The Russian flag flies over the Kherson regional administration building, right in the middle of Svobody (“Freedom”) Square where, until recently, thousands of civilians waving the blue and yellow Ukrainian emblem cried out in anger against the Russian occupier. On social networks, other images of a supposedly peaceful city have since supplanted those of these demonstrators who faced men in military uniforms, helmets pressed down on dark glasses and the lower part of their faces most often masked. . Men belonging to Rosgvardia, the Russian National Guard, for the most part.
Located on the right bank of the Dnieper, in southern Ukraine, Kherson remains, to this day, the only city in the country that has come under the direct control of Moscow. On February 28, Russian soldiers fought there, then, “after March 3, Rosgvardia arrived”described, on April 6, the mayor, Igor Kolykhayev, on the Russian-speaking site Nastoiachchie Vremia. “They go door to door, they question everyone”he continued, referring to the passive resistance of the Ukrainian police, “invited to work with them”and that of city officials who allegedly refused to distribute Russian humanitarian aid.
Tasked with restoring “order”, the members of the Russian Guard hunt down pro-Ukrainian activists, lists of names in hand, make arrests, and control access to this town of 290,000 inhabitants before the war. “Today they told me they were looking for Crimean Tatars”, testified, at the beginning of April, a municipal councilor on his Facebook account. Their mission is that of occupation troops: to establish themselves in urban areas and establish there as quickly as possible a military-police administration, as in all the cities of Ukraine that the Russian army intends to conquer.
An army within the army
Created just six years ago by presidential decree, in April 2016, Rosgvardia depends on only one man, Vladimir Putin. Led by its former bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov, trained by the KGB, it absorbed all the elite units of the Ministry of the Interior, including the OMON (riot control) and the SOBR (rapid intervention forces) in the purpose of responding to the “domestic threat”. According to several Russian experts at the time, the uprising in Ukraine in 2013-2014 inspired its creation. A year later, the National Guard already numbered 350,000 men.
An army within the army, with very broad missions: maintaining order, fighting terrorism “and extremism” – which gives it the right to carry out investigations – arms control… A force endowed with substantial resources, machine guns, modern sniper rifles, drones, attack helicopters…
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