MOSCOW. June 18 (Interfax-AVN) - Twelve operations units of the Interior Ministry Force have been restructured since 2001 in the framework of the Interior Ministry Force development plan, a competent source in Russian law-enforcement agencies told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"Transition from the division-regiment structure to the brigade-battalion structure and its optimization are taking place in operations units of the forces. Twelve operations units have gone through restructuring since 2001. The volume of service and combat missions in the sphere of public order protection that is assigned to special motorized military units has been reduced," the source said.
The list of vital state installations protected by the Interior Ministry Force is being updated, he went on.
"Seventy-one state facilities and 43 communications centers have been removed from the list," the source said.
At the same time, the growth of tensions related to terrorist threats in various Russian regions requires preservation of military guards at hydro facilities, hydro- electric power plants, thermal power plants, oil and gas industry facilities, etc.
According to the source, the Interior Ministry Force has launched the restructuring of military control bodies. "The personnel of the management of the Forces' Eastern and Northwestern district has been halved. The personnel of the Interior Ministry Force Command has also been reduced," he said.
Special-purpose forces will become a single structure within the Interior Ministry Force before the end of the year, the source noted. This will be done to intensify measures against organized crime in federal districts and to accomplish missions in the North Caucasus. "Six special-purpose detachments have been set up for this purpose," he added.