Decree for the future

The President can present the police with a plan for a new reorganization

President Dmitry Medvedev today is expected to visit the main office of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he will take part in an extended meeting of the department’s board dedicated to the results of work last year and plans for the future. Such events have long become traditional for the police leadership, as well as visits by top officials of the state. However, this time the President’s visit to the Ministry of Internal Affairs was awaited with particular anxiety.

Firstly, against the background of unabating criticism of the work of the police, it is unlikely that the conversation today will be limited to just ceremonial reports, complaints about “individual shortcomings” and orders to “work even better.” In addition, persistent rumors began to spread that at the meeting Mr. Medvedev might announce a new large-scale structural reorganization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - supposedly the corresponding decree of the head of state had already been signed.

Last year for the Russian police ended under the accompaniment of successive scandals, which were opened in April last year by the memorable shooting of people in a supermarket by the former head of the capital's Tsaritsyno police department, Major Denis Evsyukov. As a result of all the scandals, at the end of December the president already issued one decree on reforming the system. In particular, the police were ordered to reduce their numbers by 20% in the next two years. In addition, in that decree it was officially recognized for the first time that “the organization of police activities does not meet modern requirements.” Before this, only human rights activists expressed such an opinion, and the Kremlin, and even more so the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself, always assessed the state of affairs in the police according to the principle “if someone is here and there sometimes.” In general, the system was not subject to criticism from above.

Accordingly, after the concept has changed, one of the most pressing issues that the president will discuss at the board may be the internal problems of the police. What added intrigue to this topic was the fact that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself almost never agreed with criticism addressed to them, insisting that in general everything was in order in the department, all employees conscientiously performed their duty, there was no large-scale corruption, etc. For example, in November last year, First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Mikhail Sukhodolsky called criticism of the work of the police by “individual human rights activists and the media” “dirt.” “No matter how much they criticize us, today it is an honor to work in the police. We must be respected,” he noted.

Against this background, the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was only guessing how harsh or, perhaps, on the contrary, “calming” the tone of Dmitry Medvedev’s speech would be when assessing the work of the police and how the leaders of the ministry would react to his words. Based on these signs, observers expected to determine the likelihood of personnel changes in the ministry, which could in the future cause certain political consequences. It is no secret that in recent years, most of the responsible positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been occupied by representatives of various groups of “political elites”.

On the eve of the president's arrival, persistent rumors about his new decree on police reform further electrified the atmosphere in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to various sources, it has either already been signed, or will be signed today and, as some sources believed, it could be announced by Dmitry Medvedev directly at the board meeting. No one in the Ministry of Internal Affairs really knew what exactly this document was about. Apparently, only a few “top officials” of the department were privy to the details. All other employees were only wondering whether the ideas of the previous decree were supposed to simply develop, which did not threaten serious shake-ups in the near future, or, on the contrary, it would be about a new structural reorganization “here and now.”

According to unofficial information, the Ministry of Internal Affairs can expect just the second option. Some observers believed that perhaps the decree would provide for changes and optimization of the department’s structure, which is currently quite cumbersome and multi-stage. Thus, within the ministry itself there are departments, which include departments that are already divided into departments. But “under” the central apparatus - formally not part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - there are also operational investigative bureaus (ORB), which are also divided into departments. ORBs are subordinate to one department or another and sometimes outnumber the ministerial services themselves. As a result of using this scheme, it turned out that formally the number of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not so large, but a significant part of the jobs in its premises are occupied by employees who exist “at” the ministry.

Victor PAUKOV