Natalya Kholmogorova: the closure of the FMS shows us that the highest authorities are dissatisfied with the policies being pursued. And he announced the creation of a national guard, headed by General Viktor Zolotov

By decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Olga Kirillova, who previously headed the capital division of the disbanded Federal migration service(FMS) of the Russian Federation. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs sets her the task of finally getting rid of “queues for government services”; Mrs. Kirillova herself stated her desire, first of all, to “preserve the personnel” of the former FMS, whose staff will be reduced by 30%. Experts recall that migration control was already transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the 2000s and that experience was considered unsuccessful.

On Wednesday, Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev introduced to his subordinates the head of the new Main Directorate for Migration Issues of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel Olga Kirillova. A native of the Rostov region, Ms. Kirillova has worked in the passport and visa structures of the Department of Internal Affairs since 1992. Sakhalin region, from 2006 to 2012 she headed the local department of the FMS, and for the last four years she headed a similar department in Moscow. In particular, with her direct participation, the creation migration center in the village of Sakharovo. According to the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation, as of March 2016 there were almost 9.9 million foreign citizens in Russia; Moscow and the region account for 35% of the total migration flow.

Mr. Kolokoltsev expressed hope that the reorganization of the abolished FMS would not affect the “quality of services,” ordering Olga Kirillova in her new post to finally get rid of “queues for government services.” Olga Kirillova spoke about the need “not to destroy what we built.” She clarified that she will try to “preserve the personnel” of the FMS and will “fight for every employee” (by presidential decree, her staff in the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be reduced by 30%). A TASS source in law enforcement agencies reported that FMS employees have already begun to receive notices of dismissal and “it is unknown which of them will end up in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

According to Ms. Kirillova, her head office will first have to “decide on the structure itself.” The press services of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation and the capital's department of the Federal Migration Service do not yet know what it will look like. Earlier in the media it was discussed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would take over passport and visa functions and control over illegal migration, while supervision over labor migrants will be given to the Ministry of Labor. The head of the Migration 21st Century Foundation, former deputy head of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Postavnin, believes that “this scheme is no longer relevant, and all functions will remain with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” The appointment of Ms. Kirillova, according to Mr. Postavnin, indicates the transfer of local control over labor migration regional authorities. “This is good: local authorities know better about migration problems,” the expert believes.

Vladimir Kolokoltsev on Wednesday described Olga Kirillova as a “highly qualified specialist” whom he chose taking into account the specifics of the FMS. Thus, the minister explained that the new leader “did an excellent job” with her work in the capital region. Mr. Postavnin says that Olga Kirillova was able to establish good interaction with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and without the recommendations of the mayor, her “personnel leap into the conservative system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would hardly have been real.” The secretary of the public advisory council at the capital's department of the Federal Migration Service, Yuri Moskovsky, says that Ms. Kirillova paid great attention to working with the public.

The head of the information and legal center “Migration and Law”, Gavkhar Dzhuraeva, is alarmed by the transfer of functions from the FMS to the police department. According to her, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs treat migrants with administrative violations as “inveterate criminals” and even allow themselves to “give nationalist lectures” during detentions. But Ms. Juraeva welcomes the appointment of Olga Kirillova, characterizing her as “a professional who combines a rational approach with humanism.”

The head of the public council under the Federal Migration Service of Russia, Vladimir Volokh, believes that the new headquarters will first of all strengthen control over illegal migration. At the same time, the expert recalls that in 2002 control over migration processes has already been transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and many areas of activity were left without proper supervision. “Comprehensive management of such processes is not exactly a function of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. That experience was considered unsuccessful, and an independent structure was created - the FMS,” recalls Mr. Volokh. However, Vyacheslav Postavnin connects the dissolution of the FMS with its actual transformation into a passport and visa service, while the problems of refugees and internally displaced persons were dealt with de facto by other authorities.

