Kremlin attempts to strengthen Moscow’s protection – UK intel

The relevant statement was made by the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom on the social media platform X, referring to the latest Defence Intelligence update, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In November 2022, Putin approved the establishment of the MGSF as a new organisation to guard the Moscow’s infrastructure. It has likely attracted several thousand recruits out of a planned strength of 15,000.

From July 2023, the MGSF has assumed a more paramilitary character, including receiving a remit to use firearms.

According to the UK intelligence, the MGSF represents another example in Russia’s long tradition of ‘paramilitarisation’: the proliferation of armed organizations outside of the regular military.

However, the MGSF has highly likely been strengthened partially in response to concerns about the preparedness of Moscow’s local security forces in the face of advancing, mutinous Wagner Group troops in June 2023.

“The project also provides an opportunity for Muscovites to volunteer for ‘patriotic’ war time duties – while avoiding front line service in Ukraine,” the UK intelligence noted.

The analysts mentioned that Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin had been successful in limiting the direct impact of the conflict on the capital’s relatively well-off population. The majority of Russian casualties in Ukraine have come from poorer, provincial regions.