Territorial defense deepens in the rear
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Another Russian region plans to organize territorial defense. Last week, the authorities of the Oryol region announced the creation of an appropriate training ground. Terodefense already exists in the Belgorod and Kursk regions bordering Ukraine, as well as in the Pskov region, which is adjacent to Latvia and Estonia (NATO members). The Oryol region will be the first subject that will collect the militia, while not having a direct border either with new territories or with any foreign countries.
Last week Oryol Governor Andrey Klychkov, at a meeting with activists from the Uritsky district, supported the idea of creating territorial defense units. The Oryol region does not border Ukraine, but its residents, according to the governor, see what is happening in neighboring regions (the region directly borders the Bryansk, Kursk, Lipetsk, Tula and Kaluga regions): “There is a proposal to come together and organize a civilian rear in order to to prepare, go through the basics of medical and tactical training, learn how to use weapons. I hope we don’t need it, but we need to be ready for it.” In the near future, the authorities will hold an operational meeting with the power bloc regarding the organization of a training ground, Mr. Klychkov added. The regional government did not answer Kommersant’s questions about sources of funding and plans to arm the militia.
Recall that since October 2022, in the Oryol region, as well as in other regions of the Central Federal District, as well as in Adygea, Kalmykia, Astrakhan and Volgograd regions, there has been a high alert regime, which implies, in particular, measures for territorial and civil defense. Another seven regions directly bordering Ukraine or new territories (Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, Rostov, Voronezh, Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions) have a medium level of response (also includes territorial and civil defense measures). Martial law has been introduced in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
Territorial defense detachments have been operating in the Belgorod Region since last year. Their members are engaged in patrolling settlements located near the border with Ukraine and contribute to the protection of infrastructure facilities. The eight detachments include almost 3 thousand people, more than 400 million rubles were spent on providing uniforms and equipment. The authorities positively assess the work of the militias and declare their intention to double their number and arm them. As Kommersant was told in the government of the Belgorod region, members of the self-defense units underwent fire, commandant, tactical and medical training, and also learned how to operate drones. In May and June, when the Shebekinsky urban district was subjected to massive shelling and attacks by saboteurs from Ukraine, the militia were on duty on roads and objects of special importance, preventing emergencies. The members of the detachments, along with the authorities and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Russian Guard, prevented sabotage and provided assistance to local residents, the government added: they participated in cordoning off the territory, evacuating people, protecting abandoned houses from looting and extinguishing fires.
At the same time, the Belgorod authorities are dissatisfied with the work of other similar structures – voluntary people’s squads (DND), patrolling “peaceful” settlements. Last week, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov criticized them for their formal approach: “Mostly they recruit very young people, many girls. All this looks quite formal. We spend money, but in fact there is practically no result. The work was by and large for the masses. As a result, the authorities decided to redirect the money allocated for DND to payments to self-defense participants.
Territorial defense is also organized in the Kursk region. At the end of last year, detachments of volunteers were united in the Patriot squad, which is engaged in combat training and patrols settlements. Governor Roman Starovoit actively encourages local residents to join the ranks of the defense forces and himself reports on “improving tactical training skills” in the camps of the squad.
In June, the head of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, announced the creation of a territorial defense. The region bordering NATO countries must be ready “for any development of events,” the governor explained. According to him, the Pskov region is using the Belgorod experience in creating “defense and security assistance teams”, whose tasks will include assistance to law enforcement agencies in possible emergencies. In July, Mr. Vedernikov clarified that the militia was called “Alexander Nevsky’s squad”; “everyone from young to old – from 14 years old” can join it. The combatants will “contribute” to ensuring the security of the region from the “most likely threats” – unmanned aerial vehicles, sabotage and reconnaissance groups and terrorist attacks, the governor summed up.
However, not all border regions see the point in organizing a militia. For example, in the government of the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, where saboteurs penetrated in March this year, which led to the death of two people and the injury of a 10-year-old boy, Kommersant was told that there were no plans to create territorial defense units. Earlier, Governor Alexander Bogomaz called this a “last resort”, the need for which is not yet available.
The authorities of the Crimea also still do not intend to resort to the experience of other regions in creating a territorial defense system. As a source in the regional government told Kommersant, the leadership of the republic relies on the forces of the army based on the peninsula, as well as on internal reserves: the “People’s Militia of Crimea”, organized in 2014, and the PMC “Konvoy”, consisting mainly of Cossacks, former military, employees of security structures and participants of the “Crimean Spring”.
In the administration of the Krasnodar Territory, Kommersant did not answer the question about the possible creation of territorial defense structures. In open sources, this form of security in the region is also not mentioned. The latest published report of the ataman of the Kuban Cossack army Alexander Vlasov (vice-governor for the development of the Cossack movement) for 2022 does not contain any mention of the existing or planned territorial defense. At the same time, the report contains data on volunteer detachments, military training centers and Cossack law enforcement squads. Unofficially, representatives of the Kuban Cossack Host explain that the discussion of plans to create new paramilitary structures is possible only upon agreement with the administration of the region, as this affects security issues. At the end of last year, the press service of the regional administration told Kommersant that there was no talk of creating territorial defense detachments in the region, since the Krasnodar Territory is not a border region.
The press service of the government of the Rostov region did not respond to a request from Kommersant about plans to create territorial defense units in the region.
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