General Zhdanov recalled a landmark event in the fight against organized crime

“We stopped the wave of banditry in Russia”

An interesting and significant date is celebrated on Saturday: February 17, 1993, an order was signed by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs on the creation of the Moscow Regional Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (RUBOP). The head of the International Bureau of Investigation, police lieutenant general, Doctor of Law, Honored Lawyer of Russia, Professor Yuri Zhdanov, recalls this history of domestic law enforcement agencies.

“Exactly 31 years ago, in February 1993, an order was signed to create the Moscow Regional Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (RUBOP), recalls General Zhdanov. “He was given a headquarters on Shabolovka in house No. 6, in the building of the former Oktyabrsky district party committee. The department was then headed by police colonel Vladimir Borisovich Rushailo, in the future – Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Hero of Russia and Colonel General.

Personally, I have known him since the end of these very “dashing nineties” and have always admired his intelligence, resourcefulness and ability to find the right solution in the fight against organized crime. This is not only the use of force, but also the ability to correctly use intelligence information, calculate criminals, and the ability to play off criminal groups. I heard about something like this only once in my life, when Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov told me about his unofficial, so to speak, activities. He, too, used information as a weapon to fight our enemies.

What is important and interesting is that the Moscow RUBOP has always been envied, because the capital’s mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the Moscow Government have always treated this unit as their favorite brainchild and helped with both the premises and equipment.

But those years were very difficult; literally everything was in short supply, even ammunition for fire training of employees. Including cadets of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which I headed in those years. It is clear that not only were there not enough cartridges, but also people. I remember that in 1999, Rushailo, already the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia, ordered five thousand cadets to be taken out of classes to check the attics and basements of Moscow – they were looking for hexogen and other explosives. I would like to note that the separation of cadets from the educational process – for any reason – was, to put it mildly, very unwelcome and was considered almost an emergency. But this was one of those non-standard solutions that saved several more houses in the capital from explosions.

We can confidently say that the first Moscow RUBOP gave a new impetus to the fight against organized crime groups, which stopped the wave of banditry in Russia.”