General reduction

The President announced a new reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Dmitry Medvedev, as expected by the Vremya Novostei newspaper , yesterday announced to the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs the beginning of a new large-scale structural and personnel reform of the department. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was ordered to get rid of a number of “redundant and unusual” functions - expelling foreigners from the country, conducting technical inspections of vehicles and maintaining sobering-up stations, reorganizing the structure of units serving sensitive facilities and the transport police service, and almost halving the number of the central apparatus. All this is set out in the presidential decree, the signing of which he informed the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs yesterday at an extended meeting of the department’s board.

After the board, another presidential decree followed, which immediately dismissed 15 police generals, including two deputy ministers - Nikolai Ovchinnikov and Arkady Edelev. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has not experienced such large-scale personnel upheavals since Soviet times. Also, a two-fold reduction in the holy of holies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - the central apparatus - has never been announced.

According to statistical indicators, last year turned out to be quite good for the Russian police - crime continued to decrease. However, for almost the entire year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had to sort out ongoing scandals - either one policeman opened fire on people in a store for no reason, then another publicly appealed to the prime minister with a request to stop police lawlessness and restore order in law enforcement agencies, then others beat innocent people to death, etc. .d. At first, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stood firm on the defensive, categorically rejecting criticism of their department. But at the end of December 2009, the president signed the first decree on police reform, in which the total number of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was ordered to be reduced by 20%. At the same time, it was recognized that “the organization of police activities does not meet modern requirements.”

Therefore, it was clear that in his speech at the board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the president would devote a lot of time to internal problems of the police. In addition, as early as Wednesday, persistent rumors spread throughout the Ministry of Internal Affairs that at the meeting Mr. Medvedev might announce a new decision on the reform of the department. And so it happened, and the president, it seems, exceeded the darkest expectations of the department’s leadership. Not only a new decree was announced, but also new legislative initiatives, including tightening control over the work of Ministry of Internal Affairs employees. And the president’s speech itself lasted no more than five minutes.

At the beginning of his speech, Mr. Medvedev paid tribute to tradition and thanked “the employees of the ministry for their conscientious attitude to service, and the servicemen of the internal troops for the successfully carried out counter-terrorism operations.” After which he immediately moved on to pressing problems, reminding those gathered that “the boards not only sum up the results, but also determine tasks for the future.” The president noted that “not only stability in society, but also the development of the economy and social sphere of the country depends on the quality of the work of police officers” and that it was thanks to the work of the police that “the negative impact of the crisis” did not lead to an increase in crime, “which everyone feared so much.” This is where the “ceremonial part” ended.

“A number of incidents in the Ministry of Internal Affairs received a very significant public response and affected the authority of the ministry and its employees,” Mr. Medvedev noted. -- On December 24 last year, I signed a decree on measures to improve the activities of internal affairs bodies (OVD). In fact, this is the beginning of a serious reform of the ministry. Until January 1, 2012, the number of employees of the departments of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be reduced by 20% - from 19,970 to 10 thousand people.” At the same time, the president noted that “it is necessary to further streamline the functions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and optimize its structure,” explaining that he had already made a decision in this regard.

For example, the department “will get rid of the function of administratively expelling foreign citizens and stateless persons from the territory of Russia, as well as conducting technical inspections of vehicles, and sobering-up stations at the internal affairs bodies will be transferred to the health care system.”

Dmitry Medvedev said that the responsibility of all law enforcement officers will be strengthened: “I have submitted proposals to the State Duma for draft laws, of which I propose to consider the commission of a crime by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a circumstance aggravating criminal liability, and to establish criminal liability of police officers for failure to comply with the order of the chief given in the prescribed manner and not contrary to the law, as it exists in the Ministry of Defense and the FSB. Violators of discipline must be dealt with harshly. Anyone who does not carry out a lawfully given order is a criminal.”

