What they began to talk about in earnest more than a year ago has finally come true. Two independent services - the Federal Service for Drug Control and the Federal Migration Service - returned to the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the corresponding decision today, having gathered the heads of the listed departments.
It should be noted that before the creation of the Federal Service for Drug Control (FSKN) in 2003, the main burden of the fight against drugs lay with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The structure of the police department included the Main Directorate for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking and its territorial divisions. After the disbandment of this headquarters, an anti-drug department was created within the structure of the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation and special departments in the regions. Now, according to some reports, it is planned to transfer the drug police to the criminal investigation departments. The re-establishment of the anti-drug headquarters within the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is also not excluded.
As for the FMS, even before the appearance of this service, the functions of combating illegal migration were also assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Later, the FMS was separated, but subordinated to the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And only in 2012 the migration service set off on a “free float” - the head of the service began to report directly to the government of the Russian Federation.
For the first time, people started talking about the fact that the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service would return to the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the end of 2014. They even named a specific date for the liquidation of the departments - March 1, 2015. However, the leadership of these services managed to extend the life of their departments. To do this, they even went to unprecedented reductions in staff in their ranks.
The fact that drug police and migration officers should return under the “roof” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was again discussed at the end of last month - immediately after the meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. After the meeting, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev admitted to journalists that proposals to transfer the functions of the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Drug Control Service to the Ministry of Internal Affairs were made at the meeting.
He noted that the FMS does not have the right to conduct operational investigative activities. “They ask that they have this right, but they are not given this right, because there are already enough departments that deal with this,” explained the Secretary of the Security Council.
“They said that this work being carried out by the Federal Migration Service and its employees is not entirely effective. Such opinions were voiced, and, in general, not only about the FMS, but also about the effectiveness of the activities of the Federal Drug Control Service, because on the basis of illegal migration , including the illegal distribution of drugs. It was also said that most of the crimes are solved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they largely duplicate this work, so there were proposals to include the migration service and the Federal Drug Control Service under the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” he said. Patrushev, in conclusion, emphasizing that “no decisions have been made yet.”
Now, as we see, the decision was finally made.
Former investigator of the central office of the FSB, and now lawyer Anton Sonichev, notes that this decision is advisable primarily from the point of view of saving budget funds. “According to preliminary estimates, this will reduce budget expenses by about 30 billion rubles, which is very important in difficult economic conditions. There is also a high probability that employees of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service as part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will work more quickly and efficiently in order to prove their professional suitability to the new authorities.” , - noted the expert.
In addition, according to Sonichev, new connections between colleagues within the Ministry of Internal Affairs should affect the efficiency of work. “So, in particular, district police officers have much more information about illegal migrants and local drug addicts than officers sitting in their offices. Police operatives also know a lot about local drug addicts and their groups, and will now be more willing to share this information with their new colleagues.” “, the lawyer explained to Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“This idea is definitely positive, since before the revolution the Ministry of Internal Affairs united many functions - the gendarmerie, the customs service, the secret chancellery and many others, and this did not prevent a single body from doing its job,” a professor at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia commented on the changes in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Ivan Soloviev.
The undoubted advantages of such a structure, according to him, were that functioning in a single system united all employees. "There was a single level wages, uniform payments based on length of service, this also did not create competition in the system. As a result, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was the most powerful ministry of the 19th and early 20th centuries, which was the last to fall under the blows of the revolution,” the expert noted.
The head of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, Viktor Ozerov, also welcomes the changes. According to him, the reassignment of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service is a conceptual solution that will avoid duplication of functions in these departments and build clearer coordination of work. According to the senator, consolidation of security public order, the fight against drug trafficking in one ministry will contribute to “a more strictly structured vertical and coordination of activities in these areas.”
Alexander Mikhailov, who at one time was alternately a general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and the Federal Drug Control Service, previously called the abolition of drug control quite justified. In his opinion, the functions of fighting drugs within the country should be returned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where a separate department or central directorate should be created, and the fight against international drug trafficking should be entrusted to the FSB.
In addition, Mikhailov believes that many control functions - for example, control over the circulation of narcotic drugs and industrial precursors - may well be given to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industry, which could closely cooperate with law enforcement officers when identifying violations.
Rumors about the merger of the Federal Migration Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs arose a long time ago, but now they have become a reality. In accordance with Decree No. 156 of April 5, 2016 (presidential decree on the merger of the FMS with the Ministry of Internal Affairs) this service ceased to exist as a separate department, and migration issues were delegated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Transfer of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service to the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Let’s take a closer look at the situation to suggest what will happen to the FMS after the reassignment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It is difficult to understand from the text of the decree what the further fate this service. Let's look at the part of the decree affecting the FMS:
1. Liquidate the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Control of Drug Trafficking and the Federal Migration Service.
