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Soviet Union [USSR] Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Although a component of the armed forces, the Internal Troops
were subordinate to the MVD. Numbering approximately 260,000 men in
1989, they were one of the largest formations of special troops in
the Soviet Union. The Internal Troops were first established in
1919 under the NKVD. Later they were subordinated to the state
security police, and then in 1934 they were incorporated into the
expanded NKVD. They were back under the authority of the security
police in the early 1950s, but when the KGB was established in
1954, control of the Internal Troops shifted to the MVD. The chief
of the Internal Troops from 1954 to late 1987 was Ivan Iakovlev.
Iakovlev's successor was Iurii Shatalin.
Like the regular army, the Internal Troops for the most part
were composed of conscripts, who were obliged to serve for a
minimum of two years. The Internal Troops accepted candidates for
commission both from the ranks of the armed forces and from
civilian society. The MVD had four schools for training members of
the officer corps, as well as a separate school for political
officers.
The Internal Troops supported MVD missions by supplementing the
militsiia in ensuring crowd control in large cities and, in
emergencies, by helping to fight fires. These troops also guarded
large-scale industrial enterprises, railroad stations, certain
large stockpiles of food and matériel, and certain communication
centers that were strategically significant. One of their most
important functions was that of preventing internal disorder that
might threaten the regime's political stability. They took a direct
role in suppressing anti-Soviet demonstrations in the non-Russian
republics and strikes by Soviet workers. In this capacity, the
Internal Troops probably worked together with the KGB Security
Troops. There was little evidence to support the theory that the
Internal Troops would serve as a counterweight to the regular armed
forces during a political crisis. Most Internal Troops units were
composed of infantry alone and were not equipped with artillery and
tanks; in 1989 there was only one operational division of the
Internal Troops in Moscow. According to some Western analysts, the
Internal Troops were to perform rear security functions in the
event of war, just as they did in World War II.
Internal security in the Soviet Union involved numerous
organizations and was guided by the party leadership. It had always
served more than ordinary police functions and had covered such
areas as intelligence gathering and suppression of dissent. The
party and the regime as a whole depended on the internal security
apparatus to ensure their own survival.
* * *
Among the sources in English on the history of Soviet internal
security are Ronald Hingley's The Russian Police; George
Leggett's The Cheka; Simon Wolin and Robert Slusser's The
Soviet Secret Police; and Boris Levytsky's The Uses of
Terror. Amy W. Knight's The KGB provides a treatment of
the current security police. H.J. Berman and J.W. Spindler's
Soviet Criminal Law and Procedure provides a useful
background for understanding Soviet law and legality. Also see
William Fuller's "The Internal Troops of the MVD SSSR" discusses
the security forces. (For further information and complete
citations,
see Soviet Union USSR -
Bibliography.)
Data as of May 1989
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