I’m in a ridiculous work-crunch period, so alas no time to blog about all kinds of interesting developments, from whether or not Doku Umarov is dead (probably not, alas) to the re-attestation process going on in the police (a great money-maker for those managing the process, a cynic would suggest). Let me just flag up, though, a fascinating series of opinions posted by a putative member of the OMON, Russia’s Special Designation Police Units (I wonder if they will soon become OPON?) riot police collected by Kevin Rothrock in A Good Treaty.
All posts in category Police Reform
Voice of OMON
Posted by Mark Galeotti on March 31, 2011
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/voice-of-omon/
On today’s Law on the Police, in openDemocracy
Just a quick note: a I have a piece on Russia’s new Law on the Police in the British analysis website openDemocracy addressing the question of whether it represents a meaningful piece of reform. It will be interesting to see how things look a year from now; indeed, next time I’m in Russia I’ll be interested to see if the new politsiya title will yet have replaced militsiya on uniforms and signs…
Posted by Mark Galeotti on March 1, 2011
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/on-todays-law-on-the-police-in-opendemocracy/
The Investigations Committee – not so much Russia’s FBI, more a Kremlin watchdog
On 23 September, President Medvedev announced that the existing Investigations Committee of the Prosecutor-General’s Office (SKP), responsible for all preliminary criminal investigations, would become a standalone body reporting directly to him, simply known as the Investigations Committee (SK: Sledstvenny komitet). Four days later, he submitted a new draft federal law On the Investigations Committee of the Russian Federation to the State Duma.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 5, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/the-investigations-committee-not-so-much-russias-fbi-more-a-kremlin-watchdog/
What’s in a name: Russian militia to be called police again
The draft of the new Law ‘On the Police’ has been released for public comment, and bears some more detailed consideration, to follow. [Edit: though do take a look at this excellent and detailed study in A Good Treaty.] In the mean time, though, one element which Dmitry Medvedev has proposed is that the militsiya regain their old, pre-revolutionary name, the politsiya, police. On the one hand, this might sound a little like rechristening the Titanic in the hope that this will make it float again, but it is in fact not quite as tokenistic a move as it may at first glance appear.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on August 9, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/whats-in-a-name-russian-militia-to-be-called-police-again/
Debate on the FSB law
There has been some interesting discussion within the blogosphere about the new FSB law. The best I’ve seen has been in A Good Treaty, with an excellent dissection of the law (here) and a follow-up looking at my and Leonid Nikitinskii’s take on the law (here) which has also led to some lively and insightful debate in the comments section. Well worth a look.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on July 28, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/debate-on-the-fsb-law/
New FSB law: not such a bad thing after all
The new law on the Federal Security Service (FSB) which has been approved by the lower chamber and is pretty much guaranteed to reach the statute books, is on the face of it a retrograde step, easily characterised by its critics as another measure to bring back the Soviet-era police state. After all, it relegalises the KGB’s old practice of ‘precautionary conversations’, of calling in dissidents, liberals and other presumed trouble-makers to warn them to mend their ways, a piece of heavy-handed intimidation against which only the most hardened critic of the state is impervious. However, I’d suggest that there is scope to see some shred of silver lining in this cloud.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on July 16, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/new-fsb-law-not-such-a-bad-thing-after-all/
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