Alexander Voronov, Valeria Mishina

The Security Council on Thursday will discuss at a meeting chaired by Vladimir Putin the issues of “improving migration policy in the interests of national security,” the presidential press service reported on Wednesday

One of the issues on the agenda of the meeting may be the reorganization or even liquidation of the Federal Migration Service (FMS), an interlocutor familiar with several members of the Security Council and a person close to the leadership of the FMS told Vedomosti. The idea is not new, the issue was submitted for further development to the Security Council in February of this year, and a decision may be announced at this meeting, one of the interlocutors knows.

The FMS itself did not put forward any proposals on this matter, or a very narrow circle of people were involved in this, says Vedomosti’s interlocutor, close to the service’s management. According to him, proposals are being considered to transfer migration control to the FSB or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the functions of regulating labor migration and the resettlement program for compatriots to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Federal Agency for National Affairs. At the same time, it is proposed to establish a three-year transition period for these transformations, and its authors call the main reason for the proposed reform the need to save budget funds, the interlocutor adds. Approximately such options are being discussed, but “the decisions of the leadership” of the country are awaiting decisions on many forks, explains an interlocutor familiar with members of the Security Council.

Vedomosti's interlocutor in the Kremlin neither denied nor confirmed the impending disbandment of the FMS, noting that “sharp actions are unlikely to be expected.” At the same time, he did not rule out that the government may be given instructions to study the issue of the future of this service. “This is an imitation of reform,” says another interlocutor familiar with members of the Security Council. An interlocutor close to the leadership of United Russia says that there is indeed talk of liquidating the FMS, but believes that this will not happen.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov did not respond to Vedomosti’s request. The press secretary of the head of the FMS Konstantin Romodanovsky, Zalina Kornilova, told Vedomosti that his participation in the Security Council meeting is planned. When asked whether the issue of liquidating the service and transferring its powers to other departments would be considered, she replied: “I do not have such information and this is the first time I’ve heard about it.”

In the minutes of one of the Security Council meetings there was a point that before June 1, a federal executive body should be determined that would be responsible for the migrant adaptation program, since no one is doing this now, says Vedomosti’s interlocutor in Federal agency for Nationalities Affairs: “There is a possibility that this function will be assigned to our agency and other departments.”

There have been talks about disbanding the FMS over the past year; the last time an attack on it and the FSKN was repelled by the director of the FSKN, Viktor Ivanov, recalls a former federal official: “In essence, the FMS turned into a passport and visa service - the Moscow government took away its patents, regions they can also be taken away; they did not deal with refugees. If migration control is taken away, since the FSB can also deal with illegal migration, then passports and registration, which were once handled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will remain.” According to the interlocutor, the attack on the FMS is serious, as evidenced by the arrest of businessman Dmitry Mikhalchenko, who is one of the key partners of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Passport and Visa Service” of the Federal Migration Service of Russia.

MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin transferred the Federal Service for Drug Control and the Federal Migration Service to the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The head of state announced his decision at a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the head of the Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov, the commander-in-chief of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Viktor Zolotov and the first deputy head of the Federal Migration Service Ekaterina Egorova.

Eliminate confusion and duplication of authority

Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs Anatoly Kucherena suggests that the unification process is unlikely to last for a long time.

“I don’t think that this issue will be resolved for a long time, since the decision has been made, instructions will be given by the head of state. And these instructions, accordingly, will need to be carried out as soon as possible. Of course, certain stages will be defined, some transition periods, maybe , but I don’t think that the process itself will drag on. I think it can be implemented in the next few months,” Kucherena noted.

He believes that merging departments will eliminate confusion and duplication of powers. “I think that the situation developed in such a way that, in any case, the decision that the head of state made today was verified, it was deliberate,” said Kucherena. “As chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, I have repeatedly observed when functions were duplicated, when there are many issues that simply drowned somewhere in the authorities in the approval processes, etc.”

“Communicating with employees of the Drug Control and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I saw that their functions sometimes duplicate each other, and sometimes it is very difficult to understand. Why are we spending such huge budget money, especially under the current economic conditions?” Kucherena noted.

