Senators heard adult problems – Newspaper Kommersant No. 213 (7414) of 11/17/2022

52 thousand employees will work in the internal affairs bodies on the territory of the new subjects of the Russian Federation, about 2 thousand people are planned to be sent there from the “old” regions. This was announced on Wednesday at the “government hour” in the Federation Council by the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kolokoltsev. According to him, the Ukrainian leadership is not familiar with the concepts of “honesty” and “humanity”, so the Ministry of Internal Affairs is doing everything possible to protect Russian territory.

The plenary session of the Federation Council on November 16 began with foreign policy issues. Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, informed his colleagues that Poland, out of “solidarity with Ukraine,” refused to issue visas to members of the Russian delegation that was going to Warsaw for a session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. And the head of the same committee, Grigory Karasin, reported on the results of the midterm elections to the US Congress, which “although not as scandalous and rigged as the election of Joe Biden as president in 2020, once again revealed serious flaws in the archaic American electoral system.” All this could lead to “civil conflict in the United States,” he reassured the senators.

After that, the upper house switched to internal affairs, after hearing the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Kolokoltsev. He said that after the introduction of martial law in the new subjects and different levels of response in the “old” (see. “Kommersant” dated October 20) law enforcement agencies have strengthened the protection of public order, increased the density of orders and stepped up the search of vehicles.

In the new territories, work is already underway to form permanent internal affairs bodies: in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics they will have the status of ministries, and in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions – the main departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is also planned to create about 100 regional level bodies.

The total staffing requirement is estimated at 52 thousand people, about 2 thousand will be sent there from the “old” regions, including for humanitarian purposes. In the meantime, “temporary departments” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been formed in the new regions, and its “freelance units” have been deployed in the new republics, Mr. Kolokoltsev explained.

The situation in the new and neighboring regions is complicated, but is under control, the minister assured. There are deployed 15 consolidated police units, including with the involvement of employees who served in the regions of the North Caucasus. After the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, the Ministry of Internal Affairs pays special attention to the Crimea and Sevastopol, since “our neighbors will stop at nothing,” Volodymyr Kolokoltsev added: “For the leadership of Ukraine, the concepts of “integrity” and “humanity” are completely absent, so anything can be expected from them . And we will do everything in our power to prevent them from doing anything on our territory.”

This year, thanks to the “caring position of the subjects”, the number of citizens participating in law enforcement has increased, the minister continued. For example, in the Belgorod region, the work of combatants is paid, and in certain areas of the Voronezh region, they are provided with free travel or exemption from paying land tax. “But this is not the case everywhere. The heads of regions are recommended to take additional measures to introduce compensations and benefits,” the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted.

He then cited several figures indicating positive dynamics in the work of law enforcement agencies. Thus, the “inconspicuous targeted work” of the district police officers on the prevention of domestic violence made it possible to reduce the number of domestic crimes this year by 10%, including serious and especially serious crimes by 4%. Attempts to attack educational institutions were suppressed in nine regions, and the proportion of juvenile delinquency in the total mass reached a minimum over the past 15 years. The number of accidents involving drunk drivers has decreased by 20%, and with a fatal outcome – by a third. “There are about 6 million foreigners in our country. 9% have no legal grounds for that. For comparison: in 2016 it was almost every third migrant,” Vladimir Kolokoltsev reported.

At the same time, he drew attention to a number of problems. Thus, the shortage of employees in the internal affairs bodies today is about 90 thousand people.

So far, this does not affect the crime situation, but “there is a limit to everything,” the minister warned: in Moscow alone, the number of police officers has almost halved in recent years.

After the report, Senator Alexander Varfolomeev asked how things were going with the creation of sobering-up stations. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs willingly spoke about “some progress”: for example, last year 50 thousand drunken citizens were taken to specialized medical institutions, which “literally” saved their lives. However, there are sobering-up stations only in 19 regions, Mr. Kolokoltsev complained. The leaders in their number are Tatarstan, Tuva, Kurgan and Chelyabinsk regions. “The network needs to be developed, they should be in every region, especially with difficult weather conditions,” the minister said.

Senator Vladimir Poletaev asked for clarification on the basis of which the list of criminal offenses leading to the termination of the acquired citizenship of the Russian Federation was formed (these provisions are contained in the new version of the law “On Citizenship”, which is under consideration in the State Duma). The minister explained that initially heavy terrorist and extremist offenses were included in order to prevent threats to the constitutional order, and then drug-related crimes were added to them. “Over the current year, the number of foreigners who have committed crimes has increased, and 80% of this growth is drug trafficking,” Vladimir Kolokoltsev explained. At the same time, he emphasized that the termination of citizenship acquired by birthright is possible only on a voluntary basis.

Andrew Ashes