On Thursday 24 December 2009, President Medvedev signed a decree which he said would “enhance the work of the Interior Ministry”, and in particular “specify organisational changes and changes in certain financial and legal issues.” (more…)
All posts in category MVD
The latest Russian police reform: the Kremlin is likely to be the only beneficiary
Posted by Mark Galeotti on January 1, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/the-latest-russian-police-reform-the-kremlin-is-likely-to-be-the-only-beneficiary/
Russia’s police, unreformed
The appointment, after five months’ haggling and searching, of Major General Vladimir Kolokoltsev to be Moscow’s new police chief after the dismissal of General Pronin, provides the hook for another RFE/RL commentary: Three Reasons Why Russia’s Police Remain Unreformed. The three reasons? Politicization, corruption and a lack of resources. Of course, the fundamental meta-reason behind all three is that the Kremlin isn’t interested in meaningful police reform that would create an effective, independent law enforcement structure such that could underpin a genuine rule-of-law state. Alas.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 10, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/russias-police-unreformed/
Financial crisis puts new pressure on Russian police, but means boom time for security forces
Although Putin made a great play of his commitment to law and order, the emphasis always seemed to be on order more than law. Resources were devoted more to defence and public order, but nonetheless the bonanza of oil and gas revenues did mean that spending on the police picked up, making good some of the deficits created in the 1990s, when successive budget crises left them in a disastrous state. At the same time, a trickle-down of prosperity did help control (if not really reverse) the rise in street crime, while organized crime matured, with real power in the underworld moving from ‘street mafiya’ to ‘suit mafiya’, the age of the overt gangsters known as ‘bandits’ giving way to the behind-the-scenes ‘authorities’ who blended crime, business and politics. This did not mean that organized crime disappeared, but at least it did mean an end to the more violent, indiscriminate days of the 1990s turf wars.
However, the global financial crisis is making its mark in Russia, too. (more…)
Posted by Mark Galeotti on February 7, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/financial-crisis-puts-new-pressure-on-russian-police-but-means-boom-time-for-security-forces/
New guns for Russia’s cops – so what?
A piece of news which might seem of interest only to the gun-nut and the real obsessive actually has rather greater significance: the Russian police are phasing out their old Makarov pistols and Kalashnikov rifles with new weapons.
So what? (more…)
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 23, 2008
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/new-guns-for-russias-cops-so-what/
Medvedev’s first police reform: MVD loses specialised organised crime department
Under Yeltsin, under Putin, and now it seems under Medvedev, reorganising law-enforcement agencies and overlaying new bodies on top of the existing ones has been the usual response to dealing with serious and organised crime. Cynic though I may be, this was my first thought on looking at Medvedev’s latest decree of 6 September 2008. The Interior Ministry (MVD) is to lose its specialised department for fighting organised crime and terrorism (DBOPT, but still widely known by its old acronym, UBOP) and its local branches. Investigating organised crime will simply be rolled into the work of the existing Main Directorate for Criminal Investigation (GUUR) and local CIDs, while UBOP staff will be transferred to a new body with a rather incongruous combination of roles: fighting ‘extremism’ and protecting judicial officials and witnesses.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on September 11, 2008
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/medvedevs-first-police-reform-mvd-loses-specialised-organised-crime-department/
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