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| Military Police of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Военная полиция Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации | |
|---|---|
 Official emblem of Military Police of Russia | |
 Small emblem of Military Police of Russia | |
| Common name | Voennaya politsiya |
| Abbreviation | VP (ВП) |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1 December, 2011 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Employees | 6,500 active personnel |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | Russia |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Overseen by | Ministry of Defence |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Russian Armed Forces |
| Notables | |
| Significant operations | |
TheMilitary Police of Russia (Russian:Военная полиция, ВП,romanized: Voennaya politsiya, VP) is the uniformed law enforcement branch of theRussian Armed Forces, which is known by the official name ofMilitary Police of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Военная полиция Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации), and it is operated by theMinistry of Defence.
The Chief of Military Police isex officio the First Deputy Minister of Defence. The current Chief of Military Police isColonel General Sergey Kuralenko who replacedLieutenant General Vladimir Ivanovsky since February 2020.
The Army's Military Police provide an important function in the full spectrum of Army operations as a member of the Maneuver, Fires, and Effects division. The Military Police provides expertise in police, detainment and stability operations in order to enhance security and enable mobility. The Army's Military Police can be utilized in direct combat and during peacetime.
TheMilitary Police have five main functions:
These functions of the Army's Military Police all provide a commander with the necessary information and support for the successful completion of many Army missions.
The system of military police constitute the central office and regional management of the military police:
Regional organs (Региональные органы)
Central office contains the following sub-offices:
Central Apparatus (Центральный аппарат)
Each garrison is also to maintain order and control over the observance of military discipline by soldiers on the streets, riding public transport, and in other public places such as transport hubs (railway stations, in ports, airports).
The Military Automobile Inspectorate is the military traffic police service and its name is in direct parallel to the country's civilian traffic police, which is calledState Automobile Inspectorate (Государственная автомобильная инспекция orГАИ).
"The main tasks of military traffic police are: Road safety in the Armed Forces; monitoring compliance with military and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces of the legislative and other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation on issues of road safety in the army, with the use of vehicles of military units on public roads; ensuring the movement of troops (forces) on public roads and paths columned, organization of road traffic police patrol on a military vehicle traffic routes of military units; State registration of vehicles of military units; conducting state vehicle inspection of military units, as well as guaranteeing access drivers and vehicles of military units to participate in traffic." – Annex to the Order of the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation on 28 May 2009 № 480
In the Russian Federation, Military police officers often provided disaster relief and internal security, while still fulfilling their fundamental function of maintaining discipline and security within the Army.[citation needed]
The Military Police is usually responsible for the investigation of crimes, such as crimes against property and crimes against persons except murder and rape (handled by theFSB) committed on a military installation, but they may investigate other crimes in certain circumstances.[citation needed]
Officers of the Military Police are trained within the framework of advanced training and the retraining of officers who finished combined-arms, engineering and command schools. In 2017, theMoscow Higher Combined Arms Command School recruited a company of cadets who will be trained in the profile of the Military Police.
On December 1, 2017, the Training Center of the Military Police of theMinistry of Defense of theRussian Federation was opened inVladikavkaz to train new specialists and improve the qualifications of the current staff.
Peter the Great's military statute of 1716 established the post of ageneral-gevaldiger [ru]. It was the highest military policeman inImperial Russian Army. Regiment'srumormeisters [ru] were subordinate to him. In 1864, this post was abolished during the military reforms ofAlexander II.
Until 1917, theSpecial Corps of Gendarmes exercised the functions of military police in theRussian Empire.[citation needed] On 19 March 1917,Special Corps of Gendarmes was disbanded by theRussian Provisional Government Decree.
TheSoviet Armed Forces did not have any units technically named 'military police'. Two separate agencies handled military police duties on a day-to-day basis. TheKomendantskaya sluzhba or "Commandant's Service" of theSoviet Army wore a yellow letter "K" on a red patch on the sleeve to indicate their membership of this service—thede facto army police. A second organisation called theMilitary Automobile Inspection existed within theRear Services. Traffic Regulators served to control military highway and motor vehicle traffic. Traffic Regulators also wear a white painted helmet with red stripes to indicate their status and either an armband or patch with the Cyrillic letter "P" (R).[citation needed]
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Russian Armed Forces inherited the Commandant's Service and the Military Automobile Inspection fromSoviet Armed Forces.
The idea to create military police in theRussian Federation came from the secondPresident of Russia,Vladimir Putin, who authorized his then Defence Minister,Sergey Ivanov to establish such an organization. In 2005, human rightsombudsman Vladimir Lukin wrote a special report about abuse in the armed forces and proposed measures including the creation of military police.[citation needed]
On 21 April 2010, when Minister of DefenceAnatoly Serdyukov announced further steps to establish military police, pursuant to the President's directive. Russian PresidentMedvedev was a strong proponent of the creation of military police; one of its main objectives would be to combatDedovshchina orhazing. In April 2012 Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said Russia's military police will be instituted in two stages: first, the integration of the relevant Defence Ministry services (the Commandant's Service and the Military Automobile Inspection) and second, granting the new agency investigative functions.[citation needed]
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According to Russian media reports, up to 20,000 service members may be assigned to serve as military police.[2]
On 19 November 2012 it was reported by Major General Andrei Nechayev toRIA Novosti that the military police have already been created and are functional within the scope of tasks. The Defence Ministry has until the end of 2014 to complete formation of the new service.[citation needed]
In early February 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law the Law on Military Police, the State Duma adopted on 24 January and approved by the Federation Council on 29 January. During consideration of the bill in the lower house of the parliament, presidential envoy to the State Duma Garry Minkh explained that military police has already been created and running, but its activities are governed by departmental orders. President's initiative is aimed at strengthening the legal framework of the force.[3] On 27 March 2015, Russian President approved the Official Charter of the military police of theRussian Federation. Russian military police weredeployed to Syria in December 2016 and February 2017 to help Syrian government to maintain the law and order in capturedAleppo and protect Russian military personnel.[citation needed] Four battalions of the Russian military police are carrying out tasks in the Syrian de-escalation zones as of 26 July 2017.[citation needed]
On 20 September 2017, theRussian General Staff saidjihadist militants tried to capture a 29-man unit of the Russian military police back on the night of 18 September, whom were monitoring the ceasefire in the Idlib de-escalation zone. The trapped unit fought for several hours before being successfully rescued in a joint Syrian-Russian special operation. The Russian ministry stated that according to their intelligence, the rebels' ″offensive was initiated by the US special agencies in order to stop successful advance of the Syrian Arab Army to the east fromDeir ez-Zor″.[4][5][6] In response to the unprovoked attack, Russian and Syrian forces led acounterattack which killed some 850 militants by 21 September.[7][8]
During the5th Northwestern Syria offensive, the city ofSaraqib changed hands a few times between theSyrian government forces and Turkish backed rebel proxies and their allies before the Syrian Army fully captured it on 1 March 2020. The following day on 2 March, theRussian Reconciliation Centre in Syria announced that Russian Military Police had been deployed there to ensure security of the city.[9]
Military units of the Military Police of the Russian Federation participated in theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[10][11]
Servicemen of the military police wear the same uniforms as the rest of theRussian Armed Forces (including full dress, service and battle dress).
Signs of special distinction of military police officers are: red beret with the DUI of the National Police, as well as a black armband with the words "ВОЕННАЯ ПОЛИЦИЯ" (Military Police) and the abbreviation "ВП" for domestic deployment or the Latin alphabet "MP" for deployment outside Russia.
Military Police servicemen of fleets are in uniform clothing, provided fornaval infantry, but with the red beret (instead of black) and the black shoulder patch.
