New 'National Guard of Russia' Created

[Damocles]

I find the timeline of all of this very interesting:

April 3rd - Panama Papers released

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers

April 4th to the 8th - First Armored Brigade Combat Team (Raiders), 3rd ID begins drawing M1A2 tanks and Bradley APCs from the European Activity Set at sites in Germany, Romania and Bulgaria.

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/194898...6#.Vw9MseJEnRY

April 5th - Vladimir Putin creates the National Guard of Russia by Executive Order - 400,000 Paramilitary and Law Enforcement personnel shift from being controlled by the Interior Ministry, to reporting directly to Viktor Zolotov, Putin's long-time body guard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_Russia

[Raellus]

You seem to be implying a connection between these three events (Panama Papers-> Repositioninng of U.S. armor in Europe-> Creation of a Russian 'National Guard'). Care to explain how they're all connected?

[Damocles]

Putin believes the Panama papers are an American plot to destabilize Russia before the elections.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/14/eu...stion-session/

Maybe it's just coincidence that Putin consolidates power immediately thereafter. Or perhaps it's been in the works for a while... <shrug> But if you are worried about your country becoming destabilized, creating a force that can be used against the opposition becomes attractive.

"Ella Paneyakh,[18] senior researcher for the Department of Political science and Sociology at the European University at Saint Petersburg, said that this new National Guard force was not just another law enforcement agency, but another army that had the right to conduct military operations against the country's citizens."

How do you say Posse Comitatus in Russian? You don't have to when these are your 'internal' troops.

http://spetspedia.wikia.com/wiki/MVD...nternal_Troops)

[CDAT]

Originally Posted by Damocles

Putin believes the Panama papers are an American plot to destabilize Russia before the elections.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/14/eu...stion-session/

Maybe it's just coincidence that Putin consolidates power immediately thereafter. Or perhaps it's been in the works for a while... <shrug> But if you are worried about your country becoming destabilized, creating a force that can be used against the opposition becomes attractive.

"Ella Paneyakh,[18] senior researcher for the Department of Political science and Sociology at the European University at Saint Petersburg, said that this new National Guard force was not just another law enforcement agency, but another army that had the right to conduct military operations against the country's citizens."

How do you say Posse Comitatus in Russian? You don't have to when these are your 'internal' troops.

http://spetspedia.wikia.com/wiki/MVD...nternal_Troops)

You also do not have to worry about Posse Comitatus out side of the US, as it is a US law the only applies to federal troops in the Army, and/or Air Force. So even in the US it does not apply to the Navy or Guard.

[Silent Hunter UK]

It's really just another reorganisation of the Russian armed forces; won't be the last one, I'd imagine.

[Legbreaker]

My guess is it's all total coincidence. These sorts of changes take months to plan, even years. It's not something you can usually knock up in a couple of days.

[Adm.Lee]

Leg's analysis is consistent with this guy: https://soundcloud.com/war_college/w...dimir-putin-so. Mark Galeotti is a Russia-watcher, the link is to the War College podcast (War is Boring and Reuters collaboration).

This takes a lot of the paramilitary formations out of the Ministry of Interior, which wants to focus more on policing and less on internal security, if that makes sense.