UK intelligence explained why Putin arms Rosgvardia with artillery

On August 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that will allow the Rosgvardia to be equipped with heavy weapons. This structure should ensure the security of Putin’s regime.

This was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense on Twitter.

As noted in the summary, a sprawling organization of up to 200,000 frontline personnel, Rosgvardia was created in its modern form in 2016 and is led by Putin’s former bodyguard Viktor Zolotov. The decision to strengthen the force follows the abortive Wagner mutiny of June 2023.

According to British intelligence, despite Zolotov’s claim that his force performed ‘excellently’ during the mutiny, there is no evidence that Rosgvardia carried out any effective action against Wagner: exactly the sort of internal security threat it was designed to repress.

"With Zolotov previously suggesting that heavy equipment should include artillery and attack helicopters, the move suggests that the Kremlin is doubling down on resourcing Rosgvardia as one of the key organizations to ensure regime security," the British Ministry of Defense said.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 08/08/2023