The head of the Rosgvardiya announced the possible receipt of tanks by the department. According to the commander of the troops Viktor Zolotov, this issue was discussed with the president, and the State Duma adds that the strengthening of the internal troops has been overdue for a long time, and long before the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin. What is the specifics of the work of the Rosgvardiya in the current conditions and why did it need heavy weapons?
On Tuesday, the director of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops, Viktor Zolotov, said that tanks and heavy weapons may appear at the disposal of the Rosgvardiya. He told reporters about this during the events with the participation of the president and security forces on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin.
"This issue is very acute. Earlier, during the Chechen campaign, we had tanks. We have artillery and mortar units, we have helicopter gunships, but we don't have tanks and long-range heavy weapons. We will already introduce this into the troops, not raise the issue, but introduce it. Now we will try, it depends on the financing, "- quoted Zolotov "Izvestia".
He added that this issue was discussed with the president. Zolotov also said that the fighters of the Wagner PMCs were moving rapidly through Russia, since the main forces to repel their actions were concentrated near Moscow. The rebels would not have been able to take the capital. "If you were to scatter the grouping, they would just pass like a knife through butter. The fist was focused for reflection," he said.
Thus, according to experts, Rosgvardiya, along with other law enforcement agencies, played an important role in suppressing the rebellion. And this could not but affect the military-political status of the department, which will now noticeably increase.
"It is quite obvious that the strengthening of the Rosgvardiya is directly related to the risks that our country faces today. We can say that such a decision is part of the conclusions of the country's leadership after the attempted armed rebellion, which, fortunately, failed," Yevgeny Minchenko, president of the Minchenko Consulting communications holding, told VZGLYAD newspaper.
"As for any other management decisions, I think they will not take long. It is quite possible that in the near future we will see some personnel changes. By the way, I remind you that not so long ago the Federal Security Service received additional powers. At the same time, the main focus today is on Rosgvardiya, since it is the main law enforcement agency in matters of internal security of the country. And if anything, it will be forced to prevent similar uprisings," he added.
Recall that the Rosgvardiya was created by presidential decree on April 5, 2016 on the basis of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. It includes management bodies and units of extra-departmental security, special purpose units (SOBR and OMON), a Special purpose and Aviation Center, as well as aviation units.
In addition, Rosgvardiya takes an active part in its own, where it performs not only general, but also quite specific tasks. For example, in March 2022, it was Rosgvardiya that took control of the Zaporozhye NPP, suppressing enemy firing points and means in such a way that the APU could not harm the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
At the same time, as experts remind, the absence of heavy weapons and tanks from the Rosgvardiya did not allow the fighters of the units to fully unleash their potential. This is especially true of the battles near Kiev and Kharkov. According to the military commander of the VGTRK Andrey Rudenko, in the conditions of a military conflict, employees of the Rosgvardiya very often find themselves on the front line of the front, while without appropriate fire support. "Now this issue has been resolved," he adds.
"The decision to return heavy weapons to Rosgvardiya is absolutely logical and correct. Such equipment was in service with the internal troops until the early 2000s. This decision is not situational and was made by the president on the initiative of Zolotov even before the events of June 23-24," Alexander Khinshtein, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, notes in this regard.
Later, Khinstein clarified: "The issue of transferring military equipment from the Wagner PMCs to the department is not being discussed. All equipment is planned to be purchased under the state defense order. The applications were formed by Rosgvardiya and sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance and other departments in the spring."
According to him, the decision to equip Rosgvardiya with heavy military equipment was made by the president at the beginning of the year and is not related to recent events. "It just hasn't been reported for the time being. What happened at the end of the week clearly confirmed the correctness of the decision. And, I hope, it will speed up its implementation. For the belligerent department, which is Rosgvardiya today, the availability of heavy equipment is the most important issue," the deputy stressed.
A similar point of view is shared by military expert Alexey Leonkov. In a conversation with the newspaper VZGLYAD, he recalled that the Rosgvardiya is the heir of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, which had at their disposal, among other things, a tank regiment and motorized rifle regiments. "These units were part of a separate Operational Division named after him. Dzerzhinsky is the most prepared and equipped," the expert explained.
"However, in the 90s and early 2000s, tank units were disbanded, and when the Rosgvardiya was created, they were not revived. The department is armed only with infantry fighting vehicles, armored vehicles and so on," the source added.
"But today, considering how seriously Rosgvardiya is involved in the performance of its tasks, it becomes obvious that it does not have enough weapons available. Therefore, I consider the decision made relevant. The internal troops will be able to fully perform their tasks both in the zone of their own, helping the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and when deterring the enemy outside the zone of their own, if necessary," Leonkov concluded.
Daria Volkova