarov; 561st Regiment (Military Unit Number 3424, Dzerzhinsk); 34th Independent Operational Brigade (OBRON) (military unit 3671, Bogorodsk/Nizhny Novgorod); 86th Special Mobile Police Battalion, Kazan; 26th Special Purpose Detachment (ooSpN) "Bars" (military unit 5598, Kazan); 428th Separate Battalion (Military Unit 3730, Kazan); 79th Division (brigade(?)) (military unit 6676, Kirov); 739th, 488th, 419th, unidentified (Ufa), 113th (Samara), 738th (Cheboksary), unidentified (Volgograd) Special Motorised Police Battalions; 379th Independent Battalion (Zeleny, Military Unit 6819?);› 29th Special Purpose Detachment (ooSpN) named after. MM. Shaimuratov "Bulat" (military unit 6795, Ufa); 54th Independent Operational Brigade (Perm); 35th Independent Brigade (Samara); unidentified VV regiment, Tolyatti; 589th VV Regiment, Zarechny; 20th Special Purpose Detachment "Viking," Saratov.[19][20]
• Ural District
  • 93rd VV Division, Chelyabinsk, 42nd, 545th, 546th, 562nd Regiments, 95th VV Regiment (Kopeiisk), 23rd VV Special Purpose Detachment Mechel, Chelyabinsk, 928th Ind VV Battalion (Prezerny), 96th VV Division (Kalinovka-1), 543rd VV Regiment (Novouralsk), 18th VV Regiment (Nizhny Tagil), 138th VV Regiment (Lesnoi), 12th VV Special Purpose Detachment Ural, Nizhny Tagil, 620th Regiment (military unit 3474, Yekaterinburg); 395th Ind Mobile Police Battalion, Yekaterinberg, 131st Ind Mobile Police Battalion, Persyabinsk.
• Siberian District
  • 42nd, 82nd VV Brigades, 91st Red Banner Order of Suvorov VV Brigade (в/ч 7486, Красноярск), other, smaller units.
• Eastern District

Military units under direct subordination:

• The Central Communications
• Engineering Center
• Intelligence Directorate Internal Troops under the Intelligence Chief-Deputy Chief of Staff of the Internal Troops.

• BTR-80
• BTR-70
• BMP-2
• BRDM-2
• GAZ-2330 Tigr
• BPM-97
• GAZ Vodnik
• Ural-4320
• UAZ-469

• A wide variety of Soviet- and Russian-made small arms and crew-served weapons.