On April 8, a unique military unit, the Russian Presidential Regiment, celebrates its 80th anniversary. It is part of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
This regiment ensures the safety of the top officials of the state and the safety of the Kremlin values. The regiment includes three battalions, two companies of the Special Guard, an Honorary Cavalry Escort and Special Forces. Each division has its own characteristics and specificity.
You can get to the location of the unit not only from the Kremlin, but also directly "from the street", bypassing the Kremlin gates, - from Red Square, through an extension to the Nikolskaya Tower. Outside of the metal detectors, there is a passage to the architectural monument of the 18th century - the Arsenal of the Moscow Kremlin, chosen as the "headquarters" of the Presidential Regiment.
Zeughaus, built by order of Peter I, was supposed to serve as a warehouse of weapons, ammunition, and a museum of military glory.
The arsenal inside is rather austere: long corridors with many doors ("Secret Service", "General Service", "Class", "Photolaboratory", "Guardroom", "Unit's History Room" …), walls painted with beige paint, carpet. The age of the building is given by vaulted ceilings more than four meters high and the thickness of the walls is almost three.
In the closed perimeter of the courtyard of the Arsenal, there is a parade ground and a gymnasium of the regiment.
About the Kremlinites, their traditions and peculiarities of service in the Presidential Regiment - in a special TASS project.
FROM RISE TO RISE
The life of servicemen is subject to a clear and strict schedule: each unit has its own. The corresponding tables are posted on the stands at the posts inside the Arsenal, so that at any time you can check whether the actual state of affairs coincides with what is written in the schedule.
A single rise for all units - 6:30.
This is followed by a half-hour exercise and jogging through the territory of the Kremlin in any weather. To maintain the physical condition of the servicemen in the Taynitsky Garden - far from the gaze of tourists - even gymnastic apparatus have been installed.
40 minutes are allotted for "toilet, bed filling and internal order", and 20 minutes for breakfast.
Before lunch, there is a compulsory four hours of classes and one hour of "armament maintenance". After lunch, another three hours of classes, self-preparation, dinner, evening walk.
The schedule also includes "time for personal needs" - a total of two hours and 40 minutes a day, during which you can go to the library, watch TV, or just relax.
Lights out - at 22:30.
Three times a week - on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays - the club is attended in full dress. The poster includes Soviet and Russian films about the war and patriotic, concerts, meetings with veterans. From the latest programs, the soldiers recall with special pleasure the performance of the magicians, the concert of Vladimir Vinokur and the conversation with the cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.
Of the bad habits, only smoking is not prohibited. Alcohol is out of the question.
It is difficult to use mobile Internet or telephone in the Arsenal building - after all, the location speaks for itself. But those who are supposed to have computers and telephones in their offices.
This is a security military unit, so the regiment's employees are allowed mobile phones, but without video recording and Internet access.
- Roman Lotvin, Deputy Commander for Personnel Relations, Colonel
The conscript servicemen can go on a day off not earlier than in four months. And with well-passed tests. The bosses are usually worried about the subordinates leaving for the city: many guys came from small towns, villages and villages, so they can "get lost" outside the Kremlin walls.
Shine boots
The duty of the military personnel of the Presidential Regiment is to be in sight. They are the calling card of the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia. The utmost attention is paid to their appearance.
For example, the preparation of the shoes of the Guard of Honor according to internal rules takes place in seven stages, which take almost a day. As the servicemen "conjure" over the skis of the Olympians with the help of all sorts of secret drugs, so the Kremlin officials rub their boots. The result can be only one and ideal: a soldier must see his own reflection in a boot.
In everyday life, everything is simpler. This is camouflage (a summer set now costs about 700 rubles), high lace-up shoes. In winter - pea jacket and earflaps made of natural sheepskin.
The parade uniform of the units is different: these are uniforms of dark blue or dark green color, caps, in winter - greatcoats. Moreover, all fabrics are only natural and domestic.
