MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced the establishment of Russia’s National Guard on the basis of the Interior Ministry Troops.
"The decision has been made, we are establishing a federal body of executive power on the basis of the Interior Ministry Troops," Putin said at a meeting with Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Federal Drug Control Service chief Viktor Ivanov and Interior Ministry Troops commander Viktor Zolotov.
"We are establishing the National Guard, which will be involved in fighting terrorism, organized crime, which will, in close contact with the Interior Ministry, keep performing the functions that units of OMON [special-purpose police detachment], SOBR [Special Rapid Deployment Force] etc. performed," he said.
"We will mention that, as we discussed that with the interior minister, not only in the decree, but also in the future federal law in order to prevent any lack of coordination, for everything to work in a clear and coordinated way," Putin said.
"I hope very much that the National Guard troops will also effectively perform their tasks, as has been the case until now, and will enhance their work in priority spheres," he said.
Putin recalled that the issue of improving the work of law enforcement bodies was discussed before.
"We thought over how to improve work in all spheres, including work connected with the fight against terrorism, organized crime, illegal drugs turnover," he said.
Putin subordinates Federal Drug Control Service to Interior Ministry
The president has also made a decision to subordinate the Federal Drug Control Service to the Interior Ministry.
"As for the struggle against organized crime in the sphere of drug trafficking, we are implementing one of the proposals we spoke about before: we are transferring the Federal Drug Control Service to the Interior Ministry’s system," Putin said at a meeting with Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Federal Drug Control Service Head Viktor Ivanov, Interior Ministry Troop Commander Viktor Zolotov and Federal Migration Service First Deputy Head Yekaterina Yegorova.
"The same refers to the migration service," Putin said.
"There are issues related to labor relations with foreigners. It is clear that this is a purely civilian sphere. This issue was discussed with the chairman of the government. The Interior Ministry and the Federal Migration Service should work on this issue in detail, in the same way as in the case with the Federal Drug Control Service, with interior troops and the National Guard, because there shouldn’t be any disruptions in this work," Putin said.
‘We also discussed this issue with the minister. I proceed from the fact that this entire structure will work self-sufficiently and independently but within the Interior Ministry," the Russian president said.
The possibility of liquidating the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service was discussed on March 31 at a session of Russia’s Security Council.
As Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told journalists after the council’s session, opinions were voiced during the meeting about the need to liquidate the two services and transfer their functions to the Interior Ministry but no decisions were made.