Rosgwardia: gwardia narodowa czy policja wewnętrzna?

The National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardiya) is a model example of a non-standard approach to the national guard and federal services: it does not meet their formal or functional criteria. Its primary task is to neutralize internal conflicts and restore public order in the country; it is also equipped with many auxiliary functions. It performs them together with other ministries: the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, the Federal Security Service, the Federal Protective Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Investigative Committee and others. The above mentioned ministries are “shield and sword” in the fight against all manifestations of anti-system, military and nonmilitary (so-called hybrid) activities. Thus, they act in the interest of Russia’s political elite. The need for cooperation between security and defence structures on various levels and in various configurations (fight against terrorism, border protection, crisis management, territorial defence, protection of critical infrastructure facilities, etc.) results from the military strategy of the state organization promoted by the Kremlin. Such a comprehensive approach is related to the culture of governance and the resulting strategic culture. A permanent element of this culture is, among others, manipulation of the conceptual apparatus, prompting researchers of this subject to draw conclusions about the realities of the Russian national security system by analogy to the Western one.