Russian Guard - Rosguard - History

By May 2022 some Rosguards refused to participate in the special operation of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine. The decision on the early dismissal of 115 military personnel of the military unit, which is part of the National Guard, is legal. The reason for the dismissal is non-compliance with the terms of the contract by the National Guard. On May 26, the Nalchik garrison military court recognized the decision as legal. The court came to the conclusion that, as part of their unit, they arbitrarily refused to carry out their official assignment and collectively departed on their own initiative to a permanent duty station. The arguments filed by them then, after their dismissal, the court considered the claim untenable and refused to satisfy it. The court also pointed out that the actions and decisions of military officials disputed by the dismissed National Guard were recognized as lawful. So far, the decision of the court has not entered into force. The court interrogated almost all the plaintiffs: “They all gave essentially the same testimony: they did not refuse to participate in a special military operation.” The position of the defense was that “on February 28, the command of the unit gave the personnel the right to choose whether to continue participating in a special military operation or to leave for a temporary deployment point. They chose the latter." This is not the first such case since the beginning of the special military operation . At the end of March, the head of the Agora human rights group, Pavel Chikov, reported that 12 Rosgvardia officers from the Krasnodar OMON refused to go to Ukraine to participate in a special operation. According to him, they considered the order of their superiors illegal - none of them had any foreign passports or intentions to leave Russia, while their official duties were limited to the territory of the Russian Federation. The fighters were eventually returned to Krasnodar, they were subjected to an official check and dismissed from service. And on May 6, the Vladikavkaz garrison military court also began considering a lawsuit filed by 25 National Guardsmen who were fired for refusing to participate in a special operation on the territory of Ukraine. The defendant in the case is the commander of the North Caucasus District of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation and military unit 3724. Daily losses Russia provoked Vladimir Putin’s dissatisfaction with the war, the investigative journalist Cristo Crocev posted on Twitter. Citing independent sources, the Russian Security Service FSB (KGB’s successor) arrested Roman Gavrilo, deputy commander of the Russian National Guard. “Independent sources say that the deputy commander of the Russian police force, General Roman Gavrilov (part of the Russian Federation’s internal army that suffered heavy casualties in Ukraine), was arrested by the FSB. Gavrilov previously served in presidential custody. Putin’s personal defense“, Grozev insisted 17 March 2022.

The reasons for Gavrilov’s arrest have not yet been announced, but according to some sources, the Russian officer was arrested. “Military casualties due to leak”. Two other sources point to what Gavrilov did at the same time “Wasteful use of fuel”As a result of several Russian tanks “In many videos of Ukrainian forces they are ‘in the middle of the road’ from the fuel. “While it is difficult to predict exactly what the disbandment / restructuring of the top of the security forces will lead to, one thing is clear: Putin undoubtedly acknowledges the crisis that this move is going through.

The conduct of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is slowing down only because representatives of nationalist groups are hiding behind the backs of civilians, but the troops of the National Guard and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation "are moving towards their intended goal step by step." This was announced on 13 March 2022 by the director of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation Viktor Zolotov after the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

"I would like to inform you and all the parishioners present here that the troops of the National Guard, together with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, are fulfilling all the tasks assigned during this military counter-operation. And I want to say that, yes, not everything is going as fast as we would like, but this just because the Nazis hide behind the backs of civilians, behind the backs of the elderly, women, children, arrange firing positions in kindergartens, schools, residential buildings," Zolotov said, referring to Patriarch Kirill, who, after the service, presented the Russian Guard with the Avgustovskaya icon of the Mother of God.

Patriarch Kirill, speaking about the transferred icon, said that the August image of the Mother of God was revealed in August 1914, when the First World War began. "One of our soldiers, part of whom was stationed on the territory of modern Poland, saw the Mother of God at night, coming with a baby through the clouds. <...> The next day, a dangerous offensive began, and the soldier remained alive," the patriarch said.

The Russian National Guard and military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces successfully repelled the attack of Ukrainian neo-Nazis on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, the press service of the department reported 16 March 2022. "The battalion-tactical group of the Russian Guard, together with the military personnel of the RF Armed Forces, successfully repelled the attack of neo-Nazis who were trying to recapture the station, and did not allow any casualties among the personnel," the message said.

