Perhaps there is some degree of injustice in the fact that the military personnel of the internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation received the opportunity to celebrate their holiday only relatively recently - a little over three years ago. On March 19, 1996, the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 394 was published, which stated:: "Taking into account the role of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in protecting the interests of individuals, society and the state from criminal and other illegal encroachments, I decree: to establish the day of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and celebrate it on March 27." And this, I note, despite the fact that the law enforcement forces have almost two centuries of history! However, the formations intended to protect the internal state order that existed earlier were subordinate to the civil provincial authorities. Only in 1811, three decrees of Emperor Alexander I were issued one after another: on the transfer of commands that protect the internal state order from the civil to the military department (January 16); on the formation of internal guard troops (March 27 - this date became the Day of the Internal troops) and on the distribution of internal garrison battalions into districts and districts. brigades (in April). By the last decree, the entire territory of Russia was divided into 8 (later 12) internal guard districts.

Soon, on July 3, 1811, the emperor approved the "Regulations for the Internal Guard", which defined the main tasks of the newly created power structure: assistance in the execution of laws and court sentences, conducting operations to catch large gangs of robbers, thieves and bandits, protecting order during mass events, including at auctions, Internal guard units were also used to "disperse crowds prohibited by law, to pacify insubordination and rioting, to catch fugitive criminals and deserters, to pursue prohibited and secretly transported goods, to assist in collecting taxes and arrears, to detach sentries to public places, to protect the population, to protect the population,to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population, to protect the health of the population. prisons and prisons, for escorting the treasury", and in addition, it was charged with the duty "to take into custody and provide the provincial authorities with people caught up in the scene of a crime, riot or violence against another person or property, and found with bloodied weapons or clothes..."

As can be seen from the excerpts of the above document, the main functions of law enforcement officers at the beginning of the last century remained virtually unchanged until the end of the present century, although the internal troops were called differently at different times: until 1864-the corps of internal guard troops, later-local troops,and from 1886 to 1917 - the convoy guard. As you can see, in post-October Russia, there were also enough renames. But the essence of law enforcement officers did not change when their names were changed - it was a police body that had a military organization. Accordingly, it was headed from the very foundation by military people. So, the first inspector of the internal guard from July 1, 1811, and from February 7, 1816 - the commander of a separate corps of internal guard troops was Count General of infantry Yevgraf Fedorovich Komarovsky, who took part in the Italian and Swiss campaigns of Suvorov.

In difficult times for Russia, soldiers called up to protect internal law and order very often found themselves on the front line. For example, during the Patriotic War of 1812, parts of the internal guard were first used to train recruits and militia, and as the enemy invaded, they joined the active army, bravely fighting the French.

It is also indicative of the fact that after October 1917, the convoy guard teams were not disbanded and subsequently became part of the NKVD troops. Already in 1919, the armed formations that performed security functions were combined with parts of the Cheka, as a result of which the internal security forces of the republic were formed, subordinate to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs.

But, perhaps more difficult than others, in the first years of Soviet power, the soldiers of the internal troops stationed in the Far East had to. The vast territory (the Eastern District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation still remains the largest, occupying more than a third of the country's territory) required constant protection from all kinds of encroachments. There was not a single armed conflict in which the Far Eastern formations of the internal troops, created here by order of the Minister of War of the Far Eastern Republic V. K. Blucher, did not take part. In the early 1920s-the struggle against the interventionists. In the 29th - the conflict on the CER. At that time, many soldiers in the units of the internal troops stationed in Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk, Chita, Ulan-Ude, Nerchinsk, were preparing for retirement in the reserve... all those who were going to go to their father's house were sent to the Red Army units, to the combat area. In the 38th - a new test of strength-events on Khasan, in the 39th-Khalkhin-Gol. And then the war with the White Finns broke out, and echelons with Far Eastern law enforcement soldiers were drawn to the West...

The contribution of the internal troops to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War should be mentioned in particular. Only during the battle of Moscow, 15 divisions were formed, the backbone of which was made up of regular NKVD soldiers, including Far Easterners. In November-December 1942, 6 more divisions were formed in Khabarovsk, Chita, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Tashkent at the expense of the personnel of the NKVD troops. In total, during the war years, 54 formations of the internal troops took part in combat operations. They defended Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev and Odessa, Voronezh and Stalingrad, defended the North Caucasus, fought on the Kursk Bulge and liberated Europe from the" brown plague". For heroism and bravery of more than 100 thousand servicemen of the Internal Affairs Ministry

The troops were awarded orders and medals, more than 200 people were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Among them, there are many who came to the front from the units of the internal troops of the Far East. Today, materials carefully collected by the head of the branch of the Central Museum of the Internal Troops of the Russian Federation, retired front-line Colonel Ivan Konstantinovich Gumenny, tell about their exploits. Here are just a few surnames:

Vasily Grigoryevich Zherebtsov. He began serving in the NKVD regiment in Ussuriysk in 1934. In the 43rd year, by personal example, he led the soldiers to attack, providing a breakthrough that allowed our troops to advance 100 km into the depth of the enemy's defense. He fell on the battlefield. Posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, enlisted in the lists of one of the units stationed in the Far East.

