All posts in category Security

Before Victory Day comes the war…

RIA Novosti

In due course, I’ll post something that I’ve had the chance to ponder over more, but here are some snap thoughts on today’s bloody brawls in Moscow, as the pre-inauguration ‘March of Millions’ degenerated into violent clashes between police and protesters. This is certainly the most heavy-handed action we’ve seen by the police in Moscow for some time, but likewise has seen the most serious violence by protesters (see this video, for example), with at least 15 OMON riot police already reported wounded, for example, and molotov cocktails being used.

(more…)

by Mark Galeotti on May 6, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Interior Troops (VV), MVD, Police, Russian Politics, Security

Posted by Mark Galeotti on May 6, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/before-victory-day-comes-the-war/

Waiting for the Bastrykinshchina?

на русском языке

The “shchina” is one of those splendid and distinctive features of Russian history and language: it literally just turns a name or word into a generic thing, but in effect, it tends to mean the “bad time” associated with someone or something. In the twentieth century, it essentially has connotations of purge and repression: the 1937-8 Yezhovshchina when Yezhov’s NKVD swept through the CPSU, butchering and banishing to the Gulags, the 1946-52 Zhdanovshchina that forced Soviet culture in a Manichean mould; dedovshchina, “grandfatherism,” the seniority-based culture of bullying that still afflicts the armed forces; and so on.

A little tongue-in-cheek, as I certainly don’t anticipate any mass purges or convoys of hapless prisoners heading off for forced labor projects (Skolkolag, anyone?), but I did find myself wondering how long before we start to think of the potential for a bastryshchina?

(more…)

by Mark Galeotti on April 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in FSB, MVD, Police, Prosecutor General, Russian Politics, Security, Soviet History, SVR

Posted by Mark Galeotti on April 22, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/waiting-for-the-bastryshchina/

A Russian National Guard? Not so fast, or so likely

Not at all clear...

According to Nezavisimaya gazeta (April 2, 2012), President-elect Putin is planning to create a new National Guard, a domestic security force uniting the MVD VV Interior Troops, the MChS Ministry of Emergency Situation forces and various other security and military elements.

This Natsionalnaya gvardiya would include not just paramilitary security forces but also light airmobile units with their own transport aircraft, specialized motorized infantry brigades, and special forces. The Guard would also assimilate the 20,000 officers in the new Military Police, making it in many ways similar to the French Gendarmerie Nationale or Italian Carabinieri: a parallel police service, parallel military and internal security force all in one. (more…)

by Mark Galeotti on April 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Interior Troops (VV), Military - Russia, MVD, Police, Police Reform, Russian Politics, Security

Posted by Mark Galeotti on April 2, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/a-russian-national-guard-not-so-fast-or-so-likely/

Shuffling the siloviki: who may be the winners and losers in 2012?

With Putin’s presidential election over, now the question becomes who will make it into the new government, at a time when some insiders are suggesting there may be some substantial change. On the whole, the siloviki tend not to experience particularly rapid reshuffles, but there are some who are looking more vulnerable. In a couple of columns for the Moscow News, I look first at the three key silovik ministers (Serdyukov at Defense, Nurgaliev of the MVD and Prosecutor General Chaika), and secondly at the chiefs of the main security and intelligence services (FSB, SVR, GRU, FSKN, FSO). After all, it’s not just about personalia: the decisions about who stays and goes and more to the point the nature and origins of any new hires will say a lot about what Putin plans for the future, and what he fears.

by Mark Galeotti on March 16, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in FSB, GRU, Intelligence, Military - Russia, MVD, Prosecutor General, Russian Politics, Security, SVR
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by Mark Galeotti on March 16, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/shuffling-the-siloviki-who-may-be-the-winners-and-losers-in-2012/

The Security Forces, Moscow, March 4

"Russia. Putin. Victory."

The presidential election weekend (and the following Monday, given the decision of activists to gather at Pushkin Square) saw Moscow in the grip of a massive security operation that saw especially the heart of the city swamped with police and security forces of every kind. A reported extra 6,500 personnel were drafted in (although I suspect this is a conservative figure), over and above the extensive array of forces already present in the capital, which I have detailed elsewhere, in my post Moscow’s Praetorians. Being a rather obsessive cop-spotter, I made a point of trying to identify as many of the elements I could see. Obviously there may well have been a number I missed, but the tally I came up with included:

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by Mark Galeotti on March 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Interior Troops (VV), MVD, Police, Russian Politics, Security

Posted by Mark Galeotti on March 9, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/the-security-forces-moscow-march-4/

First thoughts on the Putin assassination plot

There have already been some excellent first-response pieces on today’s news of a Chechen plot to kill Putin being busted in Odessa, of which perhaps the best I’ve come across so far was from Ben Aris in BNE. (I’m sure there are other, equally splendid pieces already out there , too, for that matter.) I don’t want to reinvent any wheels here, so instead just want to make a few initial observations:

(more…)

by Mark Galeotti on February 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Chechnya, North Caucasus, Russian Politics, Security, Terrorism

Posted by Mark Galeotti on February 27, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/first-thoughts-on-the-putin-assassination-plot/

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