SOVIET BORDER GUARD ADMINISTRATIVE AND PERSONNEL MATTERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
^
INFORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
C-O-N-F-I-D-E -N-T -1 -A--5L
COUNTRY USSR REPORT NO.
50X1
SUBJECT Soviet Border Guard Administrative DATE DISTR.
and Personnel Matters
50X1
NO. OF PAGES
DATE OF INFO.
REQUIREMENT NO.
50X1
PLACE ACQUIRED
REFERENCES
DATE ACQUIRED
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Attached is a copy
as received
(7)
STATE
ARMY
NAVY
N-T-I-A-L
50X1
FBI At. AEC
(Note: Washington distribution indicated by "X"? ibution by "#".)
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27 : CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
?i
COUNTRY USSR
CONFIDENTIAL
50X1
REPORT
50X1
DATE DISTR. 21 April 1955
SUBJECT Soviet Border Guard Administrative and NO. OF PAGES 4
Personnel Matters
DATE OF INFORMATION
PLACE ACQUIRED
50X1 REFERENCES:
50X1
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
.50X1
Soviet Border Guard Officers, Tours of Duty
1. There was actually no standard-length twr-of-duty in given areas
for border guard officers. y In theory, there was a so-
called Otdalennyy Shtat (regulation covering assignments in remote
areas under difficult geographic conditions) for such areas as the
Kuriles, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and the desert-mountain areas of the
Central Asiatic Republics. In these localities, border guard officers
were supposed to serve only for a three-year period. However, in
practice, little attention was paid to the Otdalenn Shtat and.
even when officers requested transfers after their :three years were
up, they were ignored, officers had served eight,
ten fifteen years, and even longer in one area under such conditions
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
2.
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
3.
50X1
,
Cast 'SAWN Thu) had served eight
yr 5 in c'entrai Asia, and a colonel, Deputy CO of the
68th Border Guard Otryad a. served in Central Asia and in the
Turkmen and Tadzhik Repu cs for over 20 years. The latter even
had a medical certificate from the border guard district medical
officer advising against such service but still could not obtain a
transfer.
Demobilization of Border Guard Officers
the main causes for the demobilization of border
guard were political unreliability and moral turpitude. Theoretically,
captains over forty, majors over forty-five, lieutenant colonels over
fifty, and colonels over sixty were considered eligible for demobili-
zation. In practice, however, the border guard could and did keep
CONFIDENTIAL
npriaccifien in Part - Sanitized COPY Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
4 .
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
5.
?
CONFIDENTIAL
- 2 -
50X1
officers past demobilization age captains who were
well ;over the age of forty. Again, the case of the Deputy
CO of the 68th Border Guard Otryad who had over 20 years of service
in Asia. This officer was past demobilization age but, despite this
and his physical condition, had not been able to obtain a recom-
mendation for discharge from the district medical commission.
this case was not an exception but rather the rule.
Border Guard Reenlistees
details of the chevrons of the reenlistee
Was readily available in service
Sluzhb (Internal Service Re la-
manuals such as the Ustav Vnutrennt
tions). The longest career or an
was that of a sergeant in an otryad who had en years'
no longer terms among enlisted personnel in the
service,
border guard.
Border Guard Disciplinary System
The disciplinary system in the Soviet border guard had several aspects:
a Unit commanders had certain punitive and disciplinary prerogatives
which they could invoke, e.g., restriction to an area, confinement
to quarters, and short terms of confinement in the guardhouse, for
both officers and EM.
b. There existed a system of officers' honor courts which were
provided for by the Disciplinary Regulations of the Soviet Armed
Forces. As in the Soviet Army, eadh border guard unit at the
level of a separate battalion or a line regiment (chast) had a
junior officers' honor court. In each unit the size of a separate
regiment or at division level, there existed a senior officers'
honor court. Junior officers' honor courts had jurisdiction over
officers up to and including the rank of captain. Senior officers'
courts had jurisdiction over officers from majors to colonels.