2. Delegate the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation:
3. Determine what the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is:
- A) federal body executive branch, which specializes in the development and implementation of state policy and legal regulation in the field of internal affairs, control over the circulation of psychotropic drugs, drugs, in the migration sphere, as well as law enforcement functions in the field of federal supervision in the mentioned areas;
- b) the legal successor of the liquidated Federal Migration Service and the Federal Service of the Russian Federation in the field of control over the circulation of narcotic drugs, including responsibilities that arose as a result of the execution of court decisions. …..
5. Complete the implementation of organizational and staffing measures related to the implementation of this decree by June 1, 2016.
Thus, the liquidated FSKN simply changed its sign, which cannot be said about the FMS.
FMS employees after joining the Ministry of Internal Affairs
It turns out that the reduction in the staff of this service will affect thirty percent of its employees (not bad if ordinary workers who work directly with citizens are not laid off), and FMS employees will continue to perform their duties until the end of the measures that this decree on the transfer of the FMS to Ministry of Internal Affairs.
What “news” and “surprises” will foreigners have to face in our country?
Functions of the Federal Migration Service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs: what awaits the former Federal Migration Service in 2016?
There are two key options here:
1. Few will remember that previously the FMS was part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and only in 2004 it was separated into an independent structure that united the departments of the passport and visa service and the departments dealing with migration issues of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Therefore, it is possible that this service will retain its previous form, but now it will be part of the department under the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which deals with migration issues.
If we talk about the regulatory framework, then earlier, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs dealt with migration issues, the instructions of this ministry were applied, including issues of residence permit, citizenship and temporary residence permit.
It is likely that a complete revision of the regulatory documents of the FMS is planned, after which its acts will be replaced with new ones approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In addition, there is a possibility that after the merger of the FMS and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will tighten the requirements given in its instructions and orders in the field of migration policy, which will require even more documents, in addition to those provided for by law.
Despite this, I would like to be optimistic and believe that the measures will be more humane, and not vice versa.
2. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will retain its “permitting” functions, i.e. will deal with issues of registration, migration registration, compliance with visa and passport regimes.
In addition, ministry employees will monitor the stay of foreign citizens. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will again begin to issue residence permits, citizenship and temporary residence permits, and issues of work permits and patents will be transferred to local authorities.
What will be the fate of Konstantin Romodanovsky? Will he take the place of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will he become the head of the main department dealing with migration issues of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation after the transfer of the FMS to the Ministry of Internal Affairs?
On this question there is no answer and a decision will have to be made to the Russian President, as reported by his press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
Reasons for the liquidation of the Federal Migration Service in 2016
Another question remains relevant: what is the reason for the abolition of the FMS?
Dmitry Peskov was able to answer it. The meaning of the press secretary's answer - the formation of a separate structure that deals with migration issues, was initially supported by the Russian authorities.
However, everything turned out completely differently than the Russian government predicted - the Federal Migration Service was unable to cope with the flow of migrants, partly because it did not have the authority to search for and detain illegal migrants.
As a result, the service was forced to turn to colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs for help, and the police were not interested in helping the FMS, since the police were already busy with their own affairs.
In this regard, officials from the FMS regularly said that the FMS should be allowed to conduct operational investigative activities. There was also talk about allowing inspectors to carry weapons. Subsequently, the government decided that the creation of a special “migration police” was too “expensive”, and decided to simply do it as it was before. In fact, the authorities admitted their failure to create a separate migration structure.
Principles of work of the FMS during the transition period
The press service of the abolished organization answered questions about working with citizens after the FMS was transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The letter stated that today each branch of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation operates as usual, continuing to provide government services to residents according to the reception schedule, despite the fact that the FMS is now part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
04.05.2016MOSCOW, April 5 – RIA Novosti. On Tuesday it became known about a significant expansion of the scope of responsibility Russian ministry internal affairs. President Vladimir Putin announced that two departments at once - the Federal Service for Drug Control and the Federal Migration Service - will come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In addition, Putin announced the creation in Russia on the basis of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which will fight terrorism and organized crime.
Expanding the powers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
The head of state announced the transfer of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service to the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the head of the Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov, the commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Viktor Zolotov and the deputy head of the Federal Migration Service Ekaterina Egorova.
“As for the fight against organized crime in the sphere of drug trafficking, as we said, we are implementing one of the proposals: we are transferring the Federal Drug Control Service to the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” Putin said.
The President noted that drug control “will work self-sufficiently, independently, but within the framework of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” adding that “the same applies to the migration service.”
Increasing efficiency and reducing staff
Experts consider this decision justified and say that the transfer of the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service to the Ministry of Internal Affairs system will increase the efficiency of the work of these departments.
“Given that all three organizations must constantly interact with each other, the transition to one structure will reduce the cost of financing the central apparatus. It will also be possible to more effectively organize interaction between services,” Ilya, a member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, told RIA Novosti Kostunov (United Russia).
