Kremlin guard
8 April marks the 80 anniversary of a unique military unit - the Presidential Regiment of Russia. He is a member of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
This regiment ensures the safety of the first persons of the state and the safety of the Kremlin values. The regiment consists of three battalions, two special guard companies, an honorary cavalry escort and special forces. Each unit has its own characteristics and specificity.
The location of the unit can be reached not only from the Kremlin, but also directly "from the street", bypassing the Kremlin gates - from Red Square, through the extension to the Nikolskaya Tower. Beyond the metal detectors is the passage to the architectural monument of the 18th century - the Moscow Kremlin Arsenal, chosen as the “headquarters” of the Presidential Regiment.
Zeughaus, built by decree of Peter I, was to serve as a warehouse weapons, ammunition, a museum of military glory.
The arsenal inside is very austere: long corridors with many doors ("Secret Service", "Vesper Service", "Class", "Photolaboratory", "Guard Room", "Room stories parts "...), walls painted with beige paint, a carpet. The building’s age is covered with vaulted ceilings of more than four meters in height and almost three walls thick.
In the closed perimeter of the courtyard of Arsenal are the parade ground and the gym of the regiment.
About the Kremlin, their traditions and features of service in the Presidential regiment - in the special project of TASS.
FROM LIFTING TO CUT DOWN
The life of military personnel is subject to a clear and strict schedule: each unit has its own. Corresponding tables are placed on stands at posts inside Arsenal, so that at any moment you can check whether the actual state of affairs coincides with what is written in the chart.
A single lift for all divisions - 6: 30.
Then follow a half-hour charge and run through the territory of the Kremlin in any weather. To maintain the physical condition of military personnel in the Taynitsky garden - far from the eyes of tourists - even gymnastic equipment was installed.
40 minutes are allotted for "toilet, dressing beds and restoring internal order", for breakfast - 20.
Before lunch, there are mandatory four hours of classes and one hour - "care for weapons." After lunch, three more hours of classes, self-preparation, dinner, evening walk.
The schedule also contains “time for personal needs” - a total of two hours 40 minutes per day, during which you can go to the library, watch TV, just relax.
Hang up is in 22: 30.
Three times a week - on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays - the club, which is visited in full dress. In the poster - Soviet and Russian films about the war and patriotic, concerts, meetings with veterans. Of the latest programs, the soldiers recall with special pleasure the performance of magicians, the concert of Vladimir Vinokur and the conversation with cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.
Of the bad habits is not prohibited only smoking. Alcohol is out of the question.
It’s difficult to use mobile Internet or a telephone in the Arsenal building - after all, the location speaks for itself. But those who are supposed to have both computers and telephones in their offices.
This is a modal military unit, so regiment employees are allowed mobile phones, but without video recording and Internet access.
- Roman Lotvin, Deputy Commander for Personnel, Colonel
The conscripts can go "off time" no earlier than four months. And with well-passed tests. The bosses are usually worried about their subordinates coming to the city: many guys came from small towns, villages and villages, so they can “get lost” outside the Kremlin walls.
Boots to shine
The duty of the servicemen of the Presidential Regiment is to be visible. They are the visiting card of the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia. Their appearance is paid the closest attention.
For example, the preparation of shoes of the Guard of Honor according to internal rules takes place in seven stages, which stretch for almost a day. As servicemen "conjure" over the skis of Olympians with the help of all sorts of secret potions, so the Kremlin people rub their boots. The result can be only one and perfect: in a boot the soldier must see his reflection.
In everyday life, everything is easier. This is a camouflage (summer set now costs about 700 rubles), high low shoes with laces. In winter - pea coat and earflaps made of natural sheepskin.
The parade uniform of the units is different: they are uniforms of dark blue or dark green color, caps, and in winter - overcoats. Moreover, all fabrics are only natural and domestic.
The most expensive - in 60-80 thousand rubles - costing ceremonial uniforms for the company of the special guard, the so-called historical costumes. They are specially designed on the basis of the front military uniform of the Life Guards units of the 1907-1913 model, created on the direct instructions of Nicholas II to celebrate the anniversary of the victory in the 1812 war of the year.
The appearance of a historically motivated dress uniform for the life guards at that time was considered one of the most important tasks. The army, which had experienced the bitterness of defeat in the Japanese campaign, needed a reason to raise the fighting spirit of the army and rally around great-power ideas in the period of imminent unrest. The dress uniform similar to the cut was also on the participants of the Victory Parade on Red Square in 1945.
Porcelain for the Kremlin
The Kremlin is provided with three meals a day, a balanced diet was developed specifically for them by physicians and nutritionists. Products for many years purchased only domestic.
Breakfast is usually milk porridge, bread and butter, hot drink. For lunch, a salad of fresh vegetables, meat or fish soup, a main dish, natural compote or juice are served. Dinner is easier, but also with fresh vegetables and fruits.
Additional food is given during tactical exercises or competitions.
Recently, in the Presidential regiment began to pay increased attention to the serving tables, which is specially trained. All servicemen do not eat "from a common pot"; they are served in separate portions on porcelain dishes. And, as expected, the left fork, right knife.