Dmitry Stepanovich Dotsenko. He put on a military uniform in 1935. He served in NKVD units in Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk. At the front-from the 42nd. He fought from the Kursk Bulge to Prague. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for crossing the Neman River.

Alexander Dmitrievich Rykhlov. He began his service in the 68th Regiment of the NKVD troops, stationed in Chita, in 1934. During the war, he was a pilot of the 6th NKVD squadron. For his fearlessness in air battles, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Nikolai Alekseevich Vasiliev. In the Red Army since 1919. Participant of the Civil War. In the troops of the OGPU-NKVD-since 1921. In 37-40 - commander of the Kolyma regiment of the NKVD troops. At the front, he worked his way up to the commander of the 24th Guards Corps, Lieutenant General. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for Stalingrad.

Grigory Markovich Gridasov. In the NKVD troops since 1940. At the front , as part of the 258th Khabarovsk Regiment of the 140th Division, he worked his way up from the first platoon commander to the head of intelligence of the regiment. He received the Golden Star of the Hero after the war, in May 1946.

Ilya Semenovich Antonov. In the NKVD regiment since 1935. At the front, he became a battalion commander. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded for crossing the Dnieper River...

This list could go on. But I would like to tell you a little about the post-war generation of law enforcement defenders. Although it did not survive all the hardships that fell to the lot of front-line soldiers, it is worthy of words of gratitude to no less extent. After all, he had to perform tasks akin to combat. In the late 40s and early 50s, the internal troops were assigned to protect research institutions and enterprises of the nuclear industry and rocket construction. It is no coincidence that from 1947 to 1953 they were subordinated to the Ministry of State Security. But then they are again transferred to the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and are given new powers: the internal troops were entrusted with the protection of correctional labor institutions, plus the scope of tasks for protecting public order together with the police increased in their official activities, for which special motorized units were created.

The Eastern District of the Internal Troops, created as a military association on January 11, 1978 (at that time - the Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR for the Far East and Eastern Siberia), was also assigned the task of protecting communications on the Trans - Baikal and Far Eastern Railways, and later on the BAM. In 1980, a separate military unit was added to the district's troops to protect the world's northernmost Bilibino nuclear power plant...

- Service in the units of the internal troops, - emphasizes the deputy commander of the district troops for educational work, Colonel Nikolai Korsakov, - perhaps this is why it differs from service in other law enforcement agencies, that here, in addition to the main permanent tasks, you also have to perform a lot of unscheduled ones, Okay, if these were business trips from the category of "calm", like in the 80th, when the consolidated regiment of Far Easterners ensured order in the capital during the Olympics. But more often there are business trips of a different kind: a severe flood, as was the case in the Lazovsky district of the Khabarovsk Territory, when parts of the Eastern District of the Internal Troops evacuated the population from the flood sites, then heavy snowfalls, when all communication with entire Far Eastern regions is interrupted, then operations to search for and detain criminals (sometimes more than a dozen of these. And if we take into account that the personnel of the district performs service and combat tasks on the territory of more than 8 million square kilometers, including 13 subjects of the Russian Federation, then it becomes clear how many problems they face that they do not face in other districts.

It would seem that Ukraine is so far from the Far East. But when the USSR was still alive, Chernobyl was a disaster for everyone. And it is not surprising that many servicemen of the Eastern District of the Internal Troops visited the disaster zone.

And closer to the collapse of the Soviet Union, hot spots broke out. Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan... Who localized the centers of mass riots on ethnic grounds and stood up for the protection of the constitutional rights of citizens? Who showed maximum endurance in extreme conditions, sometimes protecting civilians from bullets with their own breasts? Again-soldiers of the internal troops, including the Eastern District. More than 30 Far Easterners were awarded orders and medals for their participation in the elimination of interethnic conflicts in Uzbekistan and the Transcaucasian republics.

Chechnya is a special page in the history of the district's troops. 7 generals, 798 officers, thousands of soldiers, sergeants and warrant officers were baptized there. It is painful to write about this, but 57 servicemen did not return from this war, 160 were wounded...

I remember the first "zinc" that came to Khabarovsk from Chechnya. This was in January 1995.

