The Duma passed a law allowing the Russian Guard to have heavy equipment

On Wednesday, the State Duma adopted the draft law, which gives the Russian Guard the right to have heavy military equipment in service, in both the first and final readings. As reported on the website of the State Duma, “the Russian Guardsmen will be able to use such equipment to protect citizens, officials and military personnel, to ensure security during mass riots and in emergency situations, as well as to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups.” About the fact that Rosgvardiya will receive heavy equipment, its director Viktor Zolotov said shortly after the mutiny demand of PMC “Wagner”.

The draft law amends the law “On National Guard Forces”. The term “weapons” will be replaced by the term “armament”, and the term “military equipment” will be replaced by “military equipment”, which means “various technical means of equipping troops for combat and everyday activities”. According to the authors of the document – the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Alexander Khinshtein, the chairman of the Defense Committee Andrey Kartapolov and the head of the Security Committee Vasyl Pyskarev – the document “essentially expands the capabilities of the National Guard troops.” At the same time, they claim that the draft law will only bring the current norms of the law “in line with reality”, since the Russian Guard already has transport planes, combat helicopters and armored personnel carriers in service. After Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion, Zolotov also said that the Russian Guard would receive tanks and artillery. The new version of the law allows this to be done, but it does not directly mention tanks or any other equipment.

The bill was submitted to the State Duma just two days ago, on July 17. At the same time, it became known that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, transferred the “Grom” special forces from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the structure of the Russian Guard.

Rosgvardiya was organized on the basis of former internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The task of the organization of the authorities is called “ensuring state and public safety.” Rosgvardiya units are also taking part in the war in Ukraine.