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Who guards the Kerch bridge. Naval brigade: how the security of the Crimean Bridge will be organized

The implementation of the Crimean Bridge project has passed the equator. “The main object of this year and next year is the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. Now more than 50% of the (construction) work on this structure has been completed,” TASS quotes him as saying Deputy Head of the Federal Road Agency Igor Astakhov.

It should be borne in mind that we are talking about the entire construction site, which includes both a road and a railway bridge. The readiness of the road bridge significantly exceeds 50 percent.

“There is no doubt that by the end of 2018, traffic on the road section will already be launched,” Igor Astakhov emphasized.

“A new formation is to be formed - a naval brigade”

The fact that the Crimean Bridge is of strategic importance for Russia is no secret. Just as the threats coming from Kyiv, where hotheads are seriously discussing plans for sabotage actions against the bridge, are no secret.

The Russian authorities take the protection and defense of objects of national importance seriously. The Crimean Bridge will be protected by a naval brigade, which will be formed within the structure of the Russian Guard.

This was stated at a meeting of the Federation Council Director of the Russian Guard Viktor Zolotov.

“To solve the tasks assigned to the Russian Guard to ensure the safety of transport passage through the Kerch Strait, a new formation will have to be formed - a naval brigade,” RT quotes Zolotov as saying.

A few days ago it became known that the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation intends to purchase four anti-sabotage boats of Project 21980 - code "Rook". This information is posted on the government procurement website.

In September 2017 General Director of the Zelenodolsk Shipyard Renat Mistakhov, where Project 21980 boats are produced, announced its readiness to offer them to the Russian Guard.

Boats of the Rook project: weapons against saboteurs

Anti-sabotage boats "Grachonok" are designed to combat sabotage and terrorist forces and means in the waters of bases and near approaches to them, as well as to assist the Border Service of the FSB of Russia in solving the problems of protecting and protecting the state border of Russia.

The standard set of equipment includes: navigation radar station MR-231 “Pal”, multifunctional optical-electronic television complex for illuminating near air and surface conditions MTK-201M3, automated communication complex AKS R-779-9, integrated bridge system IC “Mostik-21980” ", hydroacoustic station for detecting underwater sabotage forces and means MG-757 "Anapa", remote-controlled underwater vehicle ROV "Falcon" developed by Saab Seaeye Co. LTD with a working depth of up to 300 meters, the Kalmar search and survey complex, which allows you to explore the bottom surface at a depth of up to 200 meters at a boat speed of up to 8 knots, as well as a ship diving complex with a pressure chamber (SVK), designed to provide diving descents during emergency rescue, underwater technical and other types of underwater work.

The armament of each boat consists of a naval machine gun mount (MTPU) with an installed KPVT machine gun of 14.5 mm caliber, a small-sized remote-controlled anti-sabotage grenade launcher system 98U, a hand-held double-barreled anti-sabotage grenade launcher DP-64 "Nepryadva" and 4 man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems "Igla- 1".

Boats of this project are being built at three Russian enterprises at once - in addition to Zelenodolsk, in Rybinsk and Vladivostok.

Boat of the "Grachonok" project. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ildus Gilyazutdinov

Hydroacoustic security and defense systems: neutralizing combat swimmers at the touch of a button

Currently, 14 boats of the project have already been put into operation, and 4 are under construction. Contracts have also been signed for the construction of several more boats.

At the beginning of October 2017, it became known that the Crimean Bridge will be equipped with special Russian-made sonar systems, which are being developed by the Atoll Research Institute. The system will consist of underwater and surface equipment for active sonar in a protected water area. The signal will undergo primary processing and will be transmitted to a stationary surface observation point for immediate detention of the intruder or neutralization of a potentially dangerous object.

Systems of this kind are already used today to protect Russian Navy facilities and strategically important civilian enterprises.

Without going into details, we can say that these systems make it possible not only to control the coastline, surface and depths of the sea, but also to neutralize combat swimmers and saboteurs with a simple press of a button.

In 2016, information appeared in the media that the Russian Guard was planning to create a detachment of combat scuba divers, whose tasks would include repelling saboteur attacks and searching for explosives. At the same time, there was talk of providing the new unit with high-speed anti-sabotage boats, as well as special small arms.

