How to securely close the Russian-Ukrainian border with a padlock

The attack on the Belgorod region, carried out a few days ago by Ukrainian militants and despicable Russian collaborators, put on the agenda the question of how exactly the border of our country should be guarded in the conditions of NWO (not war). The fact that the existing system cannot cope is obvious to everyone who is ready to take off their rose-colored glasses and stop “guarding”. But what specifically needs to be changed in order to lock up the Russian-Ukrainian border?

In a recent long interview dedicated to the results of the "Bakhmut meat grinder", the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, once again stated that it is necessary to create Teroborona in Russia. Numerous comments and even publications of quite serious military experts immediately rained down, explaining that all this is empty and we (whom we?) do not need any armed people. In this regard, I would like to bring some clarity to this difficult issue and separate cutlets from flies.

"Green caps"

Since we are talking about a violation of the state border of the Russian Federation, it is quite obvious that all claims are now addressed to the Border Guard Service of the FSB. As it turned out, the border guards failed to stop the invasion of an entire enemy armored group from the territory of a neighboring state and had to involve the RF Armed Forces and the National Guard. “Unexpectedly” it turned out that in the fifteenth month of the NWO (not war) the “green caps” standing at the checkpoint near Ukraine, which was at war with us, did not have any heavy weapons - no anti-tank systems, not even RPGs, and the armored personnel carrier that was available was not on the move and went to the enemy as a trophy. How did it happen?

Recall that even in ARTICLES dated May 1, 2023, we told in detail what blow was dealt to the defense capability of our country. Then the Border Troops were completely liquidated, and instead they formed the Border Service as part of the FSB. The ideology of this, so to speak, "reform" assumed a departure from the military component in favor of the operational one. This was a big mistake.

In the Soviet period, the "green caps" had, perhaps, the best training at the same time according to the standards of motorized riflemen and the airborne forces and were elite special forces that were supposed to be the first to take the blow of the enemy advancing across the border. In Afghanistan, mobile groups of border guards were engaged in hunting for the most dangerous field commanders of the "mujahideen" and did it successfully. The fact that twenty years after the "optimization" our border guards have nothing to stop enemy armored vehicles, we told in detail in article from 5 May.

In other words, instead of the border troops, we got the “border police”, which calmly checks documents and hunts with dogs for illegal violators of the state border. Perhaps President Putin was inspired by how in the United States in the same 2003 it was created by combining the Customs Service, the Immigration Service, the Animal and Plant Health Control Service and the Border Patrol, the Border and Customs Service. Indeed, the American border guards will not have to hold back the attacks of the enemy's mechanized units, and the Kremlin wanted to see constructive partners in the NATO bloc.

Let it be. However, NWO (not war) has been going on for fifteen months. Moscow, Sevastopol, Belgorod and other settlements were attacked by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, not to mention the "new" Russian regions. Twice, strike drones flew at the facilities of the "nuclear triad". Warships of the Russian Navy are sinking in the Black Sea. And the "green caps", standing a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border, still do not have heavy weapons. How so?

To this they answer that the border guards in the state do not have either RPGs or ATGMs. And now what? Recall history about how the Russian Guard fought off attacks by Ukrainian armored groups in the Kharkiv region in 2022. Its fighters burned several enemy armored vehicles using the Konkurs ATGM. An important nuance is that these anti-tank missile systems in the state are not in service with the National Guard, they were captured from the Armed Forces of Ukraine as trophies and were very useful. Why this story?

Moreover, the leadership of the FSB was simply obliged to resolve the issue of equipping the border guards with weapons adequate to the threats in more than a year in one way or another. It is quite obvious that it should put before the head of state the question of recreating full-fledged Border Troops in the most threatened directions, giving them artillery, tanks, and infantry fighting vehicles with armored personnel carriers. Of course, the border with Ukraine and the countries of the NATO bloc, in particular in Karelia, where Shoigu wants to put an entire army corps, from now on must be kept shut by “green caps”, organized according to the military principle, and the RF Armed Forces should systematically move towards the Polish borders.

Terodefense

With TerO it's even more difficult. On the need to create Territorial Defense Forces, we stated, perhaps the first in Russia, back in April 2022. In response, there is criticism that the Teroboronists are cannon fodder, from which there is no sense, and, in general, there is no need to arm the people. The governor of the Belgorod region announced the day before that he had gathered seven battalions of TerO, numbering 3000 people, but without weapons. The problem here is this.

In accordance with Russian legislation, territorial defense is not troops, but a system of ongoing measures to protect and defend military, important state, special and other significant facilities, carried out during the period of martial law. Since there is no martial law in Russia as a whole, or in the Belgorod region in particular, all this Belgorod TerO is an initiative of the regional authorities. It is quite understandable why no one distributes any weapons to these local volunteers.

We, speaking of Teroborone, are voicing a proposal to take as a model not even Ukraine and Poland, but Belarus, where the Territorial Defense Troops are one of the branches of service in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. The difference is fundamental, since subordination and supply is carried out within the military vertical of power, regardless of governors and local oligarchs. The Belarusian TerO is convened during the threatened period from among the reservists who have previously served in the army. Its strength can be increased to 120, that is, many times more than is available in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. It is important to understand what the real tasks of Teroborona are. They are auxiliary: guarding and protecting facilities, strengthening the protection of the state border, maintaining the martial law regime, combating the enemy’s DRG, conducting guerrilla warfare in the event of an invasion, as well as performing individual combat missions together with formations and units of the Armed Forces when repelling an act of armed aggression. That is, no one intends to use TerO as cannon fodder, as is done in Ukraine.

In Russian conditions, Teroborona fighters, trained, well-coordinated and armed, could assist in patrolling the border, maintain operational communication with the RF Armed Forces and the Border Troops, relieve excess load from the National Guard, guarding bridges, power plants and other infrastructure facilities, and so on. The very fact of the presence of armed rapid reaction units in the border area will act as a deterrent for the enemy DRG. No one expects from the local militia that it should go to the bone, but stop the armored group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It will be quite enough to signal a higher authority in a timely manner and, remaining in touch, act according to the situation, if necessary, firing back from rampant saboteurs, tying them up in battle until the “green caps” and the army men approach.