POST №1 AND NOT ONLY
The leadership of the regiment does not disclose either the number of weapons and equipment, nor the number of units, referring to military secrets. However, it clarifies that more than half of the military personnel are professional contractors.
In the Presidential regiment there are drivers, chemists, rear men, orderlies and other specialists. "We do not have only sappers and scientific companies," - said the deputy commander for work with personnel Colonel Roman Lotvin.
Depending on the chosen profession, a schedule of theoretical and practical training is built. So, at the foot guard of honor - the strengthened drill, at combat units - the emphasis on the possession of weapons, at the Cavalry escort - horse riding and veterinary medicine.
The compulsory preparation includes a significant theoretical part, which, for example, includes the analysis of all kinds of situations, communication with psychologists.
Guys need to be prepared for service: how to behave when checking documents at the entrance to the Kremlin, how to distinguish a lost tourist from a mentally unbalanced citizen, how to respond to the behavior of others
- Roman Lotvin, Deputy Commander for Personnel, Colonel
In addition to the main "headquarters" in the Kremlin Arsenal, the Presidential Regiment has several bases in the Moscow region. For example, natives of the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region, who have the ability to handle horses in their blood, are more likely to get into the village of Kalininets, where the Cavalry honorary escort "quarters". Mainly contract servicemen serve there so that the horse gets used to one rider. There are more than a hundred Russian riding and Trakenin horses in the regiment.
Below Noginsk there is a battalion of operational reserve, which requires daily training at the shooting range.
In the area of Kupavna, two-month internship is being held by Special Guard soldiers. For them, built a model of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, exactly corresponding to the original. Without many hours of experience carrying the guard of the monument to this can not be allowed any soldiers. Before "baptism of fire" - set-off in the Alexander Garden, which is rented at night, without prying eyes.
History and traditions
One of the servicemen of the Presidential Regiment with more than 20-year experience told the TASS correspondent how in his eyes in 1993, by decree of the first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, Post # 1 was removed from Lenin's Mausoleum. Only the command “Two steps forward!” Followed, and the guard was removed.
Documentary film "210 steps", 1974 year. Post №1
@ YouTube / Presidential Regiment
@ YouTube / Presidential Regiment
New Post # 1 appeared only four years later (in 1997) - at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Every day, in any weather, from 8: 00 to 22: 00, the soldiers of the Presidential Regiment are here guard. One shift lasts an hour. Then three hours of rest and a new shift. The mode of exit to the object is in three days.
When conscripts served for two years, those who had 100 exits to the Special Guard enjoyed special honor and respect. The current time to “dial” only a few dozen.
Of course, there is concern for the Special Guard, his “workplace” is equipped with heated bottom and blowing warm air from behind. Similar devices were used in the winter and at Lenin's Mausoleum
- Evgeny Chistyakov, deputy commander of the battalion for work with personnel, lieutenant colonel
Chistyakov also said that the rifles with which the sentry guards intercede are only mock-ups, that is, they cannot, by definition, be fired and should not be of interest to intruders. “The task of the guard is not to stand to death, but to give military honors,” explains the lieutenant colonel.
However, he emphasizes: the servicemen of his unit are perfectly proficient in the "front-line techniques of handling weapons." According to the law and the statute, the Special Guard has the right to use physical force in case of an obvious threat - stabbing with a bayonet, to defend with a butt.
One sad case of the Kremlin regiment's officer Mikhail Bobrov was 4 November 1998. At Spassky Gate, they prevented an unauthorized armed entry into the Kremlin. The self-made device exploded, Bobrov received multiple injuries, but the attacker failed. One of the sections in the "Part History Room" - the regimental museum in Arsenal - is devoted to ordinary Bobrov.
Formally, the date of birth of the regiment is 8 April 1936 of the year. It was then that the Special Purpose Battalion was reorganized into a Special Purpose Regiment. However, his story began much earlier.
After the government moved from Petrograd to Moscow in 1918, the Kremlin’s guard service was carried by the Latvian riflemen, and then the Kremlin cadets of the 1 Moscow Revolutionary Machine-Gun School (now the Moscow Higher Military Command School). In October 1935, the protection tasks were transferred to the Special Purpose Battalion, later reorganized into the Special Purpose Regiment.
The Kremlin regiment has existed as a special unit since 1936. Currently, it is one of the units of the Moscow Kremlin Commandant's Service of the Federal Guard Service (FSO).
The Presidential Regiment is a unique military unit that solves specific combat missions to ensure the security of the first persons of the state and the preservation of the Kremlin values. He is a member of the Federal Security Service of Russia, which has the status of a special service and reports directly to the president.
Since July, 1976, a company of a special guard has been created within the Presidential Regiment, which provides for holding protocol events at the highest level.
Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the military units of the Kremlin commandant's office were entrusted with the task of guarding and defending the Kremlin, where the State Defense Committee and the Supreme Command were located. From 25 June 1941, the regiment switches to the regime of enhanced security and defense of the Kremlin, and 24-hour combat crew duty is established on the wall.
