Paul Goble
Staunton, Jan. 28 – Low pay and the attitudes of senior officers explain why vacancies in Russia’s police force have risen from 30 percent three years ago to 40 percent now and will in a couple of months reach 50 percent when one could shut down the interior ministry entirely, Mikahil Pashkin, head of Russia’s police union (nakanune.ru/news/2026/1/28/22856417/).
He did not mention two other causes that have also played a role: the higher salaries policemen can earn by quitting the force and joining the Russian army to fight in Ukraine and the increasingly negative attitudes of Russians. (For background, see jamestown.org/war-against-ukraine-leaving-russian-police-state-without-enough-police/.)
Pashkin argues that the police force is destroying itself because all senior officers care about is meeting quotas and other targets set by their political masters rather that enforcing the law in a fair and equitable manner. The union leader’s comments came on the heels of Duma testimony by deputy interior minister Igor Zubov.
Zubov admitted that salaries were too long and would be raised, although likely not by enough to solve the problem and that the reputation of the police was now in tatters, something that needs to be rectified (ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/01/28/v-mvd-zayavili-o-massovih-uvolneniyah-i-padenii-prestizha-sluzhbi-a185641).
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