The National Guard of Russia (also known as the Russian Guard) is an internal security corps with estimated strength of 500,000, organized along military lines. It was established in April 2016 and is directly subordinated to Putin.

Related:
- Putin’s ‘hybrid’ recognition of Moscow-sponsored breakaway republics in Ukraine
- Putin, like Trump, being pressed to take harder line abroad to shore up his own position, Piontkovsky says
- Flynngate reflects Putin’s penchant for high-risk counterproductive actions, Khzmalyan says
- Putin elite’s anti-Americanism older and more deeply held than that of other Russians (study)
- Putin’s corrupt moral convictions imposed on entire society
- Kremlin’s censorship of Shenderovich interview spotlights Putin’s mafia connections
- Putin regime was a criminal one long before Crimea, the doping scandal shows
- Chekist regime and criminal world in Russia now ‘completely coincide,’ Portnikov says