National Guard of Russia

The National Guard of the Russian Federation (Russian: Федеральная служба войск национальной гвардии Российской Федерации, romanized: Federalnaya sluzhba voysk natsionalnoy gvardii Rossiyskoy Federatsii), officially known as the Rosgvardiya (Russian: Росгвардия, lit. 'Rosguard'), is the national gendarmerie and internal military force of the Russian Federation. It is an independent agency that reports directly to the President of Russia, currently Vladimir Putin, under his powers as Commander in Chief of the Russian Armed Forces and Chairman of the Russian Security Council. The National Guard is separate from the Russian Armed Forces. It became a federal executive body in 2016 by a law signed by President Putin. The National Guard states that its mission is to secure Russia's borders, take charge of gun control, combat terrorism and organized crime, protect public order and guard important state facilities. The establishment of the National Guard was seen as an effort to enhance efficiency and to avoid duplication of responsibilities within the Russian security system, a result of the large amount of strategic challenges faced by Russia.: 6  Others have accused the National Guard of being an attempt by President Putin to create a private army to control civil strife or attempts of another colour revolution, not only domestically, but also abroad, in friendly regimes. As of 2018, the National Guard consisted of approximately 340,000 personnel in 84 units across Russia. It includes the forces of the former Internal Troops of Russia, SOBR, OMON, and other internal military forces outside of the Russian Armed Forces. In 2017, President Putin designated 27 March, the same day Emperor Alexander I organised the Internal Guards Corps in 1811 of the Old Style Julian calendar, as National Guard Day.