Russia's National Guard spent nearly a million bucks to outfit crowd-control vans with laser weapons

The Russian National Guard bought two vehicles equipped with a whole array of non-lethal crowd-control measures, including laser emitters. That’s right: the agency created in 2016, led by a man who recently challenged anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny to a fist fight, and described in the media as “a kind of Praetorian Guard” — will now have lasers to disperse groups of protesters.

The order was placed back in May, but the Open Media project only just discovered and publicized the procurement contract, which went to the company “ASB Plus” (the sole bidder). Russia’s National Guard spent 65.2 million rubles (about $988,000) on the two police minibuses. The agency's arsenal already includes sonic weapons. In the past three years, the National Guard also paid ASB Plus 220.4 million rubles (more than $3.3 million) for 128 sets of riot police shields.