Who would heed these...in a democratic country?

[Tugay-bey]

Troops of the Russian Internal Ministry.


The MVD divides Russia into seven "MVD" districts which are able to respond to local trouble in as quick a fashion as possible. Early indications are that it is performing successfully and demonstrating an even-handed approach.

In November 1993 the VVMVD had nearly 234,000 men. In the opinion of the MVD leadership, there existed a need for another 90,000-100,000 men. About 30% of the force is under professional contract(mercinaries), implying that a substantial part of the force still consists of conscripts. The VVMVD has "special operations (forces)" subunits, the most well-known being Vitaz and Vympel, some of which are located at the Dzerzhinsky Division to the Northeast of Moscow and which are fully capable of carrying out missions similar to U.S. Swat or hostage rescue teams.

The VVMVD are organized into motorized battalions and divisions. Their training is similar to that of the armed forces ground troops although they specialize in restoring civil order. They wear the initials "BB" on their shoulder boards (the Russian abbreviation for 'Internal Forces') and have the same rank structure as the army. Many outside observers often confuse the VVMVD forces with regular army forces since they possess similar equipment and often can be identified only by the patch they wear on their sleeve that says "internal forces" instead of "Russian armed forces." The force is well-trained and reportedly can perform a 700 km road march in 24 hours. They continue to publish a secret journal on tactics.

The VVMVD has four command schools and one school for logistics. There is an aviation section (transport planes and some helicopters) and a marine section (which defends bridges and communications, etc.). The regular forces themselves are divided into the following subcategories: 20-25% deal with operations, 30% guard key sites, and the rest are involved with the administrative duties of some kind (maintenance, logistics, headquarters duties, etc.. Some were involved with the prison system. Recent press reports indicate that nearly 52,000 additional troops will now be transferred to operational functions, with most of this number coming from those forces associated with the former prison mission).5 During the Soviet-Afghan war, some 5,000 MVD troops served in Afghanistan.