Russian Guard (Rossyiah)

The Russian Guard or Rosgvardiya (Russian: Русская Гвардия, Russkaya Gvardiya or Росгвардия, Rosgvardiya) is the internal military force of the Russian government, comprising an independent agency that reports directly to the Tsar of Russia as Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The Russian Guard is separate from the Imperial Russian Armed Forces. The Russian Guard was established in 1980 by a decree signed by Tsar Alexander IV. Its stated mission is to secure Russia's borders, combat terrorism and organized crime, protect public order and guard important state facilities.

The Russian Guard numbers approximately 640,000 personnel in almost 200 units across Russia.

The Russian Guard Day is designated to 27 March, linking the Russian Guard to a long history of public security services within Russia, that day being the date when the Internal Guards Corps was established in 1811, by a decree of Tsar Alexander I.

Official name

The full name is the Russian Guard. In official documents, it may be referred to by the romanized acronym RG (Russian: РГ). In Russian, the less formal acronym Rosgvardiya (Russian: Росгвардия) is commonly used.

History

Internal Guards

Adjutant General Yevgraf Komarovskyvon Vogelstein, first commander of the Internal Guard.

Today's Russian Guard traces 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 Corps 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. By 1817, the Internal Guards units and the Gendarmerie evolved into a national organization with units all over the Empire.
With the growing power and duties of the Internal Guards, the office of Chief of Gendarmes was created in 1826. 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; by 1881 the 3rd Section was transformed into the Okhrana, and several personnel of the SCG moved to the new organization.
The Internal Guards Corps was mobilized in order to support the Internal Russian Army. With the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, units of the Internal Guard Corps followed the Tsaris forces.

SpeKo Internal Security Forces

The SpeKo Internal Security Forces (Силы Bнутренней Безопасности, CBБ; Sily Vnutrenney Bezopasnosti, SVB) were formed in 1919 under the SpeKo, by reorganizing the Internal Guard Corps.

The most well-known of the Internal Security Forces divisions was the 1st Automobile Fighting Detachment. The 1st Automobile Fighting Detachment of the SpeKo was established in February 1918. The detachment was tasked with guarding the members of the SpeKo and the Council of Ministers and providing them with passenger cars. After relocation of the government to Moscow in March 1918, it was assigned to guarding the Moscow Kremlin as the site of the government alongside the Life-Guards Lithuanian Regiment. The Detachment was renamed 1st Armoured Car Detachment "Mikhail Alekseyev" in 1919, and was transferred to SpeKo in 1921 and reorganized in an autonomous Battalion.

The SVB were transferred to the MVD in 1922 as the SpeKo was transformed into the UGB.

On 17 June 1924, the OSNAZ battalion, an UGB rifle battalion and an UGB rifle regiments formed the Special-Purpose Division (DON) of the UGB (MVD) Troops. The DON included 4 rifle regiments with an Armored Car detachment. In August 1926, the division was renamed Special-Purpose Division "Y.V. Abakumov" of the UGB Troops. Throughout 1926, one more regiment and five more battalions joined the DON, raising its total strength to some 4,500 troops. In 1929, the DON was reorganized as a full army division. In 1931, the Armoured Car detachment was reorganized into an armoured regiment.

World War II

In July 1941, formations of the MVD were providing security for government installations, railway lines, and industrial centres. Railway security forces totalled 62,100 troops, comprising nine divisions and five brigades securing 1,700 sites. Operational forces included 11 regiments stationed in the western military districts, seven regiments and three battalions in the internal districts, and the Abakumov Independent Special Designation Division in Moscow (transferred from the UGB in 1935). In October 1940, a specialised MVD force had also been formed to assist with local air defence for important areas. By June 1941 this new Main Directorate for Local Antiaircraft Defence had three regiments, including in Moscow, and four battalions, all engineer-anti-chemical units. Another division and five brigades totalling just under 30,000 men were in the process of formation.

