Russian President Vladimir Putin has transferred GROM, a special forces unit of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, to the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya), which will allow it to deploy to the front in Ukraine, a deputy from the United Russia party said on Tuesday. Vladimir Putin Oleksandr Khinshtein, CNN reports, News.ro reports.

“By the president’s decision, the GROM unit is transferred to the Russian National Guard along with its personnel and all infrastructure,” that is, among other things, weapons, special equipment, ammunition, and material assets, Khinshtein said in a Telegram post on Monday. .

“All employees of the GROM unit have been transferred to work in the National Guard of the Russian Federation by their own decision,” he added.

“This shows the key role of the National Guard in protecting the country’s internal security,” the elected official emphasized.

Khinshtein noted that GROM cannot fight in Ukraine, as it is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

The handover of the Russian Guard unit enables Moscow to send 7,000 people to Ukraine.

“In the conditions of conducting a special military operation, when the rapid response special group and riot police take a direct part in combat operations on the front line, all this created serious problems and definitely did not bring victory closer,” he said. underlined

We will also remind you that also on Tuesday, the Russian Parliament increased the maximum age from which men can be mobilized for army service by at least five years – for senior officers – up to 70 years.

Putin’s decision was made after Wagner’s mercenaries thinned out on the Ukrainian front

Putin made the decision weeks after meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, the Russian National Guard, the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs following the June 24 armed uprising by the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.

Wagner’s fighters fought some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But after the June 23-24 uprising, the fighters were given the opportunity to go into exile with their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, join the regular Russian troops, or return home.

On July 13, more than two weeks after a brief armed uprising in Russia, the Pentagon announced that Wagner’s mercenary group was no longer significantly involved in Russian military operations in Ukraine.

“At this stage, we do not see the Wagner PMC forces participating to any significant extent in support of the hostilities in Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said.

• How the decision to allow Prigozhin to recruit Wagner’s mercenaries from prisons backfired on Putin

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