During the war, four groups of snipers of the regiment were sent to the front, which destroyed 1,2 thousands of enemy soldiers and officers. The loss of the Kremlin was 97 people. Three parade battalions of the regiment took part in the historic Victory Parade on Red Square 24 June 1945.
In 1952, the Special Forces Regiment is converted to a Separate Special Purpose Regiment. In 1973, it was renamed the Separate Red Banner Kremlin Regiment, and from 20 in March 1993, it became the Presidential Regiment.
Its "professional" holiday - Day of the regiment - the Kremlin celebrates 7 in May. Every year on this day the regiment is presented to the President of Russia.
HOW TO BECOME A KREMLINER
The call comes from 48 regions of Russia. According to the commander of the Presidential Regiment, Major-General Oleg Galkin, "today the regiment is serving under the call of young people in most regions of our country, among the soldiers and sergeants of the regiment are representatives of Kuzbass and Siberia, the Urals and the Volga region, the northern and central regions of Russia, the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories ".
According to Lotvin, "before the beginning of the spring and autumn calls, the officers of the regiment go on business trips, where they pre-select candidates for recruits in the field to have lists of candidates with the official start of the campaign."
The 12 monthly conscription service is divided into two periods, after each of which exams and tests are taken. The most successful are awarded with awards - special badges and signs "Excellent FSO" and "Kremlin regiment."
The requirements for the future of the Kremlin are many, they are spelled out by a government decree of the year 1999 and other provisions:
• growth from 175 cm to 190 cm;
• weight - the normal ratio of height and body weight;
• visual acuity without correction 0,7 in both eyes and with normal color perception;
• Hearing - perception of whispered speech at a distance of at least 6 meters in both ears.
In the "military-medical" language, compliance with the "presidential standard" sounds like fitness "A" - the highest.
Another condition is the absence of defects (for example, scars, birthmarks) on the open parts of the body - the face and hands. A soldier in the service of a guard of honor with a tattoo or piercing would look at least strange.
We take on the service of young people only with a complete secondary education (higher education is an additional argument in favor of the candidate), physically prepared, with a clean biography
- Roman Lotvin, Deputy Commander for Personnel, Colonel
But knowledge of foreign languages is not required, although the "polyglot" at the post, for example, at the Kutafa Tower, where there are many tourists, may pleasantly surprise foreigners.
When recruiting in the companies of the Honorary and Special Guard, the possession of martial arts is welcomed: such young people have a good stretch, which means that they can easily lift their legs high and beautiful, minting a step.
However, the main condition for admission to the Presidential Regiment is the desire of the future recruit. At the final interview, he must firmly state why he wants to become a Kremlin member.
Twice a year, a solemn oath ceremony takes place in the Presidential Regiment, at which the Kremlin commandant Lt. Gen. Sergey Khlebnikov is always present, and relatives of recruits are invited.
Conscripts who are excellent in service may qualify to sign a contract. After submitting the report, the applicant will pass additional exams and will appear before the attestation commission before the conclusion of the contract. The first contract is for three years with a three-month probation period.
Among the disciplines for which the candidate is being tested are protection against weapons of mass destruction, knowledge of the statutes of the Armed Forces, the history of the Kremlin and its monuments, polygraph testing.
20-year-old Sergei Baranov from the Moscow region with secondary technical education has almost completed his call-up service and is awaiting orders with the decision to conclude a contract. “I want to continue to serve as a combatant company,” he told the TASS correspondent.
Baranov says that he did not encounter hazing in the Presidential Regiment, but did not even hear about cases of non-statutory relations. "In the units, soldiers of the same call are selected, relations between everyone are normal, although there are humorous" clashes "," he admits.
Lotvin notes that the Presidential Regiment has dozens of real dynasties when sons continue the work of their fathers.
Among the famous "graduates" of the regiment: Gennady Zaitsev - Hero of the Soviet Union, the former commander of the special forces of the FSB "Alpha"; Mikhail Barsukov - Kremlin Commander in 1991-1995; Director of the FSB in 1995-1996; writer Vladimir Solouhin. Many former Kremlin citizens have now become mayors of cities, deputies in regional legislative bodies.
Presidential regiment performance at the military band festival in Basel, 2013 year
@ YouTube / Presidential Regiment
@ YouTube / Presidential Regiment
Women in the regiment - the exception rather than the rule. They serve either under contract or as civilian specialists (tailors, librarians, cleaners).
Employees under the contract occupy the positions of "executive officers", that is, they conduct clerical work, work with papers and documents. Many ladies - sergeants and ensigns - among the cooks.
There are women with officer epaulets among psychologists and instructors-cavalry. In the cavalry escort itself, there are also ladies who periodically take part in the solemn ceremony of divorcing the guard at Cathedral Square in the Kremlin. In the middle of April, the new guard-divorce season starts, which is held every Saturday at 12 at noon in the warm season.
Representatives of the weaker sex have never served in combat units. And this is a tradition.
Another tradition is the long-term friendship of the "graduates", regular meetings, including in the Arsenal with the "sharing of experience" with current employees.
The leadership of the regiment is proud that after the end of the service, former Kremlin citizens have no problems with getting higher education or with employment. This military elite is literally snapped up.
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