During World War II, most units of the MVD Internal Security Forces were engaged alongside Imperial Russian Army forces against Axis troops. They participated in the defence of Moscow, Petrograd, the Brest Fortress, Kiev, Odessa, Voronezh, Tsaritsyn, the North Caucasus and were heavily engaged during the Battle of Kursk. The OMSDON units protected the Allied leaders during the Yalta conference.

Typically, MVD Internal Security Forces were defensive in nature, although they played a particularly instrumental role during the Battle of Moscow, the Siege of Petrograd, and the Battle of Tsaritsyn where the 10th MVD Rifle Division suffered almost 90% casualties during the battle. Large SVB units also stayed in the rear to maintain order, fight enemy infiltrators and to guard key installations (such as the armament manufacturing complex at Tula, protected by the 156th MVD regiment in 1941) and the railway installations guarded by the 14th Railway Facilities Protection Division MVD.

Altogether, more than 53 Internal Security Forces divisions and 20 Internal Security Forces brigades were on active duty during the war. Of those, 18 units were awarded battle honors (military decorations or honorary titles). A total of 977,000 servicemen were killed in action. More than 100,000 soldiers and officers received awards for gallantry in the face of the enemy, and 295 servicemen were awarded the "Defender of the Tsar" title.

Cold War

After the war's end, Internal Security Forces were renamed Internal Troops (Внутренние Войска, BB; Vnutrenniye Voyska, VV) played an important role in fighting local independentis partisans in the Baltic Governorates and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In 1953, the Internal Troops suppressed the Vorkuta labour camp uprising with gunfire, which resulted in death of at least 100 political prisoners.

A series of Internal Troops districts supervised many divisions, brigades, regiments, and battalions. Among them was the headquarters for Internal Troops in the Baltic area, which became Directorate Internal Troops Baltic Military District. This headquarters supervised several Internal Troops divisions, including the 14th Railway Facilities Protection Division from 1944 to 1951. Other divisions in the Baltic MD included the 4th, 5th, and 63rd Rifle Divisions RG.

In 1960s, the Internal Troops were significantly reduced in size, but retained their pre-war functions.

In 1969, the internal forces were managed by the Main Directorate of Internal Troops MVD.

At the beginning of 1969 in the MVD were:

• Internal Troops Directorates (UVV) of the MVD of Kiev and Chisinau
• OMSDON "Abakumov" (Moscow).
• 19th, 36th (Moscow), 43rd (Minsk), 44th (Petrograd), 54th (Rostov-on-Don), 79th (Kirov), 80th (Samara), 83rd (Ust-Sysolsk), 84th (Perm), 87th (Yekaterinburg), 88th (Tashkent), 89th (Novonikolayevsk), 90th (Shcheglovsk), 91st (Irkutsk), and 92nd (Khabarovsk) Divisions
• Guard brigades and regiments
• Special motorized militia units
• Military Academies

Ten other divisions were formed up to the 1990s: 42nd (Vilnius), 68th Division (Nizhny Novgorod), 75th (Alma-Ata), 86th, 101st, 102nd, 38th, 39th, 48th, 50th and 76th (77th) Convoy Division (Petrovsky).

On 11 July 1978, the Interior Ministry forces in the Far East and Eastern Siberia were established. On 23 April 1979, it was implemented a major restructuring: on the basis of Headquarters 89th Convoy Division (Novosibirsk's Military Unit Number 7540) the Directorate of Internal Troops (UVV) MIA Western Siberia was created with the inclusion of the 90th and 102nd divisions). On the basis of the 44th Division the UVV MIA North-West and Baltic was created.

On 27 March 1980 the VV were reorganized and became known as the Russian Guard under personal decree of Alexander IV. In preparation for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, an elite group of OMSDON troops was trained with special forces tactics; the core of this group later became the Vytyaz unit. In 1985, the designation was changed into OMSDON (Independent Special-Purpose Motorized Rifle Division of the Russian Guard "Y. V. Abakumov".

