The Militsiya of the Republic of Belarus (, ) is a law enforcement agency in Belarus responsible for regular

policing The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

duties in the country.

History

The original Belarusian Militsiya was founded on 4 March 1917 during the events of the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, when prominent

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

leader and politician

Mikhail Frunze Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze (; ; 2 February 1885 – 31 October 1925) was a Soviet revolutionary, politician, army officer and military theory, military theorist. Born to a Bessarabian father and a Russian mother in Russian Turkestan, Frunze at ...

was appointed temporary police chief of the local Minsk civilian

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

. Just three days later, various Belarusian cities began the process of creating police departments. The provisional regulations on the police were issued on 17 April 1917, establishing the Militsiya as an executive body of state power. In Belarus, as well as in newly formed

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

as a whole, the Militsiya replaced the previous Tsarist police services such as the

Okhrana The Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order (), usually called the Guard Department () and commonly abbreviated in modern English sources as the Okhrana ( rus , Охрана, p=ɐˈxranə, a=Ru-охрана.ogg, t= The Guard) w ...

. On 10 November (28 October, O.S.) 1917, days after the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

took place, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) issued a decree on the first normative act defining the creation of the Soviet Militsiya. A single police structure was developed for the

Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia The Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia (SSRB; ; ) was an early republic in the historical territory of Belarus for only one month in 1919 after the collapse of the Russian Empire as a result of the October Revolution. First establishmen ...

in 1919, which enabled on 30 November 1920 in the form of the Main Police Administration of the BSSR. In July 1934, the NKVD took up

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

duties in the

Belarusian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

, with duties being transferred to the BSSR's

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

in March 1946. In early February 1962, law enforcement was handled solely by Soviet Belarusian authorities instead of the national agency. On 1 March 1991, the

Supreme Soviet of Belarus The Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus () was the unicameral legislature of Belarus between 1991 and 1996. It was essentially a continuation of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR of 1938–1991 immediately after the Soviet Uni ...

enacted the Law "On the Police", which is the main legal act regulating the activities of the internal affairs bodies of an independent republic. On 17 July 2007, the

National Assembly of Belarus The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus (; ) is the bicameral parliament of Belarus. The two chambers of the National Assembly are: *the Council of the Republic – the upper house *the House of Representatives – the lower house. ...

adopted a law effectively making the Belarusian police a fundamental and flagship agency of the MVD/MUS. 4 March is today considered the

birthday A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage. Many religion ...

of the modern Belarusian police service.

Structure

Its law enforcement central agency, the Militsiya, is considered to be the main policing and law enforcement agency in Belarus, consisting of services such as: * National Police Headquarters ** Criminal Police *** Central Department of Criminal Investigation *** Central Department for Combatting Economic Crimes *** Department for Drug Control and Trafficking in Human Beings Combatting ** Public Security Police *** Central Department for Law and Order Ensuring and Prevention of Crimes *** Department of State Traffic Police *** Department of Daily On-Duty Service ** Regional affiliates *** Minsk City Police Department *** Brest City Police Department ***

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

City Police Department ***

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

City Police Department ***

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

City Police Department ** Educational Institutions *** The Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus *** The Mogilev Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs *** Centre for Professional Development of Executives and Specialists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs *** Minsk City Cadet College № 1

Police ranks

;Officers ;Cadets ;Enlisted

Gallery

File:Białoruski policjant (2-1958).jpg, A Soviet-era Belarusian policeman in their regular uniform during the 1950s. File:RevInBel7.jpg, Policemen during civil unrest on October Square. File:Belarus protest.jpg, Belarusian riot police during a Freedom Day rally in March 2017. File:Police car (Minsk, Belarus) — Міліцэйскі аўтамабіль (Мінск, Беларусь) — Милицейский автомобиль (Минск, Беларусь).jpg, A specially designed UAZ Patriot police car with the Minsk City Police Department in April 2019. File:A monument to militsioner in Gomel.jpg, A monument in

commemorating the centennial anniversary of the Belarusian police. File:Музэй МУС 010.jpg, A Belarusian police car in the Museum of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. File:Парад в Минске 2019 07.jpg, Belarusian policewomen. File:2020 Belarusian protests — Minsk, 30 August p0024 (cropped).jpg, Rubezh special vehicle File:Predator water cannon in Minsk, Belarus.jpg, STREIT Predator water cannon

References

External links

{{Law enforcement in Belarus Law enforcement agencies of Belarus Government agencies established in 1917 1917 establishments in Russia Government agencies established in 1991 1991 establishments in Belarus