The most expensive - at 60-80 thousand rubles - is the cost of ceremonial uniforms for the Company of the special guard, the so-called historical costumes. They are specially designed on the basis of the ceremonial military uniform of the Life Guards units of the 1907-1913 model, created on the direct orders of Nicholas II for the celebration of the anniversary of victory in the war of 1812.
The emergence of a historically motivated dress uniform for the Life Guards at that time was considered one of the most important tasks. The army, which experienced the bitterness of defeat in the Japanese campaign, needed an excuse to raise the army's fighting spirit and rally around great-power ideas during the period of the brewing turmoil. A dress uniform of a similar cut was worn by participants in the Victory Parade on Red Square in 1945.
Porcelain for the Kremlin
The Kremlin residents are provided with three meals a day, a balanced diet has been developed especially for them by doctors and nutritionists. For many years, only domestic products have been purchased.
Breakfast is usually milk porridge, bread and butter, and a hot drink. For lunch, a salad of fresh vegetables, meat or fish soup, a main course, natural compote or juice are served. Dinner is lighter, but also with fresh vegetables and fruits.
Additional meals are provided during tactical exercises or competitions.
Recently, the Presidential Regiment began to pay increased attention to table setting, which is specially trained. All servicemen do not eat "from a common cauldron", they are served in separate portions on porcelain dishes. And, as expected, a fork on the left, a knife on the right.
POST # 1 AND MORE
The regiment's leadership does not disclose either the number of weapons and equipment, or the size of the unit, citing military secrets. However, he clarifies that more than half of the servicemen are professional contract soldiers.
The Presidential Regiment has drivers, chemists, logisticians, orderlies and other specialists. “We do not have only sappers and scientific companies,” says Colonel Roman Lotvin, deputy commander for work with personnel.
Depending on the chosen profession, a schedule of theoretical and practical training is built. So, the foot Guard of Honor has enhanced drill, the combat units have an emphasis on the use of weapons, the Cavalry Escort has horse riding and veterinary medicine.
The compulsory training includes a significant theoretical part, which, for example, includes the analysis of all kinds of situations, communication with psychologists.
Children need to be prepared for duty: how to behave when checking documents at the entrance to the Kremlin, how to distinguish a lost tourist from a mentally unbalanced citizen, how to react to the behavior of others
- Roman Lotvin, Deputy Commander for Personnel Relations, Colonel
In addition to the main "headquarters" in the Kremlin Arsenal, the Presidential Regiment has several bases in the Moscow region. For example, natives of the Krasnodar Territory and Rostov Region, who have the ability to handle horses in their blood, have more chances to get to the village of Kalininets, where the Honorary Cavalry Escort "lodges". Mostly contract soldiers serve there so that the horse gets used to one rider. There are more than a hundred horses of Russian riding and Trakenin breeds in the regiment.
An operational reserve battalion is located near Noginsk, which requires daily training at the shooting range.
Servicemen of the Special Guard are undergoing a two-month training in the Kupavna area. A model of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built for them, exactly corresponding to the original. Without many hours of experience in carrying the training guard, not a single soldier can be admitted to this monument. Before the "baptism of fire" - a test in the Alexander Garden, which is taken at night, without prying eyes.
History and traditions
One of the servicemen of the Presidential Regiment with more than 20 years of experience told a TASS correspondent how in 1993, by the decree of the first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, Post No. 1 was removed at the Lenin Mausoleum. Only the command "Two steps forward!" Followed, and the guard was removed.
Documentary film "210 steps", 1974. Post number 1
@ YouTube / Presidential Regiment
The new Post No. 1 appeared only four years later (in 1997) - at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Every day, in any weather, from 8:00 to 22:00, servicemen of the Presidential Regiment are on guard here. One shift lasts an hour. Then three hours of rest and a new shift. The mode of entering the object is three days later.
