Translated material
"Putin's guardsmen"
Experts discuss the creation of a national guard in Russia, endowed with huge power powers
On Wednesday, the State Duma of Russia received a bill on the creation of the National Guard , signed the day before by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The document says that the fighters of the National Guard have the right to shoot without warning in the event of a threat to the life and health of other citizens and the military himself.
"The troops of the National Guard troops have the right not to warn about his intention to use physical force, special means or firearms, if delaying in their use creates a direct threat of the life and health of a citizen or military man of troops of the national guard or may lead to other serious consequences," the text of the bill posted on the State Duma website says.
Vladimir Putin and Victor Zolotov
The fact that in Russia a new power department - the National Guard will be created on the basis of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was announced the day before by Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the official version, the structure headed by Colonel General Viktor Zolotov , who headed the president’s security service from 2000 to 2013, will deal with terrorism, drug business, organized crime and perform special forces.
Experts have already called the National Guard of Putin’s National Guard and suggested that it would be useful to him to prepare for elections and disperse peace protests. Political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin believes that the National Guard and its commander Viktor Zolotov will be responsible for Putin’s personal security and his family:
Dmitry Oreshkin
- Putin has a very narrow corridor of the possibilities of responding to a worsening situation. He never trusted anyone and is very painful about security issues, primarily personal. This applies to his family, super -ceed, and even more so his personally. He understands that the main threat of his power does not come from street marches, but from possible conspiracies of elites. He knows this very well, being a person from organs. Therefore, he systematically shuffs, balances, creates new power structures. Mr. Zolotov is a personally deeply devoted and proven person, and the fact that an expanded and enhanced new structure is transmitted to him, indicates that Vladimir Putin is very worried about his safety.
Putin understands that the main threat of his power does not come from street actions, but from the conspiracy of the elites
It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the National Guard, by its official function, is subject to the president personally. In order to use it, you do not need to receive any approvals in parliament, as it regards, for example, the use of the Armed Forces abroad. This is just a personal tool that should ensure personal security in any conditions: in the case of an attempt to coup, and in the case of some unforeseen dangerous street protests, and so on. This is a symptom.
“ So Putin is now completely impregnable and invulnerable?”
These people need to pay, and this is an additional burden on the budget
- This is a sign of how much Vladimir Putin is limited in possibilities. He created another power structure - just like the Soviet Union produced tanks, which he had more than the rest of the world. When the Soviet Union broke up, there were 63,900 tanks in Russia, and not one of them helped to save the state, because the blow came from the other side. In the same way, it will happen in the current situation. The generals are always preparing for the war of yesterday. The new power structure creates the illusion of security, because the problems are not that the power structures may oppose Vladimir Putin, the problem is the inefficiency of the entire system. And strengthening, creating this new structure, Vladimir Putin, solving, as it seems to him, the security problem, actually undermines their own security, because these people need to pay, this is an additional burden on the budget, this is a complication and aggravation of conflicts between the security forces. Someone is selected by resources and status, they transfer to someone. The decision of the security in another is in the creation of a legal state, an independent court, strictly following the norms of the law, and so on. But Vladimir Putin does not believe in this by definition. He believes only in force.
- What is the powerful Putin are afraid of now?
This is Putin’s protection, not the protection of the system
- The oil barrel behaves treacherously, the ruble treacherously behaves, the budget treacherously behaves, new data are treacherously published that the national guard cannot be extinguished, well, for example, a polonial scandal , an offshore scandal . After a month and a half, there will be a scandal related to the publication of the investigation on the Russian Boeing. All this is perceived by Vladimir Putin as the machinations of Western special services directed against him. This is his view of the world. And the National Guard will not be able to do anything with the publications of new documents. The National Guard will not be able to do anything with the loss of respect for the state by more and more citizens. The National Guard will not be able to raise the rating of Vladimir Putin. The only thing she can do is, against the backdrop of a worsening economic situation and a growing feeling of complete rash, to ensure the personal defense of Vladimir Putin from unforeseen threats. This is the protection of Putin, this is not the protection of the system. Putin acts in the corridor of the possibilities that he has, and this corridor leads him further from solving the pressing problems of the Russian state. This is a defensive structure, this is no longer expansion, not expansion, not strengthening, but an attempt to preserve the current situation, which is more obvious more obvious and even harmful to the country. So for us this is a symptom, a sign of how far Vladimir Putin is from a real understanding of the threats that faces the country and before his regime, ”says Dmitry Oreshkin.
Vladimir Putin also said that in the framework of rearrangements in Russian law enforcement agencies, he subordinated the Federal Migration Service (FMS) and the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) to the Ministry of the Interior. Svetlana Gannushkina, chairman of the Civil Proposal Committee, considers this decision to be “monstrous”:
Svetlana Gannushkina
- As for the National Guard, this is the creation of an oprichnina. And the oprichnina is created in our country when the power is in fear. I have nothing more to say about this topic. As for the transfer of the FMS to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we have already seen it. It was in 2001 and further, until this decision was canceled, because it turned out that it was unproductive. These are two completely different departments. One department is still humanitarian one way or another, because it includes a shelter institution, at least. The asylum institute would have to be removed from under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And our Ministry of Internal Affairs, unlike, say, French, which, among other things, plants flowers in cities, is engaged in urban studies, our Ministry of Internal Affairs is an exceptionally repressive department. And this means that the state today, represented by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, sees the problem of migration exclusively as a problem that requires repressive measures. Everything positive that is in migration ceases to interest the state again. This is monstrous.
