Soon to receive weapons such as attack helicopters and artillery, Russia’s National Guard, led by Putin’s bodyguard Zolotov, has been tapped as a key Kremlin’s regime security force, despite failure to suppress the Wagner coup led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the UK Defense intelligence writes in its daily update: 

“On 4 August 2023, President Putin signed into law a measure which will allow Rosgvardia, the Russian National Guard, to be equipped with heavy weaponry.

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. 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 organisations to ensure regime security.”