After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Russian Guard personnel were among the cleanup crews, engaged in security and emergency management activities; hundreds of servicemen were exposed to heavy radiation and dozens died. By 1989, with the increasing popular discontent nationwide that had begun to manifest in the Russian Empire, the Russian Guard of the MVD, on orders from Alexander IV, officially became a reporting agency of the MIA after years as a part of the Ministry of Defense.

1990s crisis

On 1 October 1989, the Ground Forces' 14th Tank Division at Novocherkassk was transferred into the MVD as the 100th Motorised Division for Special Use RG MVD RI. OMON were created as the special forces of the Russian Police in 1988, and then transferred to the Russian Guard the following year. The OMON played major roles in several armed conflicts during and following the Russian crisis of the 1990s.

Prior to the 1990s, there were 180 regiments (of varying size) of Russian Guard, of which 90 were mainly guards of correctional institutions, important public facilities and public order. Some of them became engaged in the ethnic conflicts that occurred during the 1990s. Their activities during this period included the 1989 violent incident in Tbilisi when RG servicemen used entrenching shovels to decimate a crowd of rebellious Georgian civilians.

SOBR were formed on 8 January 1992, and subordinated to the "Directorate for combating the Organized Crime" under the Russian Police on the model of the previously established Moscow unit. SOBR units were composed of senior-ranking police officers, better trained than the members of OMON, and tasked with SWAT-type special operations under the jurisdiction of MVD. The primary function of SOBR is to combat against organized crime, with additional roles including anti-terrorism. They also fought during the wars in Chechnya and Daghestan. In 1999 SOBR were transferred to the Russian Guard.

In 1994, the OMSDON was renamed as the Independent Operational Purpose Division or ODON. The unit has been once again named after Yaroslav Vladimirovich Abakumov on 22 October 2014.

Mission

Missions of the Russian Guard include joint operations in securing borders (in assistance to the Border Service of the Internal Security Service) fighting terrorism, organized crime, and to perform functions related to riot police. However, according to laws, the Russian Guard does not perform field investigation activities.

The Russian Guard also is to work to protect public safety and order along with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and guard important state facilities.

The law includes the possibility of using Russian Guard troops in international operations "to restore and maintain peace". The Russian Guard is among other things tasked for repelling aggression against the Russian Federation together with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and participation in the territorial defense of the Russian Federation.

Organization and leadership

The Russian Guard is directly subordinated to the supreme commander-in-chief with the incumbent head included into the Security Council as a permanent member.

General organisation

The Russian Guard is a paramilitary force with centralized system of ranks, command and service, and as such reports to the Tsar of Russia. Majority of the officer corps has been trained in both special academies of the Russian Guard, while a part is trained in the Armed Forces's military academies. Other ranks include a mix of both conscripted national servicemen and volunteer servicemen.

The main kinds of Russian Guard units are field units, various facility-guarding units (except in prisons), special motorized units, riot control and patrol units, and special forces. Fields units are 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 and unrest in Caucasus.

The Russian Guard is organized into a composed structure, consisting of six broad elements:

• Russian Guard Forces Command (Войска национальной гвардии), which handles the operational units;
• ODON and the Russian Guard Naval Service Corps;
• Russian Guard Special Operations and Aviation Center, including Zubr, Vityaz, Rus and Yastreb special units;
• Russian Guard SOBR, Berkut and OMON Units.

High Command

The High Command of the Russian Guard is the operational and strategic command of the Russian Guard, designed to maintain constant combat and mobilization readiness of troops, develop and implement plans for the construction and development, improve their organizational and staff structure, organize service and combat activities of the Russian Guard.

The Russian Guard is led by a Commander. The Commander has six deputy Commanders, including a first deputy director who is simultaneously Chief of Staff of the Russian Guard.

Military units under direct subordination:

• A separate rapid deployment division (ODON) This formation, the former Felix Dzerzhinsky Division, based near Moscow, is the most well-known formation of the Internal Troops.
• Central Communications Division
• Engineering Centre
• Intelligence Directorate: under the Intelligence Chief-Deputy Chief of Staff of the Internal Troops.

