Putin fires ten interior ministry generals

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Friday dismissing ten interior ministry generals. The document was published on the official state web portal for legal information.

According to news agency TASS, the Interior Ministry said that all of the generals, with the exception of one, supervised entities which have now been transferred to Russia's National Guard, Rosgvardiya.

Rosgvardiya was established by the decree of Vladimir Putin in April 2016 to fight terrorism and organized crime. The agency is composed of Interior Ministry troops, riot police, SWAT teams, and personal security personnel.

Putin appointed the former head of the Russian President's personal security service Viktor Zolotov to lead the National Guard. Previously, Zolotov was in charge of Russia's Interior Military Forces.

The National Guard will number some 350,000 to 400,000 troops, reported news agency Interfax in April 2016.

In mid-September 2016, it was reported that 163,000 police officers who were rendered redundant when Russian President Putin signed a degree reducing the maximum number of law enforcement officials to 904,881 individuals would be transferred to the country's National Guard.