The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs (MVD) (Russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел, Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del; abbreviated ВВ, VV); alternatively translated as "Interior (Troops or Forces)" is a paramilitary gendarmerie-like force in the now-defunct Soviet Union and its successor countries, particularly, in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Internal Troops are subordinated to the Internal Affairs Ministries (police) of the respective countries. They are used to support and reinforce the Militsiya, deal with large-scale crowd control, internal armed conflicts, prison security (except in Russia) and safeguarding of highly-important facilities (like nuclear power plants). As such, the force was and is involved in all conflicts and violent disturbances in the history of the Soviet Union and modern Russia, including Stalin's mass deportations, imprisonments and executions and the First and Second Chechen Wars.
During wartime, the Internal Troops falls under Armed Forces military command and fulfill the missions of local defence and rear area security.
Read more about Internal Troops: History of The Soviet Internal Troops, General Organization, Internal Troops in Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words internal and/or troops:
“The real essence, the internal qualities, and constitution of even the meanest object, is hid from our view; something there is in every drop of water, every grain of sand, which it is beyond the power of human understanding to fathom or comprehend. But it is evident ... that we are influenced by false principles to that degree as to mistrust our senses, and think we know nothing of those things which we perfectly comprehend.”
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“O, now for ever
Farewell the tranquil mind, farewell content,
Farewell the plumèd troops and the big wars
That makes ambition virtue! O, farewell!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)