SAMARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2018) The main directorate of Russia's military police will devolve some of its oversight functions to military district commanders in 2019, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
Russia is divided into five military districts, including the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command. According to the ministerial statement, President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on a "new type of governance where commanders... will have extra powers and responsibilities."
"The commanders will be tasked, alongside the Main Directorate, with enforcing the rule of law, military discipline, road safety, crime prevention... in territories under their control," military police chief Vladimir Ivanovsky was quoted as saying.
The military police were created in 2015 within the Russian Armed Forces. They are active in Syria where they help patrol the Idlib buffer zone, protect UN aid convoys, and have recently been deployed to the Golan Heights.