The naval units of the Internal Troops have existed for 40 years

In fact, the creation of a naval brigade for the protection and defense of the Crimean Bridge is not something completely new. In March 1978, it will be 40 years since the creation of naval units within the structure of the internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The creation of such units began in 1976, when the Order of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee of May 5, 1976 “On the protection of artificial structures on the Trans-Baikal and Far Eastern Railways” was issued.

The main task assigned to such units is to ensure the protection of important government facilities and structures on communications located in the coastal part of the territorial sea of the Russian Federation, on rivers, lakes and other surface water bodies.

With the creation of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops, these units became part of it. Today, naval units of the guards serve in Khabarovsk, Murmansk, Severobaikalsk, on lakes Irtyash, Sinara and Silach, as well as in the Leningrad region.

According to available information, locations for new units of the Russian Guard are currently being planned, which will be responsible for ensuring the safe operation of the Crimean Bridge.

I would like to believe that even the information that can be disclosed publicly will discourage anyone from trying to do anything regarding the bridge.

As military expert and editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Viktor Murakhovsky said, “The Crimean Bridge is a strategic object that is a primary target for provocations. However, we have accumulated extensive experience in protecting such objects. Neighboring countries also know about this. I think it’s unlikely that anyone will dare to test our strength,” concluded Murakhovsky. According to him, a brigade of National Guard troops has been formed for protection, “which has as its task the protection, defense and prevention of terrorist attacks on this structure.” This unit includes combat swimmers, special boats, unmanned aircraft, and underwater unmanned vehicles. There were proposals to create a separate military air defense unit that would cover the Crimean bridge from the air. “This is a separate anti-aircraft missile regiment, armed with the Buk and Thor systems. Perhaps this idea has also been implemented,” the expert noted in his interview with MK.

Sevastopol resident Shkaplerov photographed the Crimean Bridge from space (KP)

The Nation News news agency learned about the measures that will follow in the event of an external attack on the longest bridge in the entire Russian Federation.

In the air

For any air threat, the Crimean Bridge guards have a worthy response. At the approaches, any threat can be eliminated by the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems (ZRS). Their range is estimated at 400 kilometers. The preparation time for a missile launch is only eight seconds. A radio engineering regiment consisting of the Podsolnukh over-the-horizon radar and the Voronezh early warning radar will also be able to help them. At close ranges, the bridge will be supported by Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun systems (ZRPK). They can automatically track up to 20 targets simultaneously at altitudes from zero to 15 kilometers. Neither planes, nor missiles, nor even drones will escape the sights of the complex.

The bridge was commissioned six months ahead of schedule.
Photo: Vasily BATANOV

On the water

If the enemy appears on the water, he will be met by duty ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. We are talking about surface ships, fighter and anti-submarine aircraft. This will be followed by a response from the Border Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation. The service has combat boats with machine guns and torpedo tubes at its disposal. In the near security zone, the overpass will be guarded by a new powerful unit - the naval brigade of the Russian Guard. She has all the necessary weapons and surface assets, as well as Project 21980 Grachonok anti-sabotage boats. Marine vessels of this type have pedestal machine gun installations, small-sized grenade launchers and hand-held anti-sabotage grenade launchers and Igla-1 man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems.

There are very beautiful views Photo: Vasily BATANOV

Under the water

At depth, the saboteur will encounter an active sonar system. At first it will give a warning signal. However, with an ongoing invasion, the program is able to independently neutralize the enemy using a sonar signal. The second barrier will be Russian Guard swimmers with special weapons, echo sounders, surface and underwater craft. Their equipment consists of a hydroacoustic station for detecting underwater sabotage forces and means "Anapa". Swimmers also have at their disposal a tele-controlled underwater vehicle ROV "Falcon" with a working depth of up to 300 meters, a complex "Squid" (for exploring the bottom surface at a depth of up to 200 meters) and a diving complex with a pressure chamber (HVC), designed for diving descents.

From May 16, everyone will be able to rush along the transport crossing. Photo: Crimean Bridge Information Center

War dolphins (none)

Unofficial sources have long called fighting dolphins among the measures to ensure the safety of the Crimean Bridge. Last fall, the press service of the Crimean Bridge reported that the number of dolphins in the strait was increasing significantly.

