- Putin has reinforced his National Guard with elite special forces, arming them with tanks and warplanes.
- The Russian president does not trust the loyalty of his security services following the Wagner mutiny.
- The move is seen as making the Kremlin “coup-proof,” an analyst told The Telegraph.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reinforced his National Guard with an elite special forces unit to protect him in case of another rebellion, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported.
The National Guard, created by Putin in 2016, has 320,000 men and reports directly to him rather than the Ministry of Defense.
It’s headed by Putin’s loyal former bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov, and its main functions have included cracking down on anti-government protests.
An MP for Putin’s United Russia party Alexander Khinshtein said that Putin has personally ordered the Interior Ministry’s 7,000-men-strong Grom special forces unit to move under its command.
He has also brought in tanks, warplanes, and artillery to reinforce the National Guard, described by analysts as his “Praetorian Guard,” drawing parallels to the elite Roman imperial bodyguards who were loyal to the emperor, per The Telegraph.
It is believed that following the Wagner rebellion, Putin is worried about the loyalty of his security services and military officers.
Russia approved the changes to the National Guard’s status earlier this week and said it can now be armed with “military equipment” to “suppress the activities of illegal armed groups.”
This move is an attempt by Putin to “coup-proof the Kremlin,” Ben Noble, Associate Professor of Russian Politics at University College London, told The Telegraph.
“The Kremlin is likely revealing its worry about possible future domestic challenges to its rule,” he said. “Prigozhin’s mutiny has raised the level of uncertainty concerning elite and popular support for the regime.”
The Russian Vedomosti newspaper reported that Putin was using Grom to attract former Wagner fighters who didn’t want to join other mercenaries in exile in Belarus.
Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russia’s security services, told the Telegraph that the move was “significant”.
“Putin is straightening the special forces’ command and control after Prigozhin’s mutiny,” he said.
John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia program at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told The Telegraph that the move was a win for former bodyguard Zolotov, as Grom was the Interior Ministry’s last special police unit.