“But for citizens, for people, the transparency of the system is very important. As well as for the leader, who is each responsible for his own direction. And when it sometimes happens in our country that the Federal Drug Control Service does its own thing, the FMS does its own thing, the Ministry of Internal Affairs does its own thing, and the intersection occurs through Ministry of Internal Affairs, then, accordingly, in in this case, I believe that the decision made is also based on this sometimes confusion, sometimes babbling about some important issues. But this is not the fault of the leaders, this is how the system itself was structured,” the head of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs is confident.

“We must minimize these problems faced by both officials at their levels and citizens, who are sometimes confused and do not understand who is responsible for what. Citizens write to the Ministry of Internal Affairs both on drug issues and on migration service issues. For citizens, these The Ministry of Internal Affairs deals with issues. And when the decision was made to divide powers, we still see in practice that everything is not so simple," Kucherena noted. “Therefore, I hope that today’s unification of departments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs will bring more benefit than harm,” he added.

Reducing the number of managers

“All three departments followed a parallel path,” says First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Alexander Chekalin, a police colonel general who served as deputy and first deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2000-2008. As for the fight against drugs, “the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not deviate one step from this topic,” he added. “Indicators from the Ministry of Internal Affairs accounted for 2/3 of the total mass of identified facts of drug trafficking, 1/3 from the Federal Drug Control Service, although the cases there are larger,” Chekalin emphasized.

The unification of these departments under a single leadership will make it possible to bring together into one team “like-minded, equally educated, equally organized people who will give better results, who will work more efficiently,” the parliamentarian added. In addition, Chekalin noted, the merger of the three departments will reduce the “number of managers.” “Now there will be a serious reduction in favor of practical workers. And all those who carried papers, stamped their steps on the parquet floor - they will simply be laid off or transferred to practical work,” he believes.

Chekalin, who headed the FMS for two years, also believes that the return of this department to the Ministry of Internal Affairs “will increase the results of work by three, four, and maybe five times.” “This unity is a brilliant decision that will give immediate results, we will see it in the near future,” the parliamentarian is confident.

Systemic response to modern challenges

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Irina Yarovaya called the president’s decision a systemic response to modern challenges and threats. The president’s decision “is a timely, adequate and systematic response to modern challenges and threats,” the parliamentarian told reporters.

She noted that the powers of the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Drug Control Service are “narrowly subject-specific.” “In the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of course, a well-functioning interaction of all services will be built, which will increase the efficiency of work in these areas and eliminate the gap in competencies and responsibility for results. And therefore, it will give greater results in terms of solving the most important task - ensuring public safety and security state," the deputy emphasized.

“Illegal migration, in the context of geopolitical problems created outside of Russia, has become one of the high-risk factors associated with organized crime and terrorism and requires additional protection of public safety and the efficiency of the control and response system,” emphasized the head of the relevant Duma committee. In fact, the entire chain of necessary law enforcement actions from control and prevention to suppression and responsibility is built into a common line of defense of society and the state, she added.

“Currently, the level of challenges and threats associated with drug trafficking and illegal migration is the highest,” Yarovaya recalled, pointing out the exceptional importance of these areas of law enforcement activity. “The decisions made by the president are decisions in favor of increasing the effectiveness of protecting society,” the parliamentarian is convinced.

Cost reduction

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Alexander Khinshtein (" United Russia") believes that the president's decision is aimed at increasing the efficiency of their work and reducing costs.

“This is an issue that has been raised before, including last year. I believe that this may be due both to the need to increase the efficiency of these departments and to minimize costs,” Khinshtein told TASS. When asked whether he was aware of any claims by the country's leadership to the work of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service, he noted that “he had not heard of any serious claims, but there is no limit to perfection.”

“In any case, these services still work in constant cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Moreover, the FMS without the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for example, cannot enter an apartment,” the parliamentarian explained.