The president also said that “in the future, a new law on the police should be adopted, which will determine the main goals of the activities of officers: combating crime and ensuring public order.” At the same time, he instructed the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, to prepare a draft law on the police, clarifying its functions, by December 1, 2010. Also, in the near future, he plans to carry out a “rotation”, according to which “general positions will be filled from the federal reserve, and the selection and promotion to these positions will be made from among promising police officers who are ready to defend the law and the rights of our citizens.” Police officers will be selected for work “taking into account their moral and psychological qualities.”

Mr Medvedev then gave police officers “a number of priority tasks”. “Crime detection will remain one of the basic work criteria,” he said. - The desire to embellish statistics and change them is unacceptable. The ministry’s work in this direction should be significantly adjusted.” Important tasks continue to be countering extremism, eliminating the gang underground in the North Caucasus, combating economic crime, criminal pressure on business and illegal seizure of property, as well as anti-corruption work. “Everything should work, and not remain on paper. I will keep the work on reforming the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under my personal control,” the president threatened.

The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, who then spoke, supported the president that “the past year turned out to be very stressful for all employees of the department.” First of all, because last year 2,017 police officers were brought to criminal responsibility. “We will resolutely get rid of unworthy employees, but we will also defend the honor of our honest colleagues,” the minister said. - I would like to note that recently the number of attacks, threats and blackmail against our colleagues in connection with the performance of their official duties has increased. Over the past year alone, internal security units received about 1.1 thousand requests for state protection. 54 cases have already been initiated against those who made the threats. In addition, 73.2 thousand illegal actions were registered against police officers of the patrol service, local police officers, traffic police inspectors, and those who directly work with the population every day.”

Regarding structural changes in the department, Mr. Nurgaliev said that there is a special register of citizens who are not suitable for service in law enforcement agencies. “The candidacies of six thousand people were rejected due to compromising circumstances,” the minister said. “In addition, in 2009, among applicants entering the institutes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 999 people were identified as at risk, that is, professionally psychologically unsuitable.” Mr. Nurgaliev also noted that during recruitment and performance checks, special psychophysiological polygraph studies began to be used more widely, and recently the institution of personal guarantee was introduced, primarily for appointment to higher positions.

The minister also noted “the continued positive dynamics of reducing and solving crimes.”

Mr. Nurgaliev said that the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) will soon be created through the redistribution of staffing levels of the department's territorial bodies at the district level. The headquarters of the department will be based in Pyatigorsk. At the end of the speech, the minister promised that “citizens will be protected and will live in a free and safe country.”

The decree itself “On some measures to reform the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation” appeared on the president’s website almost immediately after his speech at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He made a mixed impression on ordinary representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the one hand, the changes spelled out in it turned out to be not so “terrible”, and there were few of them. On the other hand, it opened up unenviable prospects for representatives of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which, as follows from the decree, must be reduced by almost half - from the current almost 20 thousand employees to less than 10 thousand.

According to the decree, from December 1 of this year, the maximum number of employees of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be no more than 9,264 units (excluding service personnel). Moreover, the use of the word “workers” rather than “employees” is not accidental. The fact is that until now the maximum permitted number of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was only slightly less than 3 thousand people, which is how many of them formally existed. However, in reality the ministry employs almost 20 thousand people. Even during the previous reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a system of a number of structures was created (ORB, centers, etc.) that were not part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but existed under it. Accordingly, the employees of these structures were not formally “employees” of the central apparatus, although they worked for it and received appropriate salaries. Now, following the logic of the decree, money for the maintenance of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be allocated based on 9264 “workers”, and not “employees”.

At the expense of whom and how the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be reduced is not yet clear. The decree says nothing on this matter. Obviously, now the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will have to develop a new departmental structure, which will be approved by additional decrees.

