Law enforcement in Russia

A law enforcement officer screens a passenger at the international airport of Vladivostok.

Law enforcement in the Russian Federation is the responsibility of a variety of different agencies. The Russian police (formerly the militsiya) are the primary law enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee of Russia (the "Russian FBI") is the main investigative agency, and the Federal Security Service (formerly the KGB) is the main domestic security agency.

Agencies

• Ministry of Internal Affairs:
  • The Police of Russia (politsiya) provide public security functions. Formerly the militsiya
• The Investigative Committee of Russia is an investigative body, sometimes described as the "Russian FBI".
• Ministry of Justice:
  • Federal Service of Punishment Execution (FSIN) is responsible for the penal correction and prison system of Russia
• The Federal Security Service (FSB) is the domestic security service, and the main successor agency of the Soviet-era Cheka, NKVD, and KGB. Responsible for Anti-Terrorism Operations.
  • The Federal Border Guard Service is subordinate to the FSB and responsible for border protection, surveillance and coast guard.
• Federal Customs Service
• The Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM) is responsible for the civil defence regulation, protection from fire and has own troops.^[1]
• Ministry of Defence
  • Russian Military Police provides the service police function for all Russian armed forces.
• President of Russia
  • ** The National Guard (formerly Internal Troops) provide a gendarmerie function, supporting the Politsiya and dealing with large-scale riots and internal armed conflicts. They also provide security for highly-important facilities (like nuclear power plants).
  • The Federal Protective Service of Russia is responsible for the protection of Russian state property and high-ranking government personnel, including the President of Russia.
    • Presidential Security Service - concerned with the tasks related to the protection of the President of Russia.

Prisons

Prisons in Russia are administered by the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) and can be categorized under four types of facilities: pre-trial institutions; educative or juvenile labor colonies; corrective labor colonies; and prisons.^[2]

The corrective colony (ispravitelnie kolonii or IK) is the most common, with 760 institutions in 2004 across the many administrative divisions of Russia.^[2] There were also 8 prisons, 62 juvenile facilities, and 192 pre-trial facilities in 2004.^[3]

See also

• Russian Intelligence Community
• Crime in Russia
• Polizia, an equivalent law enforcement agency in Italy

References

1. Site of EMERGECOM of Russia
2. Roth 2006, p. 231.
3. Roth 2006, p. 232.

• Roth, Mitchel P. (2006). Prisons And Prison Systems: A Global Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 230–232. ISBN 0-313-32856-0.