"There will be no problems with professionals"

The Public Chamber supports Putin's decision. “When two divisions (FSKN and the Ministry of Internal Affairs) duplicate functions, it is not so effective. The fact that now a single body will deal with this is a plus,” the chairman of the Security Commission of the Public Chamber of Russia, a member of the public council of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow Anton Tsvetkov.

He added that the Federal Drug Control Service has a small number, unlike the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has an easier time fighting drugs. “The Ministry of Internal Affairs has a patrol service, local commissioners and a criminal investigation department. If the Federal Drug Control Service joins the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then this will be extremely correct. With one strong fist we will fight back the threat in a fight in which, unfortunately, we are seriously losing today.” , - said Tsvetkov.

He also called the decision to subordinate the Federal Migration Service to the Ministry of Internal Affairs correct. “In many ways, this was an artificial division. Now the work will be more promising, the management apparatus will be smaller, it can be reduced,” says the chairman of the Security Commission of the Public Chamber. Tsvetkov is sure that there will be no problems with professionals. “There are already not enough of them, they will hold on to them, and they will get rid of inexperienced personnel,” he believes. In his opinion, reforming the law enforcement system will cost a penny compared to the savings that will be made.

"We must prevent a legal vacuum"

Senators are ready to actively engage in work on a federal law regulating the activities of law enforcement agencies in order to prevent a legal vacuum as a result of changes in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Viktor Ozerov, head of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, told TASS.

Ozerov emphasized that “the presidential decree sets out the conceptual approach, and all the subtleties will be spelled out in the relevant federal law.” “In this case, we are ready to actively get involved so that after the relevant law is submitted to the State Duma, we will do everything in our power to ensure the speedy adoption of this law so that no legal vacuum arises in the country as a result of the president’s decision,” the senator said.

He also noted that at one time the separation of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service into separate federal authorities “produced positive results,” including from the point of view of the regulatory framework for their activities. “Now their unification in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs makes it possible to act from a single center, according to a single plan and not duplicate each other,” the parliamentarian emphasized.

According to Ozerov, the entry of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service into the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will allow for optimization of personnel and “may lead to savings Money“At the same time, the senator emphasized that “when it comes to public safety,” financial issues should not be “put in first place.”

The reassignment of drug control may be due to shortcomings in the work of the Federal Drug Control Service

The transfer of the Federal Drug Control Service to the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs may be associated with shortcomings in the work of drug control, says Oleg Denisenko, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption. “Apparently, they decided to strengthen this area (the fight against drug trafficking) from the point of view of the operational component and, probably, the power component - by joining the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Because it is clear that the operational component within the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a much more powerful structure than in the Federal Drug Control Service ", Denisenko said.

He suggested that “the quality of the work of the Federal Drug Control Service, apparently, does not completely satisfy” the country’s leadership, “or they understand that the threat is growing, it is necessary to strengthen it and are strengthening it through such a unification.”

Speaking about the transfer of the Federal Migration Service to the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the deputy noted that now there is a problem of migrants, “apparently, the amount of work related to the fact that it is necessary to carry out some kind of operational work is increasing.” “Apparently, the FMS does not have enough strength for this - therefore, such a transfer, in my opinion, may be logical,” he pointed out.

After 13 years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs regained its anti-drug and passport and visa divisions: the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service were merged into the structure of the department. As a result of the merger, the services themselves receive additional powers that have long been requested

Employees of the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Drug Control Service during a joint raid on nightclubs in Moscow (Photo: RIA Novosti)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, April 5, announced his submission Federal service for Drug Control (FSKN) and the Federal Migration Service (FMS) to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). Both liquidated departments, after joining the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are implementing their long-standing plans - increasing their powers.

FSKN

The issue of merging the Federal Drug Control Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been discussed for more than a year. According to RBC, a source close to the presidential administration, the head of the department, Viktor Ivanov, was against the liquidation of the Federal Drug Control Service. Ivanov was appointed to the position of head of the Federal Drug Control Service in May 2008; before that, he worked for a long time in the administration of President Vladimir Putin, in particular, from 2004 to 2008 he served as assistant to the president for personnel matters.

