Soviet and Russian MVD Paramilitary and Police Special Forces
Spetsnaz of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) includes numerous Internal Troops (VV) paramilitary units intended for use to combat internal threats to the government, such as insurgencies and mutinies. These units usually have a unique name and official OSN number. The following is a list of Internal Troops OSNs (отряд специального назначения, "special purpose detachment") in 2012:
- 7th OSN Rosich (Novocherkassk)
- 12th OSN Ural (Nizhny Tagil)
- 15th OSN Vyatich (Armavir)
- 17th OSN Edelveys (Mineralnye Vody)
- 19th OSN Ermak (Novosibirsk)
- 20th OSN (Saratov)
- 21st OSN Tayfun (Sosnovka)
- 23rd OSN Mechel (Chelyabinsk)
- 25th OSN Merkuriy (Zhornovka)
- 26th OSN Bars (Kazan)
- 27th OSN Kuzbass (Kemerovo)
- 28th OSN Ratnik (Arkhangelsk)
- 29th OSN Bulat (Ufa)
- 33rd OSN Peresvet (Moscow)
- 34th OSN (Grozny)
- 604th OSN Center (Moscow - former 1st OSN Vityaz and OSN Rus)
Aside from the Internal Troops special forces, the MVD has numerous Politsiya (former Militsiya) police special forces, which are stationed in virtually every Russian city. The majority of Russia's special police officers belong to OMON units, but these are mostly used as riot police and are not considered an elite force, unlike the SOBR (officially called OMSN in 2002-2011) rapid-response units that are consisting of experienced officers who are better trained and equipped than those of OMON.
The Chechen Republic has some unique special police formations, supervised by Ramzan Kadyrov and formed from the "Kadyrovtsy", such as the Kadyrov Regiment ("Kadyrov's spetsnaz").
Read more about this topic: Russian Spetsnaz
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