On December 17, Russia celebrates the Day of employees of the State Courier Service. Not all of our fellow citizens know about the existence of this service, and even fewer people have at least an approximate idea of what couriers are doing and how this important state structure was formed.
This year the State Courier Service of Russia will be exactly 220 years old. On December 17, 1796, Russian Emperor Paul I issued a decree establishing the Courier Corps. This decision was preceded by an awareness of the deep need of both the Russian government and the military command for the existence of a special communications system. According to the emperor's plan, couriers were supposed to provide courier communication between the emperor and civil and military officials. The staff of the courier service was approved, consisting of 13 couriers and a chief - an officer. The head of the group of couriers was appointed non-commissioned officer of the Preobrazhensky regiment, Shelganin, promoted to army captains on this occasion.
However, a year later, the emperor realized that the number of the Courier Corps was too small to serve the growing needs of the empire for operational communications. Therefore, in 1797, it was decided to increase the number of the corps to 2 officers and 30 couriers. The best were selected for the service - those who knew foreign languages, well-trained. As a rule, servicemen from the Cavalry Regiment were recruited into the Feldjeger Corps, and the remaining places were filled by non-commissioned officers of the Izmailovsky, Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky Life Guards regiments. Thus, the privileged status of the courier service was initially emphasized. In 1800, the number of the corps was increased to 4 chief officers and 80 couriers.
The further development of the Courier Corps was characterized only by an increase in its number and streamlining of service. This was due to the development of the system of state and military administration in the Russian Empire. In the middle of the 19th century, the Courier Corps consisted of 3 companies. The duties of the couriers included the delivery of extremely important correspondence - both in the Russian Empire and abroad, escorting members of the imperial family, foreign monarchs and princes. It is noteworthy that the ranks of the Courier Corps at that time also had the authority to escort especially dangerous state criminals to the place of serving their sentences.
Six years of service in the corps allowed him to retire with the rank of 14th grade and get a post in the postal department. After 9 years of service, the courier could already count on dismissal with the rank of 12th grade. In 1858, the emperor forbade the recruitment of nobles into the service. At the same time, a decision was made on the organizational reorganization of the building. In particular, the companies were liquidated, and a head was placed over the corps, who was directly subordinate to the chief of the General Staff.
The emerging railways and telegraphs made their own adjustments to the development of courier communications. The need for horse-drawn couriers decreased significantly as messages became possible to send either by rail or by telegraph. Nevertheless, some particularly important documents still needed to be passed from hand to hand. In 1891, the staff of the Courier Corps was approved, consisting of 40 officers and 20 couriers. All comers from among honorary citizens and merchants who graduated from the course of an educational institution of the 3rd grade were accepted into the service in the corps. A strict age limit was set - a candidate for service in the Courier Corps had to be between the ages of 18 and 25. The candidate was required to know a foreign language. After a six-month probationary period, the candidate was enlisted to serve as a junior courier. They were promoted to senior couriers after a year of service, after which the rights of candidates for a class position were granted. A courier who served for at least four years could become a corps officer. There was another very important rule that an officer of the Courier Corps could not be transferred to the army as an army officer.
Significant changes in the organizational structure of the courier service took place after the October Revolution. Despite the desire "to destroy the entire old world to the ground, and then …", the Bolsheviks soon faced the need to ensure communication between the government, the leadership of the party, and the Red Army formations. Since the structure that established such a connection already existed before, it only remained to recreate it in a new form. On May 2, 1918, the Foreign Liaison Service was created under the Directorate for the Command Personnel of the All-Russian General Staff. The posts of couriers appeared in the Red Army - at the headquarters of the fronts and armies. The instructions of the Soviet leadership were carried out by a special Military team of scooters under the Administrative Department of the Council of People's Commissars, which existed from November 1917 to December 1920. The scooters traveled on bicycles and delivered important assignments, communicating between various Soviet institutions.
On August 6, 1921, a special courier unit was created at the Cheka of the RSFSR. She was subordinate to the Administration of the Cheka of the RSFSR. In 1922, the Courier unit was reorganized into the Courier Corps under the Cheka Administration. Before the Soviet couriers, as well as their predecessors from the Courier Corps of the Russian Empire, the tasks were set for the delivery of important documents and cargo of the Soviet governing bodies - the SNK, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the NKVD, the People's Commissariat of Defense, the People's Commissariat of Defense. In September 1924, all services carrying out the delivery of secret correspondence and valuable cargo were merged as part of the Courier Corps, which was part of the GPU, OGPU, and NKVD of the USSR.
By the way, it was in the 1920s - 1930s. the number of courier service employees reached a maximum - at that time about 20-30 thousand couriers and other service employees served in the Soviet Union. This was due to the difficult political situation in the world and the need of the Soviet country for serious protection of the secret documents being transported from attempts to be seized by agents of enemy intelligence services and other anti-Soviet elements.