Over the past few years, the Federal Drug Control Service has been trying to expand the range of its interests; in particular, the agency wanted to monopolize the sphere of rehabilitation and socialization of drug addicts. FSKN even developed state program, which involves the unification under the auspices of the Federal Drug Control Service about 500 existing in Russia rehabilitation centers. They were planned to be able to receive grants from the state to help drug addicts. Initially, the Federal Drug Control Service requested more than 150 billion rubles from the state for these purposes. Subsequently, the estimated cost of the program was reduced to 1.5 billion.

The department received the authority to provide financial and organizational support to rehabilitation NGOs in August 2014 by Putin’s decree. But Ivanov never succeeded in implementing the program, since the Ministry of Finance refused to allocate money for it. The Federal Drug Control Service also failed to approve the relevant law on service, which was developed back in 2013. This law significantly expanded the powers of the service: the department wanted to conduct medical examinations, issue orders to companies and individual entrepreneurs so that they “take measures to prevent drug trafficking,” and even through the courts, suspend the work of companies if they did not comply with the service’s orders.

But for its main work - countering drug trafficking - the Federal Drug Control Service was criticized by experts who compared the service’s indicators with those of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Police officers are dedicated to solving low-level or moderate drug crimes. Experts from the St. Petersburg Institute of Law Enforcement Problems, dedicated to the effectiveness of the work of the two departments, stated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is ahead of the Federal Drug Control Service in the number of crimes solved, and the Federal Drug Control Service is ahead of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the volume of drugs seized.

In the spring of 2015, Ivanov, commenting on rumors about a possible reorganization of his department, said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has higher rates of arrests of ordinary drug users, but the Federal Drug Control Service is focusing on large suppliers and distributors of drugs. “90% of all wholesale drug shipments are seized by the Federal Drug Control Service,” Ivanov emphasized.

What will happen to more than 30 thousand? FSKN employees who are on the department’s staff is still unclear. Putin did not inform about layoffs in the Federal Drug Control Service at the meeting with representatives of departments; he only stated that “this entire structure will work self-sufficiently, independently, but within the framework of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” The Federal Drug Control Service itself announced in mid-January that it was optimizing its structure and staff.

What structural unit will be created in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in connection with joining the Federal Drug Control Service has not yet been announced. Before the creation of the Federal Drug Control Service, the fight against drugs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs was carried out by the Main Directorate for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking (GUBNON). After disbandment, an anti-drug department was created within the structure of the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation and special departments in the regions. As Kommersant wrote, after the liquidation of the Federal Drug Control Service, it is planned to transfer the drug police to the criminal investigation departments. In addition, according to the newspaper, the possibility of recreating GUBNON is also being discussed.

The FMS became an independent unit in 2004, when the agency left the Ministry of Internal Affairs. IN last years the FMS complained that the service is not a law enforcement agency and does not have the functions necessary to work with migrants, explains RBC’s interlocutor at the FMS. Last week, the deputy head of the monitoring department of the department for organizing work with foreign citizens FMS Nadezhda Voronina.

In the spring of 2014, the FMS developed a bill “On Immigration Control,” which significantly expanded the powers of the department and turned it into a full-fledged law enforcement agency. If this law were approved by the State Duma and signed by the president, service employees could conduct inspections of legal entities, cancel licenses and confiscate permits from employers. In addition, department employees would have the right to initiate and investigate criminal cases for organizing illegal migration, check citizens’ documents and use weapons.

Before its liquidation, the competence of the FMS included issues of granting citizenship, issuing visas to enter Russia, processing and issuing passports to citizens Russian Federation, deportation and entry ban for violators of immigration laws. The leadership of the department consists of representatives of law enforcement agencies. Three of the eight deputy heads of the FMS Konstantin Romodanovsky come from state security agencies, like himself, and three more come from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

After staff reductions in the summer of 2015, the Federal Migration Service employed 36 thousand people. It is already known that the Federal Migration Service will reduce another 30%: this is stated in Putin’s decree on the merger of structures. The very fact of the return of the FMS to the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not mean that “the independent state was considered unsuccessful,” presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It’s just that as a result of interdepartmental study, we came to the conclusion that at this stage such a structure is more appropriate,” Peskov explained.