“The large number of dolphins near the bridge indicates that the situation is favorable for them,” said Timofey Barabashin, head of the department of oceanography and environmental research at AzNIIRH.

However, on the eve of the grand opening of the Crimean Bridge in Kyiv, the death of fighting dolphins was reported. Representative of the President of Ukraine Boris Babin said that the Russians, together with Crimea, received all his military property, including special whistles for communicating with dolphins. The dolphins, according to Babin, were unable to interact with new specialists, refused food and died of starvation, writes Moika78.

The provision of services for the protection of the road part of the Crimean Bridge, as already mentioned, will cost 53.9 million rubles. This is evidenced by data published on the government procurement portal of the Russian Federation, reports the Crimean News Service.

The purchase is carried out by FKU Uprdor Taman, which is the customer for the construction of the transport crossing across the Kerch Strait.

“Providing services for the protection of artificial road structures on public roads of federal significance. Section of the federal public highway A-290 Novorossiysk - Kerch. Transport crossing through the Kerch Strait km 141+018 - km 160+048,” is noted in the section “Name of the procurement object.”

The state contract was concluded with the Krasnodar branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Departmental Security Administration of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation”. Funds will be allocated from the federal budget.

The maximum permitted speed on the bridge and approaches is 90 km/h, stopping is prohibited. To monitor compliance with traffic rules, 10 automatic systems have been installed on the bridge. All information is sent to the Central Dispatch Center, located at the Production Base of the Bridge Operations Service on the Taman Peninsula.

A new unit will appear in the structure of the Russian Guard, whose responsibilities will include guarding the Crimean Bridge. According to existing plans, in 2019 a transport crossing will connect the peninsula and mainland Russia by bus and railway.

“To solve the tasks assigned to the Russian Guard to ensure the safety of transport passage through the Kerch Strait, a new formation will have to be formed - a naval brigade,” said the director of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, speaking at a meeting in the Federation Council.

According to him, the department’s employees have accumulated quite a lot of experience in ensuring the security of objects of strategic importance. As Zolotov clarified, 74 important government facilities are under the protection of the Russian Guard.

As part of the Crimean Bridge project, more than half of the construction work has already been completed. This was announced on Wednesday by Deputy Head of the Federal Road Agency of the Russian Federation Igor Astakhov. In the summer, builders carried out two key operations: installing the road and railway arches of the bridge.

The first piles began to be driven into the bottom of the Kerch Strait in the spring of 2016. The general contractor Stroygazmontazh expects that the highway through the Kerch Strait will open on December 18, 2018, and the railway on December 1, 2019. The bridge will stretch for 19 km and will become the longest in Russia.

Scuba diver squad

In mid-September 2016, the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov announced that in the design documentation of the bridge there is a section dedicated to anti-terrorism security.

Shortly before this, information appeared in the media that the Russian Guard was planning to create a detachment of combat scuba divers, whose tasks would include repelling saboteur attacks and searching for explosives. In addition, combat divers must neutralize ammunition from the Great Patriotic War and drive away scuba diving enthusiasts from the bridge piles.

Rosgvardiya scuba divers will be provided with special small arms (in particular, the ADS rifle-grenade launcher complex), high-speed anti-sabotage boats and surveillance equipment that can monitor the sea depths.

The boats of the Russian Guard (presumably Project 21980 “Rook”) will be equipped with special reconnaissance devices that will allow them to detect enemy personnel and underwater targets.

On March 30, 2017, Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Georgy Muradov said that the security of the Crimean bridge would be controlled by “all forces, including the military component” and intelligence services.

The editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, Viktor Murakhovsky, believes that the Crimean Bridge will mainly be protected from saboteurs. The establishment of a naval brigade means that the Russian Guard will focus on protecting the water area, including monitoring the underwater situation.

“In addition to boats, autonomous underwater vehicles, high-resolution hydroacoustic systems and stationary surveillance equipment will be used, which will monitor the situation around the bridge day and night,” Murakhovsky said in an interview with RT.

