Gaffken

The reverse looks believable to me...do many fakes normally appear with the Ministry stamp on back? With the help of a friend, I might have tracked down what appears to be the National Guard's (Rosgvardia's) service medal below, but I'm curious for everyone's thoughts. Like the MoD medal above, it seems to have the proper Ministry attributions on the reverse, although the obverse again seems a bit unusual. The second photo is supposedly a real example, but I already notice differences in it from the first pic... Gaffken

Thanks Megan...that's indeed odd/unusual. And especially since multiple ministries are involved. Hopefully time will tell...

All, Wondering if there might be an official Russian campaign or service medal issued for the current Ukraine war/special operation that was launched last year, similar to the Syria or Caucasus campaign medals of the past. I've seen plenty of Ukrainian service medals floating around currently, but has anyone seen anything from the Russian side? Many thanks, Gaffken

> Is OMON going into the Ministry of Justice or the FSB? Oops, sorry...poor wording. I meant that along with the VV, OMON and SOBR were pulled over to the National Guard, too. No change to the Justice Ministry or FSB though. All that's left of the MVD now is the civil police and the counter-narcotics folks (the former FSKN; it was reabsorbed into the MVD back in April too)...

I can’t really help with the individual medals listed above, but I can honestly add that the Internal Troops medals will ALL be gone soon, if they aren’t already. That’s mainly because the Internal Troops don’t exist anymore, and were broken off from the wider MVD and rebranded the (Russian) National Guard in April 2016. Other MVD forces like the special police units (OMON and SOBR) were pulled away too, leaving just the regular police/Militia to comprise the MVD from now on. The National Guard has been slow to stand up, but I’d be curious if anyone’s seen evidence of any new insignia or orders/decorations/medals that you could post here… Gaffken

I heard about this back at the time, too, unfortunately. Motorcycle accident in Moscow. Hit the curb, flipped forward, and died of massive head injuries. I remember seeing a lot of press about it, but few details, if any, on any official ceremonies...

It seems there's a Spetsnaz kick going on in Russia these days--I just saw this one today:

This is the only one I saved, but I know there are more out there. 13 August 2008. Also, I didn't recall til now, but I'm pretty sure the unit goes by the moniker 'Grey Wolves,' too...

Just a postscript, but if I recall right, Lebed was also the guy who led an element of the 45th Regt. into Poti, Georgia during the 2008 war and essentially sunk the Georgian Coast Guard there. I have some pics of that somewhere that I'll try and dig out...

I wasn't aware of the 21st OBRON's beret either--that's great info! Frank: In addition to the red beret's of the 21st and the MVD Spetsnaz, there's also a newer one introduced more recently--a green beret for intelligence, which is about the same hue as the Border Troops green, if I recall right (ie, but not as dark as US green berets). Gaffken

...or 'attempted coup', I probably should say, since it failed. Basically, the September '93 incident that involved the shelling of the White House by the 2nd GMRD and other Moscow area units:

Frank, Any idea how many were officially awarded, and what the exact criteria was? I'm also kind of curious if there was a similar medal struck for the '93 coup, now that I see the White House on this medal... Gaffken

Thanks for looking Frank! I guess I can sort of understand the logic of the ribbon, being that the GRU and SVR both have responsibilities abroad, but it's still a little odd (like you say), esp. when you consider that the GRU is a military entity while the SVR is non-military. I suppose it would be interesting to know what the colors in the ribbon represent...that might explain the inversion. (or maybe there's just a ribbon shortage in Russia )

I'm not quite sure what the significance of the red starburst is to the GRU, but here's a variation that I recalled from the patch of the old 24th Spetsnaz Brigade...

Frank, I don't have a definitive answer for your question, but I can say that I've made the same observation that you have, in that the use of the tri-color ribbon seems to be spreading. I can't recall exactly, but I noticed this happening with increasing frequency maybe 4-5 yrs ago in photos of new award recipients (probably from Chechnya, etc), as the brightly colored ribbons really seemed to jump out in the photos. Realize this isn't too much help to you, but thought the timeframe might help your researching...