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The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the
interior ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enforcement in Russia through its agencies the Police of Russia, Migration Affairs, Drugs Control, Traffic Safety, the Centre for Combating Extremism, and the Investigative Department. The MVD is headquartered in Zhitnaya Street 16 in
Yakimanka Yakimanka District (russian: райо́н Якима́нка) is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: It is named after the former church of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. Yakimanka con ...
, Moscow. The MVD claims ancestry from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire founded in 1802 by Tsar Alexander I which became the interior ministry of the Russian Republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and the Soviet Union. The MVD was dissolved and reformed several times during the
Stalin era Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
until being established as the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in 1946. The current MVD was formed in 1990 from the Russian branch of the MVD of the USSR shortly before the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
. Vladimir Kolokoltsev has been the
Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
since 21 May 2012.


History


Russian Empire

The first
interior ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
in Russia was created by Tsar Alexander I on 28 March 1802 in the process of government reforms to replace the aging collegia of
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
. The MVD was one of the most powerful governmental bodies of the Empire, responsible for the police forces and Internal Guards and the supervision of gubernial administrations. Its initial responsibilities also included penitentiaries,
firefighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...
, state enterprises, the state postal system, state property, construction, roads, medicine, clergy, natural resources, and nobility; most of them were transferred to other ministries and government bodies by the mid-19th century.


Police

As the central government began to further partition the countryside, the ''ispravniks'' were distributed among the sections. Serving under them in their principal localities were commissaries (). and alike were armed with broad and obscurely-defined powers, which, combined with the fact that they were for the most part illiterate and wholly ignorant of the law, formed crushing forces of oppression. Towards the end of the reign of Alexander II, the government, in order to preserve order in the country districts, also created a special class of mounted rural policemen (, from , order), who, in a time without habeas corpus, were armed with power to arrest all suspects on the spot. These rapidly became the terror of the countryside. Finally, in the towns of the rural countryside, every house was provided with a "guard dog" of sorts, in the form of a porter (), who was charged with the duty of reporting the presence of any suspicious characters or anything of interest to the police.


Secret Police

In addition to the above there was also the secret police, in direct subordination to the ministry of the interior, of which the principal function is the discovery, prevention, and extirpation of political
sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...
. Its most famous development was the so-called Third Section (of the imperial chancery) instituted by the emperor Nicholas I in 1826. This was entirely independent of the ordinary police, but was associated with the previously existing Special Corps of Gendarmes, whose chief was placed at its head. Its object had originally been to keep the emperor in close touch with all the branches of the administration and to bring to his notice any abuses and irregularities, and for this purpose its chief was in constant personal intercourse with the sovereign. Following the growth of the revolutionary movement and assassination of Emperior Alexander II, the Department of State Police inherited the secret police functions of the dismissed Third Section and transferred the most capable Gendarmes to the
Okhrana The Department for Protecting the Public Security and Order (russian: Отделение по охранению общественной безопасности и порядка), usually called Guard Department ( rus, Охранное отд ...
. In 1896 the powers of the minister were extended at the expense of those of the under-secretary, who remained only at the head of the corps of gendarmes; but by a law of 24 September 1904 this was again reversed, and the under-secretary was again placed at the head of all the police with the title of under-secretary for the administration of the police. By World War I, the department had spawned a counter-intelligence section. After the
February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
of 1917, the Gendarmes and the Okhrana were disbanded as anti-revolutionary.


Soviet Era

Having won the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks disbanded the ''tsarist'' police forces and formed an all- proletarian ''Workers' and Peasants'
Militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, , mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə) was the name of the police forces in the Soviet Union (until 1991) and in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), as well as in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The ...
'' under the NKVD of the Russian SFSR. After the establishment of the USSR there was no Soviet (federal) NKVD until 1934. In March 1946, all of the People's Commissariats (NK) were redesignated as Ministries (M). The NKVD was renamed the MVD of the USSR, along with its former subordinate, the NKGB which became the MGB of the USSR. The NKVDs of Union Republics also became Ministries of Internal Affairs subordinate to MVD of the USSR. Secret police became a part of MVD after
Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ;  – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...
merged the MGB into the MVD in March 1953. Within a year Beria's downfall caused the MVD to be split up again; after that, the MVD retained its "internal security" ( police) functions, while the new KGB took on "state security" (secret police) functions. In his efforts to fight
bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
and maintain ' Leninist principles', Nikita Khrushchev, as the Premier of the Union, called for the dismissal of the All-Union MVD. The Ministry ceased to exist in January 1960 and its functions were transferred to the respective Republican Ministries. The MVD of the Russian SFSR was renamed the Ministry for Securing the Public Order in 1962. Leonid Brezhnev again recreated the All-Union Ministry for Securing the Public Order in July 1966 and later assigned Nikolai Shchelokov as Minister; the RSFSR Ministry was disbanded for the second time, the first being at the creation of the NKVD of the Soviet Union. The MVD regained its original title in 1968. Another role of the reformed MVD was to combat ''economic crimes'', that is, to suppress private business which was largely prohibited by socialist law. This fight was never successful due to the pervasive nature of the black market. By the mid-1980s, the image of the ''people's militsiya'' was largely compromised by the
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
and disorderly behaviour of both enlisted and officer staff (the most shocking case was the robbery and by a group of militsiya officers stationed in the Moscow Metro in 1980).