As Murakhovsky clarified, the Crimean Bridge is a strategic object of the first category, which involves taking special measures to protect against “active external influence.”

The expert believes that the state will also provide air defense for the transport crossing. According to Murakhovsky, the Buk and Tor anti-aircraft systems, as well as several radar stations, will cope with this task.

Protection from Ukraine

Meanwhile, ensuring the security of the Crimean Bridge is no longer a theory, but the everyday work of the Russian special services. In Crimea, FSB officers regularly identify spies and saboteurs who were trained by the SBU and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

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Thus, on August 12, 2017, the FSB detained Gennady Limeshko, a native of the Kharkov region. During interrogation, he admitted that he had undergone reconnaissance and sabotage training. The Ukrainian had to report to the curators about the blackout of coastal Sudak.

Ukrainian officials claim that the Crimean Bridge poses a threat to national security. Kyiv fears that the transport crossing will restrict the movement of ships from Mariupol and Berdyansk, located on the Sea of Azov.

Experts from the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies (Kyiv) believe that Russia’s actions are “exclusively military-political in nature, forming a new field of socio-economic risks of stagnation in the Ukrainian Azov region,<…>increase threats in the context of a land corridor to occupied Crimea.”

The President of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terrorism unit, Sergei Goncharov, said in an interview with RT that Russia will have to protect the Crimean Bridge primarily from encroachments by Ukraine. In his opinion, the Russian Guard is capable of coping with this task.

“Kyiv will do everything possible to prevent the construction and, through sabotage, to prevent the operation of this bridge. However, the Russian Guard has specially trained fighters to reliably protect the Kerch Bridge,” Goncharov concluded.

A naval brigade will be created to guard the transport passage through the Kerch Strait. This was stated by the director of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov. According to him, the federal service has accumulated extensive experience in the field of security. There are 74 strategic sites under the protection of the department. The issue of protecting the Crimean Bridge has become particularly relevant in connection with the arrests of Ukrainian saboteurs in the region. The crossing will have to be protected primarily from attacks from Kyiv, experts say.

Crimean Bridge vk.com Crimean Bridge

“To solve the tasks assigned to the Russian Guard to ensure the safety of transport passage through the Kerch Strait, a new formation will have to be formed - a naval brigade,” said the director of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, speaking at a meeting in the Federation Council.

To the gallery page

Scuba diver squad

Training of combat swimmers of the special forces of the Russian Guard

Rosgvardiya scuba divers will be provided with special small arms (in particular, the ADS rifle-grenade launcher complex), high-speed anti-sabotage boats and surveillance equipment that can monitor the sea depths.

The boats of the Russian Guard (presumably Project 21980 “Rook”) will be equipped with special reconnaissance devices that will allow them to detect enemy personnel and underwater targets.

On March 30, 2017, Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Georgy Muradov said that the security of the Crimean bridge would be controlled by “all forces, including the military component” and intelligence services.

National Guard of the Russian Federation

“In addition to boats, autonomous underwater vehicles, high-resolution hydroacoustic systems and stationary surveillance equipment will be used, which will monitor the situation around the bridge day and night,” Murakhovsky said in an interview with RT.

As Murakhovsky clarified, the Crimean Bridge is a strategic object of the first category, which involves taking special measures to protect against “active external influence.”

Protection from Ukraine

The President of the Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terrorism unit, Sergei Goncharov, said in an interview with RT that Russia will have to protect the Crimean Bridge primarily from encroachments by Ukraine. In his opinion, the Russian Guard is capable of coping with this task.

To solve special problems, various departments, later united into the Russian Guard, have long had extremely qualified specialists. All employees have not only theoretical knowledge about many areas of their work, but also with varying intensity, but necessarily participate in special operations. Soldiers of the special forces units that are part of the Russian Guard admit that geography and specifics in this regard do not matter at all. Personnel decides everything

“The work is going on in a variety of directions. From arrests of members of organized crime groups to targeted work (meaning trips to counter-terrorism operations), or work in transport. There are specialists for any profile - from inspection and negotiations to defusing explosive devices,” say special forces officers.
However, the bridge across the Kerch Strait, which is planned to be fully operational in 2019, will require from the employees of the Russian Guard not only an integrated approach to ensuring security, including the use of special methods, tactics and special equipment. From tradition to difference
The protection of strategic objects is only at first glance a simple task - large infrastructure facilities, such as nuclear and hydroelectric power plants, as well as transport hubs, have special specifics, and differ from each other not only and not so much in the principles of ensuring security, but in approaches to the implementation of this process.
In this case, one cannot limit oneself to simply organizing access control and its observance - even at energy facilities, strict supervision of entry/exit at the facility is not the only measures taken for protection.