Separate Operational Purpose Division

The Separate Operational Purpose Division or ODON (a.k.a. Abakumov Division), is a rapid deployment internal security division of the Russian Guard. The entire division employs more than ten thousand personnel, hundreds of armoured vehicles, and divisional artillery (mortars and anti-aircraft guns).

• 604th Special Purpose Center (including Vityaz and Rus);
• 2nd Operational Duties Regiment;
• 4th Operational Duties Regiment;
• 5th Operational Duties Regiment;
• 16th Training Center;
• 319th Battalion for the protection and security training centers;
• 344th Command Battalion;
• Communications Battalion;
• Repair and Refurbishment Battalion;
• Selected Medical Battalion;
• 4th separate company for radiation, chemical and biological protection;
• Garrison quarters and operations area;
• 441st Security Battalion;
• 752nd Engineering Battalion.

Districts

The territorial organization consists of six Russian Guard Districts which have the same name of the relevant Military District. Each Russian Guard District is further subdivided into Brigades. Police officers are appointed to the post of heads of the Russian Guard Districts, while military officers are appointed to the positions of chiefs of staff.

Districts of the  Russian Guard directly operate task forces, military units and the other organizations of the Russian Guard, as well as region-level territorial units, such as main administration departments, local administration structures, other departments. There are six Russian Guard disctricts (Okrug), with the same boundares of the Armed Forces Districts. The RG Okruga are:

• Western District
• Central District
• Caucasus District
• Eastern District
• Turkestan District

In turn, each District Command may be subdivided into two or more Subdistricts (Oblast). Russian Guard territorial units must always act together in collaboration with Imperial Russian Armed Forces and other bodies in accordance with the laws, under decrees and orders of the Tsar of Russia. All territorial units boundaries of Russian Guard must be created on proposal of commander of Russian Guard previously agreed with Ministry of Defence and then approved by the Tsar.

Western District

The Western RG District includes Petrograd and its surroundings, White and Black Russians and Finnish and Baltic peoples. The Western RG District is responsible to guard the Russian Empire against frontier colour revolutions. It is to note that the Western RG District includes in its area of responsibility also the Grand Duchy of Finland. However, due to the special statutes which govern the Grand Duchy, the Russian Guard does not directly operate in Finland but coordinates with the Police of Finland.
Alongside standard units at the governorate level, the Western District controls:

• 1st Special-Purpose Detachment "Almaz" (Minsk)
• 3rd Special-Purpose Detachment "Tyhr" (Pavlohrad)
• 1st Separate Operational Brigade (Vyshhorod)
• 2nd Separate Operational Brigade "Halychyna" (Lvov)
• 3rd Separate Special-Purpose Brigade (Minsk)
• 5th Separate Operational Brigade (Kiev)
• 21st Separate Operational Brigade
• 25th Separate Operational Brigade (Kiev)
• 33rd Separate Operational Brigade (Lebyazhye)

Baltic Subdistrict

The Baltic General Governorate is comprised into the Baltic Subdistrict and includes three OMON units, three SOBR unit and:

• 2nd Special-Purpose Detachment "Aras" (Vilnius)
• 4th Special-Purpose Detachment (Vilnius)
• 4th Separate Operational Brigade (Riga)
• 6th Separate Operational Brigade (Tallinn)

Central District

The Central District controls the most part of the Red Russia and governorates lying on the Black Sea. Alongside standard units at the governorate level, the Central District controls:

• 7th Separate Operational Brigade (Krasnodar)
• 8th Separate Operational Brigade (Kharkov)
• 20th Separate Operational Brigade (Sofrino)
• 22nd Separate Operational Brigade (Kalach-na-Donu)
• 34th Separate Operational Brigade (Shumilovo)
• 50th Separate Operational Brigade (Kazachi Lageri)
• 23rd Separate Operational Brigade (Alexandrovsk)
• 26th Separate Operational Brigade (Astana)
• 85th Separate Special-Purpose Brigade "Berkut" (Sevastopol)
• 112th Separate Operational Brigade (Sinferopol)
• 115th Separate Special-Purpose Brigade (Kerch): the tasks of the 115th brigade include the protection of the Crimean bridge.

