Putin Forced To Dispatch National Guard Against Uprising

Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed nearly 35,000 national guardsmen to curb Ukrainian resistance in occupied territories under Moscow’s control, according to Kyiv’s Nation Resistance Center (CNR).

The Kremlin currently occupies large swathes of south and eastern Ukraine, where Putin has established illegitimate Russian districts after holding sham elections in the fall of 2022. Ukraine launched the CNR in March 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion a month prior. The CNR, under the direction of Kyiv’s Special Operation Forces, helps coordinate and train Ukrainian partisans living under Russian occupation.

According to the CNR, Russia’s National Guard—also known as the Rosguard—is the “second-most important component” of Putin’s forces in occupied Ukraine. Those deployed to the territories are tasked with suppressing Ukrainian civil resistance by “filtering activities among the civilian population and identifying members of the underground movement,” according to Ukrainian sources.

As of January, at least 35,000 Rosguard members have been sent to occupied territories. About half of Putin’s guardsmen have been organized into “regular formations,” Kyiv’s military said, including a brigade, five battalion tactical groups, and 44 tactical groups. The other half of the Rosguard is made up of guardsmen who were transferred from Russia’s Special Purpose Police Detachment and the Special Rapid Response Unit, read a release from the CNR on Sunday.

Those deployed from Russia come equipped with tanks, artillery systems and helicopters to “use this entire range of weapons to subdue those who disagree with the Russian occupation,” said Kyiv’s resistance center. Putin’s guardsmen also reportedly played a role in protecting the polling stations used during Russia’s illegitimate elections in occupied Ukraine 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,” read CNR’s release. “They also play the role of force projection by constantly patrolling populated areas in armored combat vehicles and in full equipment.”

Newsweek reached out to Russia’s Ministry of Defense via email for comment. An email was also sent to the CNR.

While the war rages on along the frontlines, Ukrainian partisans living in Russian-occupied territories have carried out a number of attacks on Moscow’s personnel appointed to the regions. The CNR has also reported instances of Kyiv’s resistance sabotaging the Russian military, including disrupting supply railways and targeting Moscow’s soldiers in several poisoning schemes.

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