When conscripts served for two years, those who had 100 visits to the Special Guard enjoyed special honor and respect. The current ones manage to "dial" only a few dozen.
Of course, care is shown about the Special Guard, its "workplace" is equipped with heating from below and blowing warm air from behind. Similar devices were used in winter and at the Lenin Mausoleum.
- Evgeny Chistyakov, deputy battalion commander for work with personnel, lieutenant colonel
Chistyakov also said that the carbines with which the sentries take up their posts are just mock-ups, that is, they cannot shoot by definition and should not be of interest to intruders. "The task of the guard is not to stand to death, but to pay military honors," the lieutenant colonel explains.
However, he emphasizes: the servicemen of his unit are fluent in "combat techniques of handling weapons." According to the law and the charter, in the event of an obvious threat, the Special Guard has the right to use physical force - to stab with a bayonet, defend with a rifle butt.
One sad incident with a serviceman of the Kremlin regiment, Mikhail Bobrov, occurred on November 4, 1998. At the Spassky Gate, he prevented an unauthorized armed entry into the Kremlin. The improvised device exploded, Bobrov received numerous wounds, but the attacker did not pass. One of the sections in the "Unit History Room" - the regimental museum in the Arsenal is dedicated to Private Bobrov.
Formally, the date of birth of the regiment is April 8, 1936. It was then that the Special Purpose Battalion was reorganized into a Special Purpose Regiment. However, his story began much earlier.
After the government moved from Petrograd to Moscow in 1918, Latvian riflemen, and then the Kremlin cadets of the 1st Moscow Revolutionary Machine Gun School (now the Moscow Higher Military Command School), carried out the Kremlin guard service. In October 1935, security tasks were transferred to the Special Purpose Battalion, which was later reorganized into the Special Purpose Regiment.
The Kremlin regiment has existed as a special unit since 1936. Currently, it is one of the divisions of the Moscow Kremlin Commandant's Service of the Federal Security Service (FSO).
The presidential regiment is a unique military unit that solves specific combat missions to ensure the safety of top officials of the state and the safety of Kremlin values. He is part of the FSO of Russia, which has the status of a special service and reports directly to the president.
Since July 1976, a special guard company has been created as part of the Presidential Regiment, which ensures the conduct of protocol events at the highest level.
With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the military units of the Kremlin commandant's office were entrusted with the task of protecting and defending the Kremlin, where the State Defense Committee and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command were located. From June 25, 1941, the regiment switches to the regime of enhanced protection and defense of the Kremlin, a round-the-clock duty of combat crews is established on the wall.
During the war, four groups of snipers of the regiment were sent to the front, which destroyed 1, 2 thousand enemy soldiers and officers. The losses of the Kremlin were 97 people. Three parade battalions of the regiment took part in the historic Victory Parade on Red Square on June 24, 1945.
In 1952, the Special Forces Regiment was transformed into a Separate Special Forces Regiment. In 1973, it was renamed into the Separate Red Banner Kremlin Regiment, and from March 20, 1993 - into the Presidential Regiment.
Their "professional" holiday - the Day of the Regiment - is celebrated by the Kremlin on May 7. Every year on this day, the regiment is presented to the President of Russia.
HOW TO BECOME A KREMLIN
The call comes from 48 regions of Russia. According to the commander of the Presidential Regiment, Major General Oleg Galkin, “today young people from most regions of our country are serving in the regiment, among the soldiers and sergeants of the regiment are representatives of Kuzbass and Siberia, the Urals and the Volga region, northern and central regions of Russia, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories..
According to Lotvin, "even before the start of the spring and autumn conscriptions, the regiment's officers go on business trips, where they conduct a preliminary selection of candidates for conscripts in the field in order to have lists of candidates with the official start of the campaign."
The 12-month conscription service is divided into two periods, after each of which exams and tests are taken. The most successful are marked with awards - special badges and badges "Excellent FSO" and "Kremlin regiment".
