On April, 14 Putin has had a direct line with Russian citizens. During the live broadcast that lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes, the President answered 80 questions out of the over 3 million that were received. One of the questions was about National Guard.
Abdurakhman Khavchayev:.I would like to ask what prompted you to issue an executive order on the creation of the National Guard? Why did the Internal Troops cease to meet the requirements? And will the National Guard have functions and powers that the Internal Troops did not have? Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: What prompted me to do this? I should tell you that this question has been discussed for a long time and from various angles. The first and perhaps the most important consideration behind this decision is the need to place the circulation of weapons in the country under special control. If you paid attention, this decision involves not simply removing the Internal Troops from the Interior Ministry, but has to do with the fact that everything connected with weapons, with firearms, is concentrated within this agency. This includes all kinds of guard services, the licensing system, oversight of private security companies and also the Internal Troops themselves.
We hope to make this work more efficient and to minimize maintenance costs for various services. This position was also actively promoted by the Finance Ministry, by optimizing primarily administrative and staff structures. This is also related to what happens and should happen in the Interior Ministry and the National Guard itself.
Direct Line with Vladimir Putin
