April 27 in Russia marks the Day of the formation of special units of the MVD of Russia
Almost immediately after the publication of this order in 1946, five special commandant's offices were created in the Soviet Union, the duty of which was to ensure the protection of the most important facilities related to the creation of nuclear weapons. The ordinary and non-commissioned staff of these commandant's offices were super-urgent employees, today they would be called "contract servicemen." The special units began to fulfill their duties in August of 1946, and in 1947, the number of such commandant's offices was brought to 15, since the number of objects that needed protection was constantly increasing.
At the same time, it became clear that commandant's offices for the protection of important state facilities were not enough, and special regiments and battalions were formed on their basis. They were supposed to be engaged not only in the protection of individual enterprises, research laboratories and institutions, but also in closed cities that were rapidly growing around them. The existence of some closed cities was a state secret for several decades. For this reason, mainly due to the specifics of the activity, for quite a long time the activity of such parts was hidden from the general public.
To serve in the special units of the internal troops, they tried to select only the best personnel, while they were recruited not only from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also from the border troops and various army units and fleet Soviet Union. Moreover, in the work of the internal troops, the activity of special units has become one of the main areas - the reasons for this today are quite understandable and explainable. At the same time, employees of special units already in those distant times had to face serious challenges that the atomic era posed to mankind.
In particular, they had to face a major radiation disaster, about which not many people know today. Almost everything was heard about Chernobyl, Pripyat and the tragedy at the Chernobyl NPP, but not many people know about the accident that took place on 29 of September on 1957. In those years, this topic was not even covered in the Soviet press. At the same time, the accident at the Mayak chemical plant located in the closed city of Chelyabinsk-40 (Ozersk) became the first man-made radiation emergency in the USSR. At that time, several enterprises of the Mayak plant, a fire department, a military camp, a prison colony, and then an area of 23 thousand square kilometers with a population of about 270 thousand people in three areas were in the radiation contamination zone. This accident had its liquidators, as well as numerous immigrants. The consequences of the accident still affect the descendants of those who took part in the liquidation of the accident at the Maya chemical plant and fulfilled their task with honor in very difficult conditions. In the future, military personnel of military units for the protection of important state facilities and special cargo took part in the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where they also coped with their task with honor.
Today, almost everything is known about the Chernobyl disaster. It is a lot and quite deservedly said about the feat of fire brigades, who were the first to encounter a terrible tragedy. But one should not forget about the courage of all the personnel of the troops, and especially about the guard of the guard guarding the nuclear power station, of the special guards of Colonel V. Biryukov. At the time of the explosion at the station’s fourth unit, the sentinel turned out to be the closest to the scene of the tragedy — Ensign Ivan Shcherba. It was he who first reported the incident to the guardroom and continued to serve until the end of his shift. The head of the guard, Senior Warrant Officer V. German, immediately took all measures to alert the fire brigades and the station administration, as well as to strengthen the security of the facility.
Despite the extremely dangerous and difficult situation at the NPP, especially in the first days after the explosion, none of the servicemen of the commandant’s office flinched, they all continued to carry out military service to protect the nuclear power plant and were out of action only for medical reasons. At the same time, not only the rank and file of the special units of the internal troops, but also many officers of the Directorate took part in the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl NPP. At various times, in the 5-10 infection zone, a person worked up to half of all officers of the Office of Special Parts of Internal Troops, Lt. Gen. Vyacheslav Bolakhnin recalled.
It is worth noting that today the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation themselves have already ceased to exist. 5 April 2016 of the year Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the creation of a national guard of the Russian Federation on the basis of the internal troops of the Russian Interior Ministry, which became part of the new structure - the Federal Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation. That in general does not cancel the holiday itself, especially for those citizens who were directly connected with special units of the internal troops.
Over the years of the existence of these special units, their servicemen were engaged in protecting not only the research centers of the nuclear industry, but also the products of these centers. They carried the protection of nuclear power plants, factories for the production of weapons and military equipment, closed military camps, storage sites for hazardous substances, and also escorted special cargoes. After the reorganization of the internal troops into the National Guard, these tasks still need to be addressed. Therefore, it is of particular importance to increase the combat readiness, the introduction of modern technologies and equipment, the growth of the professional level of the personnel of the units of special units that protect the most important objects of the Russian Federation.
Currently, such connections provide reliable protection for more than 100 of various government facilities of special importance. Special units are entrusted with a very responsible mission, which is to timely prevent and suppress terrorist activities, maintain public order near the objects protected by them and ensure the safety of citizens.
In modern realities, the anti-terrorist activities of such units are particularly important. The threat of terrorist acts at sites of special importance is not discounted, since such acts of terrorism can have the most terrible consequences. The protection of nuclear power plants and nuclear hazardous facilities imposes a special responsibility on the structures protecting them. The threat of terrorist attacks on such facilities should be adequately contrasted with the systematic work on the practical training of command and control bodies intended for the protection of especially important objects, as well as military units of other purposes, which are involved in their cover in case of a threat or emergency. Anti-terrorism exercises are regularly held in the units responsible for the protection of especially important objects.
On this day, “Military Review” congratulates all those who gave their years of service to special units of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as those who are still engaged in the protection of special work places, important state facilities and escort of special cargoes.
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