Russian Federation

The Russian MVD re-formed as the MVD of the Russian SFSR in 1990 following the restoration of the republican
Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
and the
Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet (russian: Верховный Совет, Verkhovny Sovet, Supreme Council) was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) ...
. It continued in its functions when Russia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. the Ministry controls: * the
Politsiya The Police of Russia () is the national law-enforcement agency in Russia, operating under the Ministry of Internal Affairs from . It was established by decree from Peter the Great and in 2011, replacing the Militsiya, the former police service. ...
(formerly
Militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, , mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə) was the name of the police forces in the Soviet Union (until 1991) and in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), as well as in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The ...
) * the
General Administration for Traffic Safety The Main Directorate for Traffic Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (, IBDD or GUOBDD, popularly known under its historical abbreviation GAI (ГАИ), is a federal law enforcement agency of Russia specializing in traffic poli ...
* the
Federal Drug Control Service Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
Since the disbanding of the Tax Police Service in 2003 the MVD also investigates economic crimes. Two long-time units of the Imperial MVD and NKVD, the Firefighting Service and the Prisons Service, transferred to the Ministry of Emergency Situations in 2001 and to the Ministry of Justice in 2006 respectively. The last reorganization abolished Main Directorates inherited from the NKVD in favour of Departments. In 2012 Vladimir Kolokoltsev became the Minister of Internal Affairs in Russia. On 5 April 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Internal Troops, OMON (the Special Purpose Mobility Unit), and
SOBR The Special Rapid Response Unit or SOBR (russian: СОБР - Специальный Отряд Быстрого Реагирования, Spetsial'niy Otryad Bystrovo Reagirovaniya, lit. ''Special Unit of Quick Response''), from 2002 to 2011 k ...
(SWAT) forces to form the basis of the new National Guard of Russia, and these moved from MVD control and were reassigned to the Security Council of Russia. In turn and on the same day, the
Federal Drug Control Service Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
and the
Federal Migration Service The Federal Migration Service (Федеральная миграционная служба, ФМС России) was a federal police, federal law enforcement agency of Russia responsible for implementing the state policy on migration and also pe ...
merged into the MVD and is now known as the Main Directorate for Drugs Control and the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs, respectively. In December 2019, Distributed Denial of Secrets listed a leak from Russia's Ministry of the Interior, portions of which detailed the deployment of Russian troops to Ukraine at a time when the Kremlin was denying a military presence there. Some material from that leak was published in 2014, about half of it was not, and WikiLeaks reportedly rejected a request to host the files two years later, at a time when Julian Assange was focused on exposing Democratic Party documents passed to WikiLeaks by Kremlin hackers.


Ministers


See also

* Awards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia *
List of Ministers of Interior of Imperial Russia This is a list of Ministers of Internal Affairs of Russia. Russian Empire Provisional Government/Russian Republic Russian SFSR 1917–1930 1955–1966 1989–1992 Russian Federation See also * Ministry of Internal Affairs * Russian Co ...
* Crimea Police *
MVD Ensemble The Rosgvardia Academic Song and Dance Ensemble, formerly known as the MVD Ensemble, is an official academic ensemble of the National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardia) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia), Ministry of Internal Affairs of the ...
*
Ministry of Police of Imperial Russia Ministry of Police of Imperial Russia was created in the course of Government reform of Alexander I in 1810 and existed till 1819. Ministry objectives and credentials * Carrying out recruitment in the Army; * Protection of the state stocks of th ...
* Military of Russia *
Militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, , mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə) was the name of the police forces in the Soviet Union (until 1991) and in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), as well as in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The ...
*
Moscow Police The Moscow Police (russian: Московская полиция), officially the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the City of Moscow (russian: Главное управление внутренних дел по городу Москве) ...
*
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Police Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Police (russian: Нижегородская полиция) is the state police force of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. The Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Police is a department of the Police of Russia of the Ministry of In ...
*
Primorsky Krai Police The Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Primorsky Krai (), commonly known as the Primorsky Krai Police, is the state police of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The Primorsky Krai Police is a department of the Police of Russia of ...
* Saint Petersburg Police *
Sevastopol Police Directorate of the Ministry for Internal Affairs in Sevastopol City (Управление МВД России по городу Севастополю) or the Police of Sevastopol City (Полиция Севастополя, ''Politsiya Sevasto ...
*
Sochi Police The Sochi City Police Department (Officially: Department for Internal Affairs of Sochi; In Russian: Управление внутренних дел по городу Сочи or just ''Sochi Police'', ''Полиция Сочи''), established in ...


Sports

* Former HC MVD of the KHL


References


Further reading

* Ronald Hingley, ''The Russian Secret Police, Muscovite, Imperial Russian and Soviet. Political Security Operations, 1565–1970'' *
Dominic Lieven Dominic Lieven (born 19 January 1952) is a research professor at Cambridge University (Senior Research Fellow, Trinity College) and a Fellow of the British Academy and of Trinity College, Cambridge. Education Lieven was educated at Downside Sch ...
(ed.), ''The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume II: Imperial Russia, 1689–1917'', Cambridge University Press (2006), .


External links

* *


Russian


Timeline of MVD, 1801–1997
{{authority control Internal Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Russia Internal Affairs, Ministry of Russia, Internal Affairs Internal Affairs, Ministry of