The Growing Role Of Russia's Military Police In Syria

Image: IrkSib.ru

Mark Galeotti, War Is Boring: Not-So-Soft Power: Russia's Military Police In Syria

Earlier this month, in Syria’s Idlib governorate, 29 Russians found themselves encircled by fighters from the rebel front Tahrir al-Sham (which Moscow still calls its old name, Jabhat al-Nusra). Moscow responded with a characteristic extravagance of firepower. The attack submarine Veliky Novgorod launched Kalibr cruise missiles. Su-25 ground attack aircraft flew sorties, while helicopters laden with Syrian and Russian commandos (including men from the elite Special Operations Command) flew in to extract the soldiers and then punish Tahrir al-Sham. Only three Russians were wounded and none died. What was unusual was that the men of this platoon serving in an exposed position were not Spetsnaz special forces, but members of the Voennaya politsiya, Russia’s military police.

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WNU Editor: This is actually not a new thing for the Russian military. After the Second World War this is what my father did in East Germany .... after being on the front commanding an artillery unit, his new responsibility was commanding a military police unit whose sole focus was to keep the peace, especially between the Soviet Army and the German population. He did not talk much about that experience, with the exception that he commanded it for a year, and that is unit's main problem was keeping the Soviet Army in line .... there were too many who wanted to exact revenge on the Germans for what they did in Eastern Europe. The punishment for rogue Soviet soldiers was also very severe .... those who were responsible for homicides were always court marshalled and put to death, and they were many who experienced this fate.