Expert: the creation of the National Guard will lead to the strengthening of specific figures in the Ministry of Internal AffairsVladimir Putin announced the creation of the National Guard in Russia. This decision is aimed at strengthening the positions of specific individuals, including the commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Viktor Zolotov, believes Nikolai Mironov.At the same time, in his opinion, the released funds can be redistributed to work on the ground, to support those employees who directly solve crimes, carry out migration control and fight drug trafficking.
The Public Chamber also supported the president's decision.
“I have always openly called for this and support the president’s decision. We are currently losing in the fight against drug threats. The president heard the experts, heard the society, heard the professionals and took an extremely the right decision. And I am confident that the effectiveness of the fight against drugs will increase,” Anton Tsvetkov, chairman of the Security Commission of the Public Chamber, told RIA Novosti.
It is still unknown how these decisions will be implemented from an organizational point of view, but experts have already announced a possible reduction in the staff of departments that have transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs system.
“For employees, these will be organizational events, they will cut structural staffing table, some people will be fired - first of all, this will not affect ordinary employees who have been doing their job and will continue to do it, but first of all it will affect the management,” lawyer Alexander Glushenkov told RIA Novosti.
Creation of the National Guard
Another important news for the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the creation of the National Guard in Russia.
According to Putin, a new federal executive body is being created on the basis of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He will be involved in the fight against terrorism and organized crime, and in close contact with the Ministry of Internal Affairs will continue to perform the functions of riot police and special forces.
"We will record this, as we discussed it with the Minister of Internal Affairs, not only in the decree, but also in the future federal law so that there is no inconsistency, so that everything works clearly and harmoniously,” Putin said.
“I really hope that the National Guard troops will carry out their tasks as effectively as they have done so far, and will strengthen their work in those areas that are considered priorities,” he added.
Viktor Zolotov headed the Russian National GuardThe President of Russia announced the creation of the National Guard on the basis of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The new federal executive body will fight terrorism, crime, and also perform the functions of riot police and special forces.Russian experts and parliamentarians believe that the creation of the National Guard will unite professionals in the fight against terrorism and organized crime, as well as create an effective tool in the fight against these problems.
According to the State Duma deputy from the United Russia faction, former employee Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic Adalbi Shkhagosheva, the guard can become a kind of base for a quick response to any manifestations of terrorism and organized crime.
“This is an adequate response to the state of affairs in the fight against terrorism, in particular, international terrorism and organized crime. Organized criminal groups should never be categorically separated from the actions of terrorists. It is terrorist networks that are the best organized today, and there are no areas in the criminal world that act more coherently,” the parliamentarian said.
The first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, Franz Klintsevich, agrees with this point of view. According to him, the decision to create the National Guard was dictated by the need to more effectively coordinate efforts to combat terrorism.
“To effectively combat it, clearer and more coordinated coordination of efforts is necessary,” he told RIA Novosti.
Klintsevich believes that “the elite, the best of those who are ready to do everything to fight terrorism and crime,” will be attracted to work in the National Guard.
“I fully support the decision to create a new body that will effectively combat terrorism, organized crime, and drug trafficking, having received new powers for this,” the senator said.
Read more about the merger, division and reassignment of departments in Russia
After 13 years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs regained its anti-drug and passport and visa divisions: the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service were merged into the structure of the department. As a result of the merger, the services themselves receive additional powers, which have been asked for a long time
Employees of the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Drug Control Service during a joint raid on nightclubs in Moscow (Photo: RIA Novosti)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, April 5, announced the subordination of the Federal Service for Drug Control (FSKN) and the Federal Migration Service (FMS) to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). Both liquidated departments, after joining the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are implementing their long-standing plans - increasing their powers.
FSKN
The issue of merging the Federal Drug Control Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been discussed for more than a year. According to RBC, a source close to the presidential administration, the head of the department, Viktor Ivanov, was against the liquidation of the Federal Drug Control Service. Ivanov was appointed to the position of head of the Federal Drug Control Service in May 2008; before that, he worked for a long time in the administration of President Vladimir Putin, in particular, from 2004 to 2008 he served as assistant to the president for personnel matters.
Over the past few years, the Federal Drug Control Service has been trying to expand the range of its interests; in particular, the agency wanted to monopolize the sphere of rehabilitation and socialization of drug addicts. The Federal Drug Control Service has even developed a state program that involves uniting about 500 rehabilitation centers existing in Russia under the auspices of the Federal Drug Control Service. They were planned to be able to receive grants from the state to help drug addicts. Initially, the Federal Drug Control Service requested more than 150 billion rubles from the state for these purposes. Subsequently, the estimated cost of the program was reduced to 1.5 billion.
