| Agencyname: | Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation |
| Commonname: | Internal Troops |
| Badge: | Emblem of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.svg |
| Badgecaption: | Emblem of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Internal Troops of Russia[1] |
| Flag: | Flag of Internal Troops of Russia.svgborder |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of Internal Troops: a 2:3 white flag with rose madder cross pattée and emblem of Internal Troops in the center of it[2] |
| Formedyear: | 1991 |
| Formedmonthday: | October 20 |
| Preceding1: | Special Corps of Gendarmes (1811–1917) |
| Preceding2: | Internal Troops of the Soviet Union (1918–1991) |
| Dissolved: | April 5, 2016 |
| Superseding: | National Guard |
| Employees: | 182,000 in 2012[3] |
| Country: | Russia |
| Governingbody: | Ministry of Internal Affairs |
| Military: | yes |
| Gendarmerie: | yes |
| Federal: | yes |
| Police: | yes |
| Headquarters: | Moscow |
| Chief1name: | Viktor Zolotov |
| Chief1position: | Commander-in-Chief (2014-2016) |
| Anniversary1: | March 27 |
The Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (Russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел (ВВ МВД)|translit=Vnutrenniye voyska Ministerstva vnutrennikh del (VV MVD)) was a paramilitary force of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia from 1991 to 2016.
The Internal Troops was a gendarmerie-like force that supported the Russian police, dealt with crowd control during riots and internal conflicts, and guarded highly-important facilities such as nuclear power plants. The Internal Troops was involved in all conflicts and violent disturbances in modern Russia, including the First and Second Chechen Wars, where it fell under direct military command during wartime and fulfilled missions of local defence and rear area security. The Internal Troops consisted of both volunteers and conscripts, which caused the number of active service members to fluctuate, with less than 200,000 upon their disestablishment from a peak strength of 350,000, and had experienced a shortage of officers since 1998. The final commander-in-chief of the Internal Troops was Colonel General Viktor Zolotov from 2014 to 2016.
The Internal Troops claimed descent from the Special Corps of Gendarmes of the Russian Empire founded in 1811 and entered their modern form as a paramilitary of the interior ministry of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1918. It was formed from the Russian branch of the Internal Troops of the Soviet Union in 1991 shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 5 April 2016, the Interior Troops was officially split from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to form the basis of the National Guard of Russia.[4] [5]
See main article: Separate Corps of Gendarmes. The Internal Troops claimed descent from the Separate Corps of Gendarmes of the Russian Empire, which began forming on 27 March 1811 as gendarmerie units of the Imperial Russian Army. The Corps evolved into a uniformed security police agency responsible for law enforcement and state security for most of the 19th century and a small part of the 20th century. The Corps also fell under the command of the Ministry of Police of the Russian Empire and the Guberniya.
The modern Internal Troops of Russia were raised in 1918 by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, one of the main government bodies of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), as a paramilitary force attached to of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the interior ministry of the RSFSR. In 1919, it was reorganized into the Internal Security Forces (Russian: Voyska vnutrenney okhrany Respubliki, VOHR) and transferred to the Cheka, then in 1922 into the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) in 1922. The Cheka and OGPU were the secret police agencies of the RSFSR and later the Soviet Union.
On 28 July 1988, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet issued a decree "On duties and rights of the Internal Troops of the USSR MVD when safeguarding public order", clarifying its role in the cracking Soviet regime.[6] However, the Internal Troops were still a part of the Soviet Armed Forces and this state of affairs pleased no one. The Armed Forces did not want to be seen as a force of internal suppression, especially after the disastrous Afghan War. The MVD was finding itself having to extinguish increasingly frequent and violent hot spots and to cope with growing and increasingly well organised and equipped criminals. For this the MVD needed more fire power. On 21 March 1989, the Presidium decided to take the Internal Troops out of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense[7] and give them to the Internal Affairs Ministry.
In 1990, the establishment of the Russian SFSR's MVD meant that the Internal Troops in the SFSR were now subordinated to the republican ministry. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the Internal Troops of the Soviet Union were reconstituted in the Russian Federation as the Internal Troops of Russia on 23 January 1992, with their last commander as the Soviet force, General-Polkovnik Vasily Savvin, becoming their first commander as a Russian one.[8] [9] [10] In 1997, 14 controllers of the Internal Troops were arrested for corruption and collaboration with a local organized crime group for having stolen more than 400 kg of gold from an industry of gold in Kasimov, during the Kasimov war.[11]
With the April 2016 foundation of the National Guard of Russia, the Internal Troops were removed from the MVD and dissolved, becoming the National Guard Forces (Войска национальной гвардии, Voyska Natsionalnoy Gvardi) which now reported directly to the Security Council of Russia and its chairman, the President of Russia.
The Federal Law No.27-173 was signed into law on 6 February 1997. The law set the operational standards for the Internal Troops of Russia. The law is entitled "On the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs Internal Troops".[12] When supporting a state-of-emergency regime, Internal Troops were paid salary increases and additional monetary payments according to federal laws and other legal acts approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Article 38 granted senior operational commanders the right to call in subunits of special motorized formations and military units outside their deployment areas for a period of up to one month.
The federal law also detailed the important role that the Russian Ministry of Defense played in the affairs of the MVD's Internal Troops when crises arose. For example, MOD was responsible for providing airliners for supporting Internal Troop activities during emergency situations, and conditions of armed conflicts; carrying out the stockpiling and echelon armaments and military equipment, ammunition, fuel and supplies for the mobilization deployment of the Internal Troops in wartime; and transferring arms and military equipment free of charge to the Internal Troops through support services based on special decisions of the federal government, and rendering assistance in the repair and restoration of damaged arms and military equipment.
Despite being subordinated to civilian MVD authority, Internal Troops were a paramilitary force with a centralized system of ranks, command, and service. The Chief Commander and Staff of the troops reported only to Ministry of Internal Affairs, maintaining their separate chain of command. The Chief Commander was concurrently First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. VV units in the Soviet Union were predominantly formed up of conscripts drafted by the same system as for the Soviet Army. Modern Internal Troops in Russia, as in Ukraine, experienced a slow transition to the contract personnel system. VV officers were trained in both own special academies and the Army's military academies.
The main kinds of Internal Troops were field units, various facility-guarding units, special motorized units, riot control and patrol units, and special forces like Rus. Since the 1980s, spetsnaz units were created within the VV to deal with terrorism and hostage crises. Fields units were 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 in Chechnya and the broader North Caucasus.
The Russian Internal Troops comprised headquarters, military units, military training institutions and the institutions for Internal Troops activities, and maintenance and administration bodies. The largest units were located in all major cities.[13]
Internal Troops districts:
Military units under direct subordination:
Commanders-in-chief of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia since 1991:
Internal Troops' equipment included: