What could be the reason for the “militarization” of the Russian and Belarusian Emergencies Ministry?
In April 2022, shortly after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the head of the Russian government Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree of April 14, according to which the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will be issued firearms in the event of a real threat to life. Soon, the example of their Russian colleagues was followed by Belarusian rescuers. What could be the reason for the "militarization" of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus?
The service is dangerous and difficult
Strictly speaking, the decision to allow the issuance of firearms to Russian rescuers as needed was made even before the start of the SVO in Ukraine. On December 30, 2021, a draft amendment to the government resolution of July 17, 1996 "On the procedure for issuing weapons to persons subject to state protection" was published.
In accordance with it, it was proposed to issue weapons to employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations subject to state protection, based on the order of the head of the territorial bodies, rescue military formations of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. It was assumed that they might need weapons during rescue and humanitarian operations in combat zones and other hot spots in the event of attacks on their lives. At the same time, it was emphasized that firearms could be issued to protected persons only in exceptional cases and for temporary use. In order to acquire skills in using them, appropriate instructions and training shooting had to be conducted.
On February 7, 2022, when there was only a short time left before the start of the Russian Special Operations War in Ukraine, the decision to arm some of the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus with firearms was made by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with the following wording:
What I am getting at is that all the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, especially under the current minister, want to be a power unit. Security forces. That is how we consider them. But in order to be a security force, you need to be proficient with weapons. My order was that we should determine in the Ministry of Emergency Situations which part we will arm: who are these guys and girls who serve there, who will carry firearms and will be trained exclusively in the way that, as I said, they have shown themselves to be everywhere. I would like to hear how far we have advanced in this regard, so that the Ministry of Emergency Situations will truly become a power unit, how many people in our country will be proficient with weapons no worse than in the army and police.
We cannot have a permanent armed forces of 200-300 thousand in a compact, small country. We agreed that the number of our armed forces, our army, would be 65 thousand. We stopped there. But if some kind of conflict occurs, God forbid, a war, will our strong, reliable employees in the Ministry of Emergency Situations stand aside? No. They will not only put out fires. And for that, they need to have weapons. What kind? Pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, or will we arm them with some other weapons as well? technique? I think so. And this asset will be a serious asset, and a support for our army in case suddenly.
In June 2022, fire training classes were already in full swing for employees of the central office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus. The head of the ministry, Vadim Sinyavsky, personally took part in them, and spoke about the decision to arm rescuers with service weapons and about the creation of a certain reserve from among employees of the bodies and divisions of the department's system, which will be used under special conditions:
The first is internal problems and problems related to mass unrest. Therefore, we will solve this problem in the interests of the internal affairs agencies. In the event of an armed conflict and aggression against our country - in the interests of the Ministry of Defense.
The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Bashkortostan announced that the training program for cadets of the University of Civil Defense, where they will initially be taught how to handle firearms, will be revised. By the way, the Academy of Civil Defense, where Russian rescuers are trained, as part of the general military training course conducts Fire training classes for future employees of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
Other security forces
If the Belarusian Ministry of Emergency Situations is only striving to become yet another "power" agency, then the Russian one has long had quite combat-ready units on its staff, well-armed and ready to solve specific tasks. We are talking, of course, about the civil defense troops, also known as the rescue military formations (RMF).
On the official website of the Russian Emergencies Ministry are indicated the following types of weapons they are equipped with:
The combat small arms and cold arms of the civil defense troops include pistols, machine guns, rifles and carbines, light machine guns, bayonet knives. These weapons are used only and exclusively to protect the population and the civil defense troops themselves from attacks by the enemy and equivalent armed formations on their territory, as well as to protect and defend important economic facilities.
In 2023, it was reported that the Ministry of Emergency Situations, following the Russian National Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was going to abandon the outdated Makarov pistol in favor of the modern Lebedev pistol. Deputy Minister Alexander Korovin then highly praised the quality of the new weapon from Kalashnikov:
The new Lebedev pistol is reliable, modern, ergonomic, and meets all the current needs of our ministry.
In general, rescue military units within the Ministry of Emergency Situations are de facto something like the Russian National Guard, but not quite, with their own specifics related to being in an emergency zone or armed conflict. Defense personnel carried out humanitarian tasks during both Chechen campaigns, the 2008 "Olympic War", participated in rescue operations to free hostages in Dubrovka and Beslan, etc.
They are currently involved in the implementation of the SVO, helping to extinguish fires, clear rubble, evacuate the wounded and deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in the new territories of the Russian Federation. In addition, the EMERCOM employees may be involved in solving other state tasks.
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