The department received the authority to provide financial and organizational support to rehabilitation NGOs in August 2014 by Putin’s decree. But Ivanov never succeeded in implementing the program, since the Ministry of Finance refused to allocate money for it. The Federal Drug Control Service also failed to approve the relevant law on service, which was developed back in 2013. This law significantly expanded the powers of the service: the department wanted to conduct medical examinations, issue orders to companies and individual entrepreneurs, so that they “take measures to prevent drug trafficking,” and even through the courts, suspend the work of companies if they do not comply with the service’s instructions.
But for its main work - countering drug trafficking - the Federal Drug Control Service was criticized by experts who compared the service’s indicators with those of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Police officers are dedicated to solving low-level or moderate drug crimes. Experts from the St. Petersburg Institute of Law Enforcement Problems, dedicated to the effectiveness of the work of the two departments, stated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is ahead of the Federal Drug Control Service in the number of crimes solved, and the Federal Drug Control Service is ahead of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the volume of drugs seized.
In the spring of 2015, Ivanov, commenting on rumors about a possible reorganization of his department, said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has higher rates of arrests of ordinary drug users, but the Federal Drug Control Service is focused on large suppliers and distributors of drugs. “90% of all wholesale quantities of drugs are seized by the Federal Drug Control Service,” Ivanov emphasized.
It is still unclear what will happen to the more than 30 thousand FSKN employees who are on the department’s staff. Putin did not inform about layoffs in the Federal Drug Control Service at the meeting with representatives of departments; he only stated that “this entire structure will work self-sufficiently, independently, but within the framework of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” The Federal Drug Control Service itself announced in mid-January that it was optimizing its structure and staff.
Which structural subdivision will be created in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in connection with joining the Federal Drug Control Service, has not yet been announced. Before the creation of the Federal Drug Control Service, the fight against drugs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs was carried out by the Main Directorate for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking (GUBNON). After disbandment, an anti-drug department was created within the structure of the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation and special departments in the regions. As Kommersant wrote, after the liquidation of the Federal Drug Control Service, it is planned to transfer the drug police to the criminal investigation departments. In addition, according to the newspaper, the possibility of recreating GUBNON is also being discussed.
The FMS became an independent unit in 2004, when the agency left the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In recent years, the FMS has complained that the service is not a law enforcement agency and does not have the functions necessary to work with migrants, explains RBC’s interlocutor at the FMS. Last week about the lack of authority to round table Nadezhda Voronina, deputy head of the monitoring department of the department for organizing work with foreign citizens of the FMS, spoke at the Public Chamber.
In the spring of 2014, the FMS developed a bill “On Immigration Control,” which significantly expands the authority of the department and turns it into a full-fledged law enforcement agency. If this law were approved by the State Duma and signed by the president, service employees could conduct inspections legal entities, revoke licenses and confiscate permits from employers. In addition, department employees would have the right to initiate and investigate criminal cases for organizing illegal migration, check citizens’ documents and use weapons.
Before its liquidation, the competence of the FMS included issues of granting citizenship, issuing visas to enter Russia, processing and issuing passports to citizens Russian Federation, deportation and entry ban for violators of immigration laws. The leadership of the department consists of representatives of law enforcement agencies. Three of the eight deputy heads of the FMS Konstantin Romodanovsky come from state security agencies, like himself, and three more come from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
After staff reductions in the summer of 2015, the Federal Migration Service employed 36 thousand people. It is already known that the Federal Migration Service will reduce another 30%: this is stated in Putin’s decree on the merger of structures. The very fact of the return of the FMS to the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not mean that “the independent state was considered unsuccessful,” presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It’s just that as a result of interdepartmental study we came to the conclusion that at this stage such a structure is more appropriate,” Peskov explained.
The fate of the current head of the FMS Romodanovsky will be decided by Putin, deputy head of the FMS Ekaterina Egorova told RBC on Tuesday.
President of the Migration 21st Century Foundation, former deputy director of the Federal Migration Service Vyacheslav Postavnin, in a conversation with RBC, noted that the decision to merge departments was long overdue, since recently the Ministry of Internal Affairs has received some of the functions of the migration service. According to him, there are two options for subordinating the FMS to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The first option assumes that the FMS remains a service, but within the framework of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the head of the migration department becomes the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.
“The second option is that the FMS will essentially turn into a passport and visa center under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which it was before. The functions of monitoring migrants and regulating migration will then need to be given to someone, since the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not involved in this,” adds Postavnin. According to him, the function of issuing labor patents to migrants can be given either to the regions, as is happening in Moscow, or to the Ministry of Labor.
After joining the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FMS to some extent realized its desire to expand its powers, Postavnin clarifies. But these powers - inquiry, interrogation, operational work - will most likely not be needed by the service employees, Postavnin is sure. In his opinion, direct work with migrants will be carried out by police officers - district police officers, guards, etc., since the FMS will concentrate on passport and visa work.