The first paramilitary law enforcement agency in Russia was the oprichnina, formed in 1565 by Tsar Ivan the Terrible and disbanded in 1584. In Russian historiography, the oprichnina is called part of the state policy in the Russian state from 1565 to 1572, consisting in the implementation of extraordinary repressive measures, confiscation of the property of the ruling estate and lands in favor of the state, the fight against the alleged treason among the boyars and princes nobles, which consisted in the use of mass executions. In the Great Russian Encyclopedia, the oprichnina is considered as a period in the history of Russia when the functioning of the autocratic power took the form of terrorist despotism. The Moscow executions of 1570-1571 were the culmination of oprichnina terror.

The oprichnina was the period of Russian history between 1565 and 1572 during which Tsar Ivan the Terrible instituted a domestic policy of secret police, mass repressions, public executions, and confiscation of land from Russian aristocrats. (The very word “oprichnina” (“opryshnina”) comes from the ancient Russian - “special.” In the 14th – 15th centuries, “Oprishnina” was called the state inheritance allocated to members of the Grand Dynasty with territory, troops, and institution). Introduction of the oprichnina in the 16th century. Ivan the Terrible was caused by the difficulties of the internal situation in the country, including the contradiction between the political consciousness of the boyars, certain circles of the highest bureaucracy (clerks), the higher clergy, who wanted independence, on the one hand and, on the other, the desire of Ivan the Terrible for unlimited autocracy based on based on the latter’s firm faith in personal God-likeness and God's chosenness, and who set the goal of bringing reality into line with his own convictions. The stubbornness of Ivan the Terrible in achieving absolute power, not constrained by law, custom, or even common sense and considerations of state good, was reinforced by his sharp temper. Then, for a long time, there were no internal troops in the country, and only during the time of the Russian Empire did garrison troops appear, and after it, in 1811, the Internal Guard. From this moment, the official appearance of internal garrison troops in the country is counted. Then, on April 28 ( May 10 ), 1827 the service was transformed into the Separate Corps of Gendarmes of the Russian Imperial Army, which, in the future, came under the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire.

At the beginning of 1811, by several decrees of Emperor Alexander I, local garrison companies and county teams subordinate to the civilian authorities, and who performed the duties of protecting internal order, were transferred from civilian jurisdiction to military subordination. On their basis, in the provincial cities of European Russia, internal garrison battalions were formed , brought into brigades of the internal guard, which, in turn, were united in the okrug of the internal guard. Adjutant General E.F. Komarovsky led the internal guard.

In the Russian Empire, battalions of internal guards (from 1864 - local troops, which included guards from 1886) were engaged in the capture and escort of criminals, law enforcement at fairs, etc. . After the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War, the Red Guard was reorganized into the Convoy Guard of the NKVD of the USSR, which was later reformed into the Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. After the October Revolution, in 1918, by order of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the guards were reorganized, and a year later a decision was made to unite all auxiliary troops and create the internal security forces of the RSFSR.

On September 1, 1920, they were included in the Internal Service Troops as independent guards and guards, and on September 17, they were equated with military personnel of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. The formation of troops took place on a draft basis.

Subsequently, the internal troops were reorganized several times, while remaining subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On September 1, 1939, the Law on General Military Duty was adopted, in which they were called part of the Armed Forces of the USSR.

By 1941, internal troops were part of the NKVD of the USSR. After World War II, they were additionally charged with guarding research institutions, enterprises of the nuclear industry and rocket science. They continued to carry out tasks to protect public order, important state facilities, correctional labor institutions, to protect and escort convicts, and to protect the population from natural and technological disasters. In the mid-1990s, the rights of military units to protect public order significantly expanded, and the task of protecting and escorting convicts was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Russia. In the second half of the 2000s, the transition to contracting military units under the contract began.

The immediate previous formation of the National Guard was the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia , created in 1992. The composition of the troops included all the former formations of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairsdeployed on the territory of the RSFSR.

On March 7, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that gave Rosguard the authority to ensure the security of top officials of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on a contractual basis. Officers for the troops are being trained at the Novosibirsk, Perm, St. Petersburg and Saratov military institutes of the National Guard troops. In 2020, the Russian Guard was planning to create an institution of military political officers within the department.

In 2019, the troops received new models of domestic weapons and equipment - in particular, Patrol armored vehicles, special defense armored vehicles and the Chaborz M-3 multi-purpose all-terrain vehicles (tactical buggies) manufactured in Chechnya. For the special forces units, the Highlander-SSN armored car was developed and submitted to state tests.

For its more than two centuries of history, the troops have written many bright pages in the heroic annals of the Fatherland. The names and organizational structure of the troops, functions and tasks changed, but loyalty to duty, courage and dedication of soldiers always remained unchanged.