The punishment recommended by either of the honor courts had to '
be kept within the limitations outlined in the Disciplinary Regu--
lations of the Soviet Armed Forces. Punishment included any of
the following:
1 Delaying promotion one year
2 Lowering from position of responsibility
3 Reduction in rank by one grade
In the case of a delay of promotion, the court's recommendation had
to be forwarded to the Defense 'Ministry in Moscow which reserved
all officer promotions for itself. These recommendations were
almost automatically approved by the ministry. If the court lowered
an officer from a position of responsibility, the sentence carried
an automatic reduction in pay because the border guard,like the
Soviet Army, augmented officers' base pay with additional amounts
of money which were dependent on the degree of responsibility held
50:0 by the officers. As a hypothetical example, an
officer could be relieved of the higher responsibility of deputy
otryad CO and assigned as chief of staff to the CO of a komendatura
which was one unit-level lower.
Members of officers' honor courts were elected at a unit officers'
meeting or conference. Ordinarily, the bulk of nominations was
submitted by the unit political section. Tenure was for a specific
period of time and membership of the court did not often charire
These courts were usually made up of from five to six memtars.
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
50X1
CONFIDENTIAL
- 3 -
The honor courts were subordinate to the CO of the unit and ruled
on questions of officer conduct and cases of moral turpitude as
opposed to criminal or political offenses. Two of the offenses
within the realm of honor courts were debauchery and immorality.
All members of an honor court had to be equal or senior in rank
to the officer whom they were trying.
In addition to the two types of disciplinary action cited above,
all border guard personnel, officerPor EM, who were accused of
felonies or serious political crimes were: delivered to a
military tribunal (voyennyy sud) which was empowered to administer
sentences up to the death penalty; including long sentences in
50:0 corrective labor camps.
50X1
A separate battalion or line regiment CO, or his equivalent, was
the lowest-ranking officer who could recommend trial by military
tribunal for border guard personnel. However, many unit COs
were -ordered by the military prosecutor's office to deliver
personnel after the former had already sentenced them to 15 to
20 days' confinement in the unit guardhouse. In the case of all
individuals being tried by a military tribunal, a pre-trial
investigation (prokuratorskiy nadzor) was in order.
Percentag3 ofBcorderAllareoptryolve4A4AglAvUlltAxiy?APViotis
6. The average annual percentage of personnel in border guard units
tried by honor courts or other tribunals fluctuated widely from year
to year. During the early post-World War II years, it was not great
even though the period was characterized by considerably more
drunkenness, wild behavior, shooting-up of villages and installations,
50:00 and the wanton wounding and killing of innocent bystanders.
7.
an average of 10 to 12 officers each year stood trial
50:00 before an honor court in a unit which had a total of over 250 offi-
cers - the size of an otryad. In some years, no officers from such
a unit were tried by military tribunals, in other years% the
rate per otryad was one or two. In the course of a year, probably
15-20 EM trom an otryod were tried before a military tribunal.
Border Guard Special Section
8. The Special Section (Spetsialnyy Otdel) at border guard district-
level was also known as Spets-Chast (Special Unit) or kantsel ari a
(office). In June 1953, its chief in the Turkmen Border Guard
District was Maj Stepan REPIN.
All classified and unclassified paper work of the district for
distribution downward, upward, and laterally passed through the
Special Section. The section also registered and distributed all
50:00 incoming and outgoing official mail.
the Special Section should not be considered an archives or filing
section because this function was handled by the Administrative
Section (Admin-Chast). Also that it should not be misconstrued as
having more connection with counterintelligence than any other
section. 1
II The Special Section distributed all incoming official mail to the
proper section, where pertinent classified working material was held
in a section safei. When classified material was no longer needed
CONFIDE
IAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2
CONFIDENTIAL
- 4 -
50X1
in a section, it was sent to the consolidated files (arkhivi) of
the Administrative Section.
Soviet Border Guard Zastava Messing Facilities
1T, Each border guard zastava had its own dining hall, bakery, and
kitchen which baked its own bread. According to border guard
TA & E0 there was one baker and one cook for each 30 men. When
there were more than 30 men, there were two cooks.
50X1
. One problem encountered in the messing of border guard troops was
the length of the meals. Not less than one-third of the personnel
of a zastava was on border guard duty in the daytime and about 70
on duty at night. Feeding the men as they came on or off duty
necessitated breakfasttslasting two, three, and even four hours.
Under such a schedule, one cook was not enough for 30 men; therefore,.
one EM was usually detailed as Kr.
Comment: Border guard counterintelligence sections
kotciek fontraRazvedki-OKR) were occasionally referred to as
"Special Sections" (Osobyye Otdely).
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/27: CIA-RDP82-00046R000500020002-2