The fate of the current head of the FMS Romodanovsky will be decided by Putin, deputy head of the FMS Ekaterina Egorova told RBC on Tuesday.

President of the Migration 21st Century Foundation, former deputy director of the Federal Migration Service Vyacheslav Postavnin, in a conversation with RBC, noted that the decision to merge departments was long overdue, since recently the Ministry of Internal Affairs has received some of the functions of the migration service. According to him, there are two options for subordinating the FMS to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The first option assumes that the FMS remains a service, but within the framework of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the head of the migration department becomes the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.

“The second option is that the FMS will essentially turn into a passport and visa center under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which it was before. The functions of monitoring migrants and regulating migration will then need to be given to someone, since the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not involved in this,” adds Postavnin. According to him, the issuing functions labor patents migrants can be given either to the regions, as is happening in Moscow, or to the Ministry of Labor.

After joining the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FMS to some extent realized its desire to expand its powers, Postavnin clarifies. But these powers - inquiry, interrogation, operational work - will most likely not be needed by the service employees, Postavnin is sure. In his opinion, direct work with migrants will be carried out by police officers - district police officers, guards, etc., since the FMS will concentrate on passport and visa work.

Vladimir Putin subordinated the Federal Service for Drug Control (FSKN) and the Federal Migration Service (FMS) to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). The President of Russia announced this at a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the director of the Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov, the commander of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Viktor Zolotov and the deputy head of the Federal Migration Service Ekaterina Egorova. In addition, Mr. Putin announced the withdrawal of internal troops from the Ministry of Internal Affairs into a separate unit - the National Guard. Among the tasks of the new executive body is the fight against terrorism and organized crime. General Viktor Zolotov has been appointed director of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops.

“As for the fight against organized crime in the sphere of drug trafficking, as we said, we are implementing one of the proposals: we are transferring the Federal Drug Control Service to the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” said Vladimir Putin. The president made a similar decision regarding the Federal Migration Service. The issue of reassigning the Federal Migration Service was discussed with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the president noted. “There are issues related to labor relations with foreigners. It is clear that this is a purely civilian sphere,” said the head of state. Until this moment, the FMS was subordinated Russian government, and the Federal Drug Control Service - to the president.

Vladimir Putin also announced the creation of the National Guard, which will be formed on the basis of internal troops. According to the president, the National Guard will engage in the fight against terrorism and organized crime, and will also “continue to perform the functions that were performed by riot police, special forces, etc.” The Russian President expressed the hope that the new National Guard troops will continue to effectively carry out their tasks, as has been the case until now. At the same time, work in priority areas will be intensified. General Viktor Zolotov was appointed Director of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops - Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Troops by presidential decree.

Let us recall that at the end of March it was reported that the issue of reorganization or liquidation of the Federal Migration Service could be raised at a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Then the Vedomosti source argued that the powers of migration control could be transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the FSB, and labor migration would be handled by the Ministry of Labor or the Agency for National Affairs.

The migration service and state drug control emerged as independent federal structures in the early 2000s. Before this, the Office of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) was a structural unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had a Main Directorate for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking. After the creation of the Federal Drug Control Service on the basis of the abolished tax police, GUBNON was liquidated, and its functions within the Ministry of Internal Affairs were performed first by employees of the Department for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism, and then by the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation.

How Viktor Zolotov became the very first deputy

In October 2014, Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev redistributed responsibilities among his deputies by order. The second person in the department in terms of authority was the first deputy minister, Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops, Colonel General Viktor Zolotov, who previously headed the presidential security service. In this position, he oversaw, among other things, aviation and special forces centers.