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Putin Recreates Soviet-Era Political Supervision Over National Guards
Viktor Zolotin and Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
Although the article isn't very clear, it seems that Putin will be injecting Soviet-style "commissars" into Russia's National Guard (Rosgvardiya).
The National Guard (340,000) was separated from the Interior Ministry in 2016 and is under the direct command of Putin. The Rosgvardiya Director is Viktor Zolotov, a former steelworker in St. Petersburg. In the 1990's he was hired as a bodyguard for St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. At this time Putin was the Vice-Mayor and he and Zolotov used to box in a local gym. When Putin became president of Russia, Zolotin became the head of Putin's "Men In Black" bodyguard detail. Zolotin was assigned as Director of the National Guard in 2016. He answers to Putin and only to Putin. The National Guard then is Putin's private military, separate from the Russian armed forces.
Viktor Zolotin and Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
9/22/20
President Vladimir Putin has created a new post in Russia’s National Guard to ensure ideological education and political unity amid questions over the country's return to once-abolished Soviet practices. Putin signed a decree Monday adding “military and political work” to a list of powers held by the Russian National Guard. No further details of what that work entails were provided. “We associate the proposals to create military-political bodies in the troops with the further development of [the troops'] moral and psychological support,” National Guard head Viktor Zolotov said in March, when he first announced the upcoming changes. Putin created the National Guard, an internal military unit with around 340,000 troops, in 2016. The Soviet army employed political commissars who taught soldiers the Marxist and Leninist doctrine and made sure they stayed loyal to the ruling Communist Party. The position underwent several name changes after 1918 but continued to act as the Soviet military’s ideological underpinning until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. After Putin resurrected the “military-patriotic” directorate in the Russian army in 2018, observers raised questions whether he was positioning the country toward a gradual return to Soviet practices.
Although the article isn't very clear, it seems that Putin will be injecting Soviet-style "commissars" into Russia's National Guard (Rosgvardiya).
The National Guard (340,000) was separated from the Interior Ministry in 2016 and is under the direct command of Putin. The Rosgvardiya Director is Viktor Zolotov, a former steelworker in St. Petersburg. In the 1990's he was hired as a bodyguard for St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. At this time Putin was the Vice-Mayor and he and Zolotov used to box in a local gym. When Putin became president of Russia, Zolotin became the head of Putin's "Men In Black" bodyguard detail. Zolotin was assigned as Director of the National Guard in 2016. He answers to Putin and only to Putin. The National Guard then is Putin's private military, separate from the Russian armed forces.