In the meantime, as follows from the decree, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will have to reorganize only two services. All police departments serving sensitive facilities will be transferred to the subordination of regional police departments-GUVD. Accordingly, rumors about the liquidation of the “core” department - for maintaining order at sensitive facilities - were confirmed. In addition, the structure of the transport police will be changed - instead of the current 20 air traffic police departments in railway, water and air transport, only eight “transport” air traffic police departments will be created in federal districts.

As for ridding the Ministry of Internal Affairs of “unusual” functions, how and when this will happen is also unclear - the decree says that in this regard, as well as in relation to the new law on the police, only instructions have been given to the government to prepare proposals within six months. By the way, the authorities have been trying to implement almost all of these plans for several years now. As for the law, its meaning is not very clear - since the beginning of the 90s, the law “On the Police of the Russian Federation” has been in force, which reflects almost all aspects of its work. One can only assume that the country’s leadership decided that writing a new law is easier than “rewriting” the existing one.

By evening, the president's press service reported that he had signed another number of decrees regarding the Ministry of Internal Affairs of a purely personnel nature. One of them was removed from their posts: Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Nikolai Ovchinnikov (State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) and Arkady Edelev, who oversaw the North Caucasus. By the same decree, the head of state appointed Major General Sergei Bulavin and Sergei Gerasimov to replace them, respectively.

Mr. Ovchinnikov has served as Deputy Minister since 2006, before which he headed the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime. Mr. Edelev has served as Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs since 2004, before that he worked in the KGB-FSB.

The biographical information handed over yesterday in connection with the appointment of new deputy ministers of internal affairs was very sparse. It is only known that before his appointment, Sergei Bulavin headed one of the departments of the state legal administration of the president, and Sergei Gerasimov was the deputy head of the presidential department for ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens.

By another decree, the president dismissed another 16 police officers from their positions: the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Belgorod Region, Major General Vladimir Aleshin; Head of the Operational Search Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel General Ivan Balbashov; Head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Rostov Region, Lieutenant General Alexei Belozerov; Chief of the Tomsk Region Internal Affairs Directorate, Major General Viktor Grechman; Chief of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Bryansk Region, Major General Mikhail Klimov; Head of the Northern Department of Internal Affairs, Major General Mikhail Kulakov; Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tuva, Major General Viktor Lesnyak; Deputy Chief of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate - Head of the State Administration of the Krasnodar Territory, Major General Boris Martynov; the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Karachay-Cherkessia, Major General Nikolai Osyak; Head of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Novgorod Region, Colonel Anver Rakhmatulin; Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Siberian District, Colonel General Yuri Skovordin; Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Buryatia, Major General Viktor Syusyura; Head of the Volga-Vyatka Department of Internal Affairs, Major General Viktor Fetisov; Deputy Chief of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate for the Saratov Region - Chief of the Ministry of Security, Major General Vladimir Khodzheisa; Deputy Chief of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate - Chief of Staff, Major General Viktor Cherkashin; Head of the Department of Law Enforcement in Closed Territories and Security Facilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant General Vladimir Shlemin.

Most of these resignations were predictable. Thus, General Grechman apparently paid for the scandal with the beating of journalist Konstantin Popov in a sobering-up center by a Tomsk police officer, who later died. Victor Sysyura was arrested on charges of smuggling. Boris Martynov was dismissed in favor of his former subordinate, Major Alexei Dymovsky, who in his message to the president spoke about “police lawlessness” and accused his superiors of violations and corruption. Generals Shlemin, Fetisov and Kulakov were apparently released due to the disbandment of their units.

By another decree, the president appointed Colonel Alexander Grishenko, deputy head of the department for state protection of property of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; Head of the DOOP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant General Yuri Demidov; first deputy head of the DOOP, Major General Andrei Lapin; Deputy Chief of the DEB, Major General Alexander Nazarov; Head of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Colonel Dmitry Sergeev; deputy head of the Department of Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - head of the department for organizing the search for Colonel Alexander Frolov.

Victor PAUKOV, Ekaterina Karacheva