Internal troops, sometimes alternatively translated as interior troops, interior ministry forces (etc), are military or paramilitary, gendarmerie-like law enforcement services, which are found mostly in states of the former Soviet Union. Internal troops are subordinated to the interior minister (and interior ministries) of their respective countries. Perhaps the most prominent example, since the Soviet era have been the Russian Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел (ВВ) Vnutrenniye Voiska (VV) Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del, or "Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs" (MVD) (until 2016). Other countries that have had such forces include: Ukraine (until 2014), Georgia (until 2004), Kazakhstan (until 2014), Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Mongolian internal troops are officially a reserve force in the Armed Forces of Mongolia. These forces were introduced during the Soviet era, initially to provide armed, tactical responses for the militsiya – literally "militia", but a close equivalent of the major police organizations found in other countries. Over time, internal troops also gained responsibility for waging civil war, safeguarding of highly-important facilities (like nuclear power plants), large-scale crowd control and prison security (except in Russia). As such, these forces have been involved in major wars as well as combating insurgencies and other civil unrest, including the Russian Civil War, World War II, mass repressions of Stalinist era, and the Chechen Wars. During wartime, internal troops fall under armed forces military command and fulfill the missions of local defence and rear area security. History The Soviet Internal Troops were formed in 1919 under the Cheka (later NKVD, and were known as "NKVD Troops", formerly the "Internal Security Forces" (Russian: Voyska vnutrenney okhrany Respubliki or VOHR)), remained there with all the mergers and splittings of Soviet state security services and ended up under the control of the police-like MVD. The most well-known of the Internal Troops divisions is OMSDON based near Moscow which traces its roots to the "OSNAZ" detachment of the VChK (formerly 1st Automobile Fighting Detachment of the VTsIK). It was later reorganized into the DON (Special-Purpose Division) of the OGPU and the NKVD. World War II In July 1941, formations of the NKVD were providing security for government installations, railway lines, and industrial centres. Railway security forces totalled 62,100, comprising nine divisions and five brigades securing 1,700 sites. Operational forces, the direct forerunners of the Internal Troops, included 11 regiments stationed in the western military districts, seven regiments and three battalions in the