Russia and The Soviet Union
Neither the Russian Empire, nor the Soviet Union ever had an organised force that could be equated to a militia. Instead a form of organisation that pre-dated the Russian state was used during national emergencies called Narodnoe Opolcheniye (People's Regimentation). More comparable to the English Fyrd, it was a popular voluntary joining of the local полк polk, or a regiment, though it had no regular established strength or officers, these usually elected from prominent local citizens. Although these spontaneously created popular forces had participated in several major wars of the Russian Empire, including in combat, they were not obligated to serve for more than one year, and notably departed for home during the 1813 campaign in Germany. On only one occasion, during the military history of the Soviet Union, the Narodnoe Opolcheniye was incorporated into the regular forces of the Red Army, notably in Leningrad and Moscow. The term Militsiya in Russia and former Communist Block nations was specifically used to refer to the civilian police force, and should not be confused with the conventional western definition of militia. In some of these states militia was renamed back to police (Bulgaria, Poland, Georgia) while in the other states it remains (Ukraine, Belarus). In Russia it was renamed to Police (in Russian: Полиция, Politsiya) in March 2011.
Read more about this topic: Militia
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