There are many requirements for future Kremlinites, they are spelled out by a government decree of 1999 and other provisions:
• height from 175 cm to 190 cm;
• weight - the normal ratio of height and body weight;
• visual acuity without correction 0, 7 in both eyes and with normal color perception;
• hearing - the perception of whispered speech at a distance of at least 6 meters to both ears.
In the "military medical" language, compliance with the "presidential standard" sounds like suitability "A" - the highest.
Another condition is the absence of defects (for example, scars, birthmarks) on the exposed parts of the body - the face and hands. A soldier serving in the Guard of Honor with a tattoo or piercing would have looked at least strange.
We hire young people only with a complete secondary education (higher education is an additional argument in favor of the candidate), physically prepared, with an unblemished biography
- Roman Lotvin, Deputy Commander for Personnel Relations, Colonel
But knowledge of foreign languages is not required, although a "polyglot" at the post, for example, at the Kutafya Tower, where there are many tourists, can pleasantly surprise foreigners.
When recruiting the companies of the Honor and Special Guard, possession of martial arts is encouraged: such young people have good stretching, which means that they can easily raise their legs high and beautifully, striking a step.
However, the main condition for admission to the Presidential Regiment is the desire of a future recruit. At the final interview, he must firmly declare why he wants to become a Kremlin.
Twice a year, a solemn ceremony of oath is held in the Presidential Regiment, at which the commandant of the Kremlin, Lieutenant General Sergei Khlebnikov, is always present, and the relatives of the recruits are invited.
Conscripts with excellent service can qualify for the signing of a contract. Having submitted a report, the applicant will take additional exams and before the conclusion of the contract will appear before the attestation commission. The first contract is for three years with a three month probationary period.
Among the disciplines in which a candidate is tested are protection against weapons of mass destruction, knowledge of the charter of the Armed Forces, the history of the Kremlin and its monuments, and polygraph testing.
20-year-old Sergei Baranov from the Moscow Region with a secondary specialized technical education has almost completed his military service and is awaiting an order with a decision to conclude a contract. “I want to continue to serve in a drill company,” he told a TASS correspondent.
Baranov says that not only did he not come across hazing in the Presidential Regiment, but he didn’t even hear about cases of hazing. "In the subunits, soldiers of the same draft are selected, relations between all are normal, although there are humorous" skirmishes ", - he admits.
Lotwin notes that the Presidential Regiment has dozens of real dynasties, when the fathers' work is continued by the sons.
Among the famous "graduates" of the regiment: Gennady Zaitsev - Hero of the Soviet Union, former commander of the FSB special unit "Alpha"; Mikhail Barsukov - in 1991-1995, the commandant of the Kremlin, in 1995-1996 - director of the FSB; writer Vladimir Soloukhin. Many former Kremlinites have now become mayors of cities, deputies in regional legislative bodies.
Performance of the Presidential Regiment at the Festival of Military Bands in Basel, 2013
@ YouTube / Presidential Regiment
Women in the regiment are the exception rather than the rule. They serve either under contract or as civilian specialists (tailors, librarians, cleaners).
Employees under the contract hold the positions of "responsible executors", that is, they carry out office work, work with papers and documents. There are many ladies - sergeants and warrant officers - among the cooks.
There are women with officer's shoulder straps among psychologists and cavalry instructors. Ladies also serve in the Cavalry escort, who periodically take part in the solemn ceremony of divorcing the guards on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. In mid-April, a new season for the changing of the guards starts, which is held every Saturday at 12 noon during the warmer months.
The fairer sex has never served in combat units. And this is a tradition.
Another tradition is the long-term friendship of "graduates", regular meetings, including at the Arsenal with "exchange of experience" with current employees.
The regiment's leadership is proud that after the end of their service, the former Kremlinites do not experience any problems either with obtaining a higher education or with finding a job. This military elite is in great demand in the literal sense of the word.
