MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. Russia's Federal Guard Service, which protects the country’s top officials, is getting the latest weapons and equipment to bolster its combat capabilities, Director Dmitry Kochnev said.
He made the statement at a session of the Federation Council, which is wrapping up consultations on his reappointment.
"The Russian Federal Guard Service is building up its combat capabilities and increasing its efficiency by equipping its units in charge of protecting the government with advanced weapons, accouterment, special military equipment, including aircraft and watercraft," Kochnev said.
He said modern-day missions, the complexity of the operational situation, the presence of threats in the field of government protection "first of all require the readiness of government protection agencies at a level that should ensure the implementation of assigned missions, as well as to constantly improve the forms and methods of countering such threats, the improvement of the quality of professional training of personnel and the timely neutralization of possible negative consequences of threats to persons and sites under protection."
The agency’s objectives
According to the official, the goals faced by the agency include "improving the planning, organization and implementation of security measures, improving the system of airspace control in places where security measures are carried out and at protected facilities in cooperation with other security agencies." Kochnev said the agency is engaged in "equipping guarded facilities with the latest technical capabilities, strengthening security." According to the official, one other goal is "improving the system of radiation, chemical and bacteriological protection of facilities, as well as ensuring their fire safety."
The head of the agency also highlighted the subject of "skillful selection and training of personnel," which, in his opinion, should include "formation and maintenance of a healthy moral and psychological climate in the units of the Russian Federal Guard Service, readiness of personnel to perform missions in any situation."
Kochnev said the agency is engaged in the "development and improvement of the system of combat, special and tactical-special training, maintains close cooperation with forces and means of other ministries and departments, participates in addressing the issues of ensuring the security of the state, creating and organizing the work of interdepartmental task forces to coordinate the preparation and conduct of large-scale security events."
"Addressing the issues of ensuring the security of state protection facilities and protected persons and sites at the present stage is a set of measures that are inextricably linked, and constitute a single system aimed at improving the effectiveness of the accomplishment of the goals we face," the official said.