Internal Troops of Belarus

The Internal Troops trace their history to a separate command of guards in Vitebsk, formed on 18 March 1918. Subsequently, the team was transformed into the 5th Byelorussian Convoy Regiment. Later, as the organs of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, units of NKVD were formed. All of the units participated in Russian Civil War, the Second World War, the Soviet-Afghan War and in responding to the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the country's southwest.

On 22 November 1968, the 22nd Department of Escort and Protection (sometimes translated as Convoy and Protection) was reorganized as the 43rd Escort [or Convoy] Division, with its headquarters at Minsk.[3] Two years later it had reached a strength of three escort or convoy regiments, a motorized regiment, and an independent special motorized militia battalion. At the end of the 1980s, Internal Troops units were involved in the inter ethnic conflicts in the territory of the Soviet Union.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the formations and units of the troops deployed in Belarus became the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, created on the organizational basis of the 43rd Convoy Division.

On 3 June 1993, the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus" was adopted, the process of qualitative changes and reforming began.[4] In 1994, civil defense headquarters was incorporated into the internal troops. On 8 November 1995, President Alexander Lukashenko approved the organizational structure and deployment of internal troops. On 7 May 1998, the internal troops were presented with the Combat Banners and new state symbols.

The conclusion of the process of reforming the troops was declared on 19 June 2001. The corresponding decree provides for the establishment of the Day of Internal Troops on March 18, celebrated annually.[5][6] In 2003, the Belarusian House of Representatives adopted a new version of the Law "On Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus".[7]

On December 23, 2020, the Belarusian Internal Troops was officially listed under the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) due to being regime actors.[8]

The Special Purpose Unit of Belarus of the Internal Troops.

As of 2020, they consist of the following elements:

• High Command of the Internal Troops
• Special Purpose Brigades
  • 3rd Separate Special-Purpose Brigade (Minsk)
• Police Brigades
  • 2nd Separate Special-Police Brigade[9]
  • 4th Separate Special-Police Brigade[10][11]
  • 5th Separate Special-Police Brigade[12]
  • 6th Separate Special-Police Brigade
  • 7th Separate Special-Police Brigade[13]
• 2 security teams
• 7 battalions
  • 2nd Separate Special-Police Battalion[14]
  • 5th Separate Special-Purpose Battalion[15]

The missions of the Internal Troops are as follows:[16]

• Guard important cargo
• Guard corrective institutions
• Maintain social order and stop violations of the law that risk public safety
• Dismantle illegal armed formations
• Prevent domestic and foreign terrorism on Belarusian soil
• Prepares for combined arms operations in the event of armed conflict[17]

• Major General Yury Nazarenko[18][19]
• Nikolai Karpenkov (since 20 November 2020)[20]

• Media related to Internal Troops of Belarus at Wikimedia Commons