- What can this lead to?
The National Guard is the creation of an oprichnina. It is created when power is in fear
“I do not see the slightest meaning in this.” Even, you know, somehow it’s a shame for the power. Well, the power made one stupidity, why make it again?! And this will lead to the fact that the problems of migration will not be solved, except for the raids, except again the endless accusations of migrants that they are to blame for absolutely everything. There can be nothing else. It was long enough as a residual phenomenon within the FMS for many years, but it began to subside a little. Still, they began to perceive themselves as a department that should take care of migrants. Not so long ago, integration management was created there, that is, their mentality somehow changed. And now everything is returning to what happened, ”says Svetlana Gannushkina.
Ukrainian military expert Aleksey Armorovich recalled the history of the creation of the National Guard of Ukraine and spoke about the status, capabilities and powers of this structure:
Alexey Antyvtovich
-In Ukraine, in the 90s there was already a national guard, it was also created on the basis of former internal troops now in Russia. The status of such a formation is a militarized formation with law enforcement functions. That is, on the one hand, this is almost the army, because it has heavy weapons - armored vehicles, helicopters, aviation, there is intelligence and so on, and on the other hand, it has law enforcement functions, that is, it is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and can, for example, carry out law enforcement actions in its own territory, which, according to the law, the army cannot perform either in Russia or in Ukraine.
-And why did you have such a structure in the 90s?
The status of such a formation is a militarized formation with law enforcement functions. Almost the army - there is heavy weapons, there is intelligence
- This happened as a result of assessing the conflicts that took place in the territory of the former Soviet republics - Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria, and so on. Then it turned out that illegal armed groups have the ability to withstand directly large army groups, and at the same time measures to localize, neutralization, destruction contain a significant part of law enforcement, which is very poorly regulated. For example, the parliaments of countries often do not want to give the army increased powers. And it turns out an incident: the military personnel of the Armed Forces detain a person, but cannot inspect him, because they do not have the relevant legal powers. And military personnel of the National Guard have such powers. Therefore, just for situations of internal conflicts, when large military groups are needed, serious weapons are used on their territory, and the National Guard was created.
-And what happened to that Ukrainian National Guard created in the 90s?
The National Guard is two pathos words: you are a guardsman and serve the nation
- Then, in Ukraine, its parliament as a result of the struggle with President Kuchma disbanded, and internal troops were recreated. And after the Maidan, when it was necessary to mobilize the masses, they returned to this beautiful name again - the National Guard. These are two pathos words that contribute to the moral and psychological rise of society and those military personnel who go there to serve. You are a guardsman and serve the nation - this is a high title, it must be highly carried and so on. Given our problems in the east, our problems in the south, the volunteers themselves went there. And besides, this allowed the police to whitewash, which for a significant part of society tarnished itself with reprisals against the Maidanites. And thus, a rebranding was carried out: they connected them in one special unit-both the Maidan volunteers and the former military personnel of the internal troops that opposed them. In addition, it has become possible to carry out reform according to Western samples, which is part of the program of reforming the National Security Safety System of Ukraine, and this reform first began to be developed precisely in the National Guard: the instructors arrived, the structure began to change, and so on. This is part of the general system of reforming the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The National Guard is in service with both aviation and armored vehicles, and in this sense is very similar to the internal troops of Russia, which, according to the results of the First Chechen, were transformed, "dumped" in force, in informational, in reconnaissance and operational and so on. This is the task of the National Guard of Ukraine.
- Do you understand what structure is now being created in Russia?
Obviously, the events related to re -rational in 2018 are coming
- I think that the Kremlin is now about the same logic. That is, first of all, we are talking about the moral and psychological component. There is a rebranding of the internal troops, because it is obvious that the analytical structures under the President or the Russian National Security Council decided that this rebranding will soon be needed or already needed. Obviously, some events related to the elections in 2018, and so on. Russia is a very large country, so two years just to prepare for this election are needed. Maybe they are afraid of the Maidan or something else. Roughly speaking, the internal troops are rebranding and become a guard, this is honorable, it raises Putin’s man, who leads them, it changes his status and very much adds prestige to serve in these troops, and his weight in society. This is not even the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this is a kind of new formation.
This idea has long been extended, and in the 90s it was also in Russia, but decided to do it now. I already see these courageous faces on posters: "Enter the National Guard of Russia!" Another thing is that I personally doubt this name itself for Russia. For Russia, where under a hundred subjects of the Federation, the name "national" causes me certain doubts. What kind of nationality will this guard be, given that in Russia there are a lot of peoples and small nationalities, autonomous republics and so on? Well, they called and named. This, in particular, is also a consequence of the assessment of Ukrainian experience. Obviously, people who monitor the situation in Ukraine in Russia managed to evaluate the effect of three years of remodeling the internal troops of Ukraine to the National Guard in some parameters, and obviously, this experience was considered positive, and something similar was decided to do in Russia, ”said Ukrainian military analyst Alexei Armorovich.