Caucasus District

The Central District controls the Caucasus Viceroyalty. This District is very sensitive due to the endemic unrestiveness of the area and the ethnic fragmentation. Alongside standard units at the governorate level, the Western Units controls:

• 46th Separate Operational Brigade
• 49th Separate Operational Brigade (Vladikavkaz)
• 51st Separate Operational Brigade (Senaki)
• 52nd Separate Operational Brigade (Telavi)
• 101st Separate Operational Brigade
• 102nd Separate Operational Brigade (Petrovsk-Port)
• 607th Special Purpose Center (Grozny)

Eastern District

The Eastern District is in charge for Siberia and, alongside standard territorial units, controls only one formation:

• 111th Separate Operational Brigade (Khabarovsk).

Turkestan District

The Turkestan District is in charge for southern Governorates of the Russian Central Asia, including the Emirate of Bukhara. The Turkestan RG District includes:

• 9th Separate Operational Brigade (Almaty)
• 5th Special-Purpose Detachment (Ashgabat)
• 6th Special-Purpose Detachment (Ashgabat).

Special Purpose Mobile Units

Special Purpose Mobile Units (Russian: Отряд Мобильный Особого Назначения, previously Отряд Милиции Особого Назначения, ОМОН; Otryad Mobil'nyy Osobogo Naznacheniya, OMON) is a system of special police units of the Russian Guard. OMON officers are commonly known as the omonovtsy.

In modern context, OMON are used like riot police, or as a gendarmerie-like paramilitary force.

There is an OMON unit in every Governorate, as well as in many major cities; these OMON units report directly to the Russian Guard Command as part of its regional district commands, while these are expected to be deployed in support of the police forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The biggest OMON unit in Russia, Moscow OMON, numbers over 2,000 troops. Due to the use of OMON members in high risk situations, especially in the Caucasus and in Southern Central Asia, the group often loses members in combat.

Membership and training

Members of OMON are required to achieve a high level of fitness and expertise in small arms and hand-to-hand combat. Males between the ages of twenty-two and thirty who have completed their two-year military service can apply to join OMON. The application includes medical and psychological tests, and tests of speed and fitness. Most OMON officers retire at the age of approximately forty-five.

The initial training lasts for five months. The applicants are extensively trained in the use of different weaponry and close combat, and are also trained to follow orders at any cost. Special emphasis is put on urban combat and the entering and clearing of buildings. The training also includes legal training. The application procedure closes with a final test, where the applicant has to fight three to five trained members of OMON by hand wearing boxing gloves. Fewer than one in five applicants pass and are selected to join.

Special Rapid Response Unit

The Special Rapid Response Unit (Russian: Специальный Отряд Быстрого Реагирования, СОБР; Spetsial'niy Otryad Bystrovo Reagirovaniya, SOBR) is a spetsnaz unit of the Russian Guard.

Due to the military nature of their equipment, overalls and training, the OMON and SOBR constitute a rapid-reaction and rapid-insertion military force available to the regular police, normally to be employed at a police’s local command discretion.

SOBR units are focused on urban public security actions, and fight against organized crime gangs in urban environments or in circumstances where the rules of engagement are strict. SOBR units are also deployed in custom police operations, in order to provide a heavy cordon. Large scale counterterror operations usually involve SOBR, spetsnaz, OMON and SVB units due to the large personnel demands.

Each Governorate has at least a SOBR unit.

Russian Guard Naval Service Corps

The Russian Guard Naval Service Corps (Корпус Военно-Морской Службы России, КBMCP; Korpus Voyenno-Morskoy Sluzhby Rossii, KVMSR) is the naval service, water police and coast guard branch of the Russian Guard. It was established in 1979 through the fulfillment of a 1978 Ukaz of Tsar Alexander IV. .

See also

• Law enforcement in the Russian Empire
• Ministry of Internal Affairs (Rossyiah)
• Police of Russia (Rossyiah)