Senior flight technician of the Mi-8 helicopter from the air squadron of the Eastern District of the Internal Troops, Senior Lieutenant Alexey Sharov, could have refused this business trip: he had a seriously ill wife who could have been hospitalized at any time, then their four-year-old daughter would have been left without parental care (which eventually happened). But the officer wasn't used to running away from difficulties. And on that fateful day, January 5, he did not refuse to take to the air when another helicopter, which was supposed to perform the task of transporting goods, was faulty. Already on the way back, Sharov's Mi-8 was shot down. From the lost helicopter there was only a bright torch in the mountains...

And one of the last "tsinkov" delivered to the Far Eastern land from this war the body of Lieutenant Colonel of the medical service Pyotr Mikhailovich Zakharchuk. The Chief Medical Officer of the Eastern District of the Internal Troops visited Chechnya three times. And he also had every moral right to refuse the last business trip. But he did not do it, thinking: "While our guys are fighting in Chechnya, I am more needed there..." According to eyewitnesses, during his stay in Chechnya, Pyotr Mikhailovich only brought about 30 people out of a state of clinical death. He operated, sometimes without tools at hand, directly under fire, using an ordinary knife, the case of which is now stored in the museum... When the armored personnel carrier in which the officer was traveling was ambushed and set on fire by militants, Zakharchuk, even seriously wounded, provided first aid not to himself, but to the injured soldiers... By decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was awarded the title Hero of Russia. Posthumously...

In total, 418 military personnel of the district received military awards for the period of performing service and combat tasks in Chechnya. How bravely the guys from the Blagoveshchensk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur regiments fought, now there are legends. But, despite the fact that this war is already in the past, district officers regularly go to this hot spot on business trips. I had a chance to talk with Lieutenant Colonels Vladimir Ryabinin and Vladimir Krasno-Polsky, who recently returned from there, who served as officers of the directions. Now the function of the operational group of internal troops stationed in Chechnya is one - to block the administrative border with Russia, so as not to allow any infection to enter its territory, as the officers say. But this is very difficult to do. If the roads can still be kept under control, then, for example, the Stavropol steppe can not be blocked. Sometimes even mobile groups of 3, 10 - and 30-minute readiness don't have time to work. Taking advantage of this "transparency" of the border, the militants regularly make attacks in neighboring Ossetia, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Stavropol: The goal is to keep the population in fear, to destabilize the situation in the region in every possible way. They say we're the boss here, and no amount of feds can help you. Therefore, explosions are still booming in Makhachkala and Kizlyar, cattle are being stolen from the territories adjacent to Chechnya, and hostage-taking continues. At the same time, as far as the data of our intelligence and counterintelligence officers allow, training of militants and terrorist groups continues at the base of some field commanders.

And the war is already as if there is no war! And Chechnya is like a subject of the Russian Federation. As a result, the troops " get their hands tied. There is information about the existence of such a base, and the location of its location is known, and then-as in the title of the movie: I know that you know that I know... And this position is incomprehensible to the officers.

But Chechnya is still far away. But in the daily activities of the district troops, as they say, even in peacetime there is a place for heroic deeds. In the first two months of 1999 alone, military personnel of operational and special motorized units detained 11,978 offenders, 77 of them for crimes. 3 firearms and 7 edged weapons were seized. I must say, the collection of the branch of the Central Museum of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, in Khabarovsk, contains many interesting specimens. There is even a Borz submachine gun developed by Chechen craftsmen. Not to mention such "trifles" as fake dollars, fake domestic banknotes and even certificates for the right to check guards.

The military personnel of the Eastern District of Internal Troops, which is currently headed by Lieutenant General Vladimir Yefimov, continue to successfully perform tasks in accordance with their purpose, focusing their main efforts on protecting important state facilities and communication hubs, protecting public order and ensuring public safety.

This is confirmed by the state awards, which on the eve of the Day of Internal Troops were awarded to a large group of servicemen of the Eastern District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for success in maintaining the proper level of combat readiness of the troops and high personal professional qualities. Major-Generals M. Lagutko and V. Antipyev, officers I. Lukyanov, V. Vorobyov, A. Kirillov, A. Kozlov, M. Kozyrev, P. Khokhlov, A. Pokhilyuk and others were awarded the Motherland awards. And the commander of the troops of the Eastern District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant - General V. Efimov, and the Chief of Staff of the district, Major-General V. Romanov, were awarded a rare award for the results achieved in operational and official activities-named weapons.

I will probably not be mistaken if I say that it is precisely on such people, who devote themselves to the service without a trace, that the rule of law in Russia is now maintained...

Permanent link to this publication: