The Military Commandant of Moscow () is an administration unit of the

Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

under the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

capital of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. The current Commandant of Moscow is Lieutenant General Yevgeny Seleznev. The Office of the Commandant supervises all work regarding to military activities in the federal capital city, and is the lead organizer of all national ceremonial activities within the capital's vicinity and its metropolitan region involving the Armed Forces as a whole.

History

Pre-history

The first official mention in historical documents of the position of the military commandant of the city of Moscow dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. In 1707. Prince Matvey Gagarin was appointed as the first military commandant of the city of Moscow. For the first time, the responsibilities of the commandant were officially defined in 1716, in a document signed by Tsar

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

entitled: “The charter of the military post of generals-field marshals and all generals and other officials who should be with the army, and about other military affairs and behaviors that everyone should fix ". With the formation of the

Ministry of War of the Russian Empire Ministry of War of the Russian Empire (, ''Military Ministry'') was an administrative body in the Russian Empire from 1802 to 1917. It was established in 1802 as the ''Ministry of ground armed forces'' () taking over responsibilities from the C ...

in 1802, the functions of city commandants were limited exclusively to specific duties. Following the

Patriotic War of 1812 The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the continent ...

, the Charter "On Service in the Garrison", introduced by Tsar

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC * Pope Alex ...

in 1816, reduced some of the powers of military commandants, freeing them of the need to personally delve into all the issues of city life.

Foundation and early history

On 23 July 1918, the Moscow Commandant Directorate was formed. Since the late 1940s. it has been deployed in house #16 on Novaya Basmannaya Street. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Office of the Commandant was entrusted with enormous responsibility for organizing law and order on the territory of Moscow and suburban areas, being directly involved in the defense of the city, The commandant was subordinate to the

Narodnoe Opolcheniye The People's Militia (, ) was the irregular troops formed from the population in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. They fought behind front lines and alongside the regular army during several wars throughout its history. The People ...

of Moscow, as well as the 2nd Separate Special Division of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

Post-war and events of August 1991

In the post-war period, not a single major event in the capital would take place without the participation of the office. The organization of military honors at the

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

s of party leaders and prominent statesmen, the preparation of

military parades A military parade is a formation of military personnels whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as drilling or marching. Large military parades are today held on major holidays and military events around the world. Mass ...

of troops on

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', p=ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ) is one of the oldest and largest town square, squares in Moscow, Russia. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, along the eastern walls of ...

, and other solemn events, were among its duties. It also responsible for the provision of

state visits A state visit is a formal visit by the head of a sovereign country (or representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or representative) of that foreign country, with th ...

by heads of foreign states and many high-ranking foreign political figures. In 1979, the Office of the Commandant of the City of Moscow received a new official name: the Military Commandant's Office of the City of Moscow. In 1988, the

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the collective head of state of the Russian SFSR and the permanent body of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR that was accountable to the Supreme Sovi ...

awarded the Military Commandant's Office with a certificate of honor "For services in maintaining the statutory order and organization on the territory of the Moscow garrison". Many officers of the commandant's office in the 1980s distinguished themselves by serving during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

as well as in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

following the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

. During the

August coup The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to Coup d'état, forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President ...

in 1991, the personnel of the Military Commandant's office were responsible for restoring order to the city. General Nikolai Kalinin (the commander of the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

), was appointed by coup leader

Gennady Yanayev Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev (; 26 August 193724 September 2010) was a Soviet politician and disputed President of the Soviet Union for three days. Yanayev's political career spanned the rules of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko, ...

as military commandant of Moscow, declaring a

curfew A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorit ...

in Moscow from 23:00 to 5:00, effective from 20 August."Novaya Gazeta" No. 51 of 23 July 2001
(extracts from the indictment of the conspirators)
18 August 2006 General Smirnov, the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

'' military commandant of Moscow, took part, together with members of the

Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR The Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, later the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, was the supreme government institution of the Russian SFSR from 1938 to 1990; between 1990 and 1993, it was a permanent legislature (parliament), elected ...

, in the negotiations of the commanders of the 2nd Taman Division, which was loyal to the

State Committee on the State of Emergency State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

.''Тоннель на крови'', Журнал КоммерсантЪ «Власть» № 34 (78) от 26.08.1991
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Under the Russian flag

In November 1994, President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

delivered his gratitude for the office's "great contribution to the preparation and conduct of the official visit to Russia of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

of Great Britain". In 2011, the Military Commandant's Office was removed from the order of battle of the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

and became part of the

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

of the Ministry of Defense. Currently, personnel of the commandant's office serve on active military duty in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

as part of Russia's involvement in the Syrian Civil War.

