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...

Sorry Christophe--this is all there is...there wasn't a scan of the other side of the document. Like you, I think it may be unofficial--I found it interesting that there wasn't any sort of government crest (eagles, etc) visible on the medal or the document (that I can see, that is), which led me to believe it's non-official, but apart from that, I have no idea where it might have come from (?). First Georgia-related service medal I've seen, nevertheless.

Guys, Can you explain what this might be? Commemorative or unofficial? The red text is inscribed on the reverse; somehow it doesn't appear official to me, but... Gaffken

When I started reading this thread, I immediately thought of Wild Card's great piece, which he had shown somewhere long ago, though I had no idea it was boxed/cased! I don't ever think I've seen a cased example... (Tony must have been holding out on me, too, because I never new he owned one of these!)

I'm not sure if this is totally correct, but I think the guy above (with the 1st class order) might be Viktor Chrenomyrdin, ambassador to Ukraine, though I've never seen a photo of him before. (I hear he received this award in May...) Gaffken

Conversely, I've also just heard them called the 'FSB Border Service' or 'FSB Border Troops' (ala the old 'KGB Border Troops' convention). Also does a bit to preserve the western acronym 'FBS', swapping the 'Federal' for 'FSB'. There's no longer a Tajikistan service medal/cross because the FBS pulled out of there in 2003-4, though I wonder if there'll be a new medal for service in Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) where Border Troops deployed in May (?).

Hi Roman, What is the watch awarded for? Is that former Defense Minister Ivanov presenting the watch? (I don't recognize the other officers, unfortunately...)

Gents, I've come across a few references lately to a small [former?] political entity called Limburg, and was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on some of the basics of this seemingly obscure county/administration. Did they have a military of their own, for instance? Among other things, I came across something called the 'Order of the Four Emperors' and was wondering how rare their orders would be, but can't seem to find any mention on the forum about them... Many thanks, Gaffken

As I understand it (and as Roman indicates), the Cossacks today mainly exist as private cultural and fraternal organizations, only occasionally associated with the government for official duties, if at all. There was some talk in the mid-to-late '90s (I think?) of enlisting their manpower to augment the MVD in policing the streets in some regions, but I think this was never taken any further. There are a couple of Defense Ministry units that had the title 'Cossack' bestowed on them, but I'm pretty sure they're just honorary titles, and not reflective of a special capability or anything (I'd bet it's in return for those organizations who are assisting the unit with extra aid, resources, etc). I'm not really sure what's happened on this issue in the last 10 yrs...maybe some of our Russian colleagues can add to the above... Unfortunately, I don't think the Cossacks today are anything like the 'frontier guards' that we knew them to be in Czarist times.

Wow...how does a Maritime Border Guard get so many combat awards? (did he sink the Chechen Navy or something?) I'm starting to get the impression that it's more common to switch between ministries in Russia than it is in the west, which probably explains this colonel's decorations. Gaffken

Can we tell what any of Kadyrov's awards are in Roman's post #35? I bet his ribbon bars would yield an interesting mix of Russian and Chechen awards (assuming there is such a thing?) :Cat-Scratch: