Putin Is Compelled To Send National Guard Against Uprising

According to Kyiv’s Nation Resistance Center (CNR), Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent almost 35,000 national guardsmen to suppress Ukrainian resistance in seized territory under Moscow’s control.

The Kremlin currently controls significant swaths of southern and eastern Ukraine, where Putin has formed illegitimate Russian districts following sham elections in the fall of 2022. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion a month previously, Ukraine launched the CNR in March 2022. Under the supervision of Kyiv’s Special Operation Forces, the CNR assists in the coordination and training of Ukrainian partisans living under Russian rule.

The Russian National Guard, also known as the Rosguard, is the “second-most important component” of Putin’s army in occupied Ukraine, according to the CNR. Those deployed to the areas are charged with crushing Ukrainian civil resistance by “filtering activities among the civilian population and identifying members of the underground movement,” according to Ukrainian sources.

At least 35,000 Rosguard members have been deployed to seized territory as of January. According to Kyiv’s military, around half of Putin’s guardsmen have been formed into “regular formations,” which include a brigade, five battalion tactical groups, and 44 tactical groups. The remaining half of the Rosguard consists of guardsmen transferred from Russia’s Special Purpose Police Detachment and the Special Rapid Response Unit, according to a CNR announcement on Sunday.

people sent from Russia are armed with tanks, artillery systems, and helicopters in order to “use this entire range of weapons to subdue those who disagree with the Russian occupation,” according to Kyiv’s resistance headquarters. Putin’s bodyguards are also said to have helped safeguard ballot places in occupied Ukraine during Russia’s illegal elections in September 2022 and 2023.

“In addition to conducting actual combat operations against the civilian population, Rosguard employees are actively involved in propaganda activities in educational institutions,” according to the press statement. “They also play the role of force projection by constantly patrolling populated areas in armored combat vehicles and in full equipment.”

While the fighting continues on the frontlines, Ukrainian partisans residing in Russian-occupied territories have carried out a number of attacks on Moscow’s regional staff. The CNR has also recorded incidents of Kyiv’s opposition harming the Russian military, such as blocking supply lines and poisoning Moscow’s soldiers.

The CNR reported last week that a group of Ukrainian partisans living in Crimea carried out an attack on Russia’s radar system and control center, which Kyiv said was “responsible for the secure communication channel with the Kremlin, including the coordination of the entire peninsula’s air defense.”