Activities

Policing

In terms of policing, it ensures law and order and military discipline on the territory of the Moscow Territorial Garrison, carrying out measures for servicemen evading military service, and counteracting illegal drug trafficking.

Parades

The commandant is the chief organizer of the annual

Moscow Victory Day Parade The Moscow Victory Day Parade () is an annual military parade of the Russian Armed Forces on Moscow's Red Square on 9 May during the Victory Day celebrations. The most important parade of those being held on 9 May is the one held on Moscow's Red ...

9 May Events Pre-1600 * 328 – Athanasius is elected Patriarch of Alexandria. *1009 – Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy. *1386 – England and Portugal formally rat ...

. The first of these parades was the parade of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

on 25 May 1919. It was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of general military training. The military commandant also organized and supervised the preparation of the

1941 October Revolution Parade The 1941 October Revolution Parade of November 7, 1941 was a parade in honor of the October Revolution 24 years earlier.Russia and later the Soviet Union adopted the Gregorian calendar after the October Revolution, so that the anniversary now f ...

and the

Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 The 1945 Moscow Victory Parade (), also known as the Parade of Victors (), was a victory parade held by the Soviet Armed Forces (with the Color Guard Company representing the First Polish Army) after the defeat of Nazi Germany. This, the longest ...

Ceremonies

In its duties, it often works with the

154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment 154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment serves as the official honor guard regiment of the Russian Armed Forces and serves as the main honor guard unit of the armed forces, stationed in Moscow. Aside from being the honor guard ...

, which is the official

honor guard A guard of honour (Commonwealth English), honor guard (American English) or ceremonial guard, is a group of people, typically drawn from the military, appointed to perform ceremonial duties – for example, to receive or guard a head of state ...

regiment of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

. Among the

military funeral A military funeral is a memorial or burial rite given by a country's military for a soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died in battle, a veteran, or other prominent military figures or heads of state. A military funeral may feature guards ...

s it organizes at

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

are those of high ranking generals. It also does the same for national leaders, having first organized the

state funeral of Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin, second leader of the Soviet Union, died on 5 March 1953 at his Kuntsevo Dacha after suffering a stroke, at age 74. He was given a state funeral in Moscow on 9 March, with four days of national mourning declared. On the day of t ...

in March 1953. Events at the

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier A Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is a monument dedicated to the services of an unknown soldier and the common memories of all soldiers killed in war. Such tombs are located in many nations and are usually high-profile na ...

take place with the organization of the commandant. In 2018, in honor of the centenary of the military commandant's office, the 1967 lighting of the

was recreated in the

Alexander Garden Alexander Gardens () was one of the first urban public parks in Moscow, Russia. The park comprises three separate gardens, which stretch along all the length of the western Kremlin wall for between the building of the Moscow Manege and the Kr ...

of Moscow.

List of Commandants of Moscow

The following have served as military commandants: * Oskar Berzin (1917—1918) * Robert Bodnek (1918—1919) * Vladimir Yershov-Kovalsky (1919) * Sergey Ganshin (1919—1921) * Nikolay Yakovlev (1921—1926) * Pyotr Tkalun (1926—1929 and 1931—1935) * Nikolay Klykov (1930) * Pyotr Tkalun (1931—1935) * Mikhail Lukin (1935—1937) * Filip Suvorov (1937—1939) * Vasily Revyakin (1939—1941) * Dmitry Gutishev (1941) * Kuzma Sinilov (1941—1953) *Ivan Kolesnikov (1953—1970) *Pyotr Astakhov (1970—1972) *Vladimir Serykh (1973—1988) * Nikolai Smirnov (1988—1999) * Alexander Denisov (1999—2010) * Yevgeny Seleznev (since 19 July 2010)

Council of Veterans

The Council of Veterans the true mentors of the personnel in preserving and enhancing traditions. The veteran's organization was founded by Lieutenant General Vladimir Serykh. It has been led since 2004 by Colonel Sergey Khmelidze. In addition to constant communication with the personnel, a veterans act as historians of the commandant's office. They are responsible for maintaining the Museum of the Military Commandant's Office. The museum was created by the Russian Military Historical Society by order of

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

Vladimir Medinsky Vladimir Rostislavovich Medinsky (; born 18 July 1970) is a Russian politician, political scientist and historian who currently serves as an Aide to President Vladimir Putin. Previously, he has served as the Minister of Culture from May 2012 t ...

, and opened on 21 February 2019, as part of the celebrations of the anniversary of the Russian Army.

References

{{Reflist Military units and formations established in 1918 1918 establishments in Russia Ministry of Defence (Russia)