However, in 1939 a new reorganization followed. The Soviet leadership came to the conclusion that it was necessary to separate courier and special communications. The delivery of correspondence of the Soviet and party leadership to republican and regional centers remained in the competence of the courier communications department of the NKVD of the USSR. Delivery of correspondence of a less important nature, as well as valuable cargo, was transferred to the special communications, which was reassigned to the People's Commissariat of Communications of the USSR. As for the transportation of funds and valuables, it was transferred to the special collection service of the State Bank of the USSR. This is how the final formation of the courier service took place approximately in the form in which it has survived until the present time.
The courier service valiantly performed its duties during the Great Patriotic War. Service staff delivered correspondence to the front line, risking their lives. A number of employees during the Second World War died in the line of duty.
After the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was formed in 1947, the courier service remained in its composition. However, in 1968, the courier service was again reassigned - this time the Courier Communications Department was included in the USSR Ministry of Communications. Nevertheless, officers and sergeants of the courier's communications were listed in the personnel of the internal affairs bodies, only they were assigned to the Ministry of Communications. Therefore, they bore special ranks of the internal service - like employees of a number of internal affairs units. The service was still entrusted with the responsibility of delivering the most important correspondence of the Soviet state and party leadership - both within the country and in the socialist countries.
On November 25, 1991, the Office of the Courier Service under the USSR Ministry of Communications was reorganized and renamed into the State Courier Service of the RSFSR under the Ministry of Communications of the RSFSR. After the proclamation of the independence of the Russian Federation, the service was transformed into the Federal Department of Courier Communications under the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation, then, on January 24, 1995, into the State Courier Service of the Russian Federation. In 1996, the SFS was included in the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation, but already in the next 1997 it was given the status of a service under the Government of the Russian Federation. On May 17, 2000, the State Courier Service under the Government of the Russian Federation was transformed into the State Courier Service of the Russian Federation. Its director is directly subordinate to the President of the Russian Federation.
There are three categories of employees in the State Courier Service of the Russian Federation. Firstly, this is actually the "courier" - the commanding staff, consisting of the personnel of the internal affairs bodies and having special ranks of the internal service. They constitute the main core of employees of the State Courier Service. The corresponding requirements are made to the commanding staff regarding the level of education, health, physical fitness, moral and psychological qualities. It is this category of employees who are engaged in the delivery of correspondence. Secondly, these are civil servants, and thirdly, workers. The last two categories do not have special ranks of the internal service and the requirements for them are much less stringent than for the first category of employees.
The last two heads of the State Courier Service come from the Federal Security Service. This is not surprising, since the SFS is also close to the country's top leadership, like the FSO. From 2001 to 2012, eleven years, the Russian couriers were led by Colonel-General Gennady Aleksandrovich Kornienko (pictured), who served in the KGB of the USSR and the FSB of the Russian Federation, and in 2001-2002. served as Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. In 2012, Gennady Kornienko, who left to work as director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, was replaced by Colonel-General Valery Vladimirovich Tikhonov, also a native of the security agencies, from 2001 to 2004. he worked as the first deputy director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, and then, until 2012, held the post of vice-governor of St. Petersburg.
Russian couriers are recruited almost exclusively from people who previously served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, and in other power structures. Service experience in the army or in another power structure is a mandatory requirement for future employees. Candidates for courier service undergo a serious test, since they have to work with documents that constitute state secrets. Employees recruited into the service pass through the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, but are considered seconded to the State Courier Service. Serious requirements are imposed on the physical and combat training of certified employees of the State Courier Service - after all, couriers have to deal with top-secret correspondence, which they must be able to protect in all possible ways. Service employees regularly train, improving their physical fitness, shoot at the shooting range, hone fighting techniques. By the way, the courier's technique of self-defense without weapons has its own specifics - the courier must prevent the briefcase with the documents from falling out of his hands, so the emphasis is on the technique of working with feet, with one hand. The specifics of the assignment also determines the composition of the courier. In some cases, one courier is enough to deliver correspondence, in others two employees or even a whole group work.
Not a single educational institution in the country prepares courier service personnel, given the small number of this service. Therefore, Russian couriers undergo professional training in special training centers of the service itself. Despite the fact that the initial position in the service is the position of a courier liaison officer, an employee with the rank of sergeant of the internal service may also be on it. But then he, most likely, will still grow up to the rank of an officer. In recent years, the personnel of the courier service has become significantly younger, now the average age of employees is, according to publications in open sources, 25-30 years.
Couriers carrying valuable information are armed and are obliged to provide armed resistance when attempting to seize correspondence. Therefore, they must be good at weapons, maintain composure and composure in any critical situation. However, the history of the modern courier service, at least in its open part, knows few cases when couriers really had to use weapons.
One of the most famous cases of the use of weapons by couriers occurred back in the Soviet Union - in 1983. According to the instructions, couriers do not have the right to intervene in any side conflicts and showdowns - their goal is to deliver the correspondence safe and sound, and not, say, to prevent crimes. But on July 5, 1983, two couriers who flew in an airplane from Moscow to Tallinn still disregarded this rule. Junior lieutenants Alexander Raschesov and Vladimir Zubovich neutralized two criminals who were trying to hijack the plane and its passengers and hijack it abroad.
Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all employees and veterans of the State Courier Service of Russia on their professional holiday. She wishes you health, calm and successful service and, of course, absence of losses.