For example, every shift at nuclear power plants, state district power plants and other facilities includes armed and well-trained guards, ready to fight back at the slightest hint of an attack attempt. In such cases, special attention is paid to training and education of personnel, because not only the lives of working personnel, but also hundreds of thousands of ordinary people depend on the coherence of actions and their effectiveness.
Security of strategic facilities is the sphere of competence of unique specialists. Historians and veterans of the special services note that in the Soviet Union, employees of some special forces, as part of exercises, were often tasked with organizing the defense of an object, or, on the contrary, seizing it.
“Vympel fighters were once involved in exercises at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant. During an experiment with the security system at the facility, special forces officers were tasked with infiltrating the facility and carrying out its mock destruction. Without going into details, after the local KGB department was notified, the specialists described in detail the zones and sectors through which it was possible to secretly penetrate the facility... and then carried out the penetration. The whole thing took 42 seconds. After this, the safety system at all nuclear power plants without exception was changed and strengthened. And strict checks with special measures at such facilities are still carried out,” military historian Andrei Golovin noted in an interview with the Zvezda TV channel. Particularly important object
Despite the fact that ensuring the security of large facilities is nothing new to the employees of the Russian Guard, guarding the bridge across the Kerch Strait will require the use of all professionalism, training and an arsenal of special equipment.
The statement by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, on the creation of a special naval brigade to protect the bridge across the Kerch Strait in this sense became a landmark event, allowing us to assess the scale of the work ahead.

The first and main innovation noted by the majority of security experts is the likely inclusion in the naval brigade of a detachment of combat swimmers, whose tasks, in addition to searching for unexploded ordnance from the Great Patriotic War, will also include special operations at depths.
“Any object of this kind requires comprehensive protection. In order to exclude any provocations that could in one way or another affect the safety of the structure, combat swimmers will be involved in patrolling the water area, diving and inspecting suspicious objects and will actively work with unique hydroacoustic stations,” experts note.
According to experts, in order to neutralize intruders under water, combat swimmers of the Russian Guard can receive appropriate weapons - underwater ADS assault rifles, PSS pistols and special watercraft for fast movement under water, similar to those that will be included in the weapons of the PDSS fighters of the navy.
Experts also note that in order to suppress and quickly intercept violators at sea, the Russian Guard may in the near future order the construction of four anti-sabotage boats of Project 21980 “Rook”.
Vaccination against provocations
Political scientists and experts are confident that the commissioning of such a facility as the bridge across the Kerch Strait will inevitably increase the risk of provocations from the Ukrainian special services.
According to the military political scientist, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the Russian University of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov Alexandra Perendzhieva, the formed naval brigade of the Russian Guard is a necessary and balanced step to ensure the security of the crossing and the region as a whole. “A separate formation in Crimea is necessary to counter saboteurs and terrorists - often these are people in the “one bottle” who will continue to be sent to the peninsula both by the official bodies of Ukraine (AFU, SBU, etc.), and by semi-state and non-state structures - volunteer battalions, radical nationalist-fascist organizations, etc. It is necessary to take into account that terrorist saboteurs undergo very serious special training, which is supervised by representatives of the intelligence services of the United States and other NATO countries. Therefore, the counteraction must be “special,” that is, highly professional,” Perendzhiev noted. According to experts, the Russian special services began to calculate most scenarios with possible provocations from the very beginning of construction of the facility.
“The bridge security system is ensured by the activities not of any separate security structure, but of all Russian special services,” noted military political scientist Alexander Perendzhiev. Experts note that the presence of special services and the protection of the Kerch Bridge under water, at sea, and in the air will discourage inspections on the strength of the security services and the military.

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