MVD - Definition and Overview

The Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) (Министерство внутренних дел) was the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the USSR, and still bears the same name in the Russian Federation.

Soviet era

In the USSR, the Ministry of Internal Affairs functioned for a time as the secret police. In March 1946 the NKVD was renamed the MVD, when all People's Commissariats (NK) were redesignated as Ministries (M). The NKGB also became the MGB.

In March 1953 Lavrenty Beria united the MVD and MGB into one body, the MVD. Within a year Beria's purge caused the MVD to be split up. The reformed MVD retained its "internal security" (police) functions, while the new KGB took on "state security" (secret police) functions.

Russian Federation

The MVD controls the Militsiya, the internal troops, the prisons, and several other agencies. The Firefighting Service was recently moved from MVD control to the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Situations.

The MVD has its own organic OSNAZ unit, the Otryad Militsii Osobogo Naznacheniya (OMON).

External links

• Ministry of the Interior of Russia (http://eng.mvdrf.ru/), official homepage

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