It was about noon. Weekday. They walked imposingly through the empty courtyard, looking sternly around. With machine guns. I noticed them from the window on the landing. And just like that, I went for a walk with my child to a hill with a sandbox. For a second I froze in horror.

For nine months of life in a small European country I have never seen people with machine guns.

Or rather, I saw it every day, but on TV - in the news from Syria, Somalia, Palestine and other hot spots. Well, in films, of course, about war, about Latin American drug lords, about a future in which, without a blaster, inevitable death awaits you.

Probably, a real European would take the child in his arms and run with him out of harm’s way back home. And I remembered that outside the window was Moscow. People walking around the city with machine guns is the norm here, because these are police officers, they are allowed.

Who hasn’t been asked for documents at night at Kalashnikov gunpoint? Whose car hasn't been stopped by a policeman with a submachine gun dangling from his back? Who hasn’t given up a line in a store to a patrol armed with machine guns who came in to buy Coke before closing?

"This is weird. “You’re probably lucky with them,” our photo editor, the beautiful girl Yulia, listened to my story in surprise. “For some reason I don’t meet them.” There are things that you get used to and no longer pay any attention to them. Well, they walk around with machine guns, so what? In addition, machine gunners are indeed less likely to be seen in Moscow than in Dagestan, for example.

There are several countries in the world where street police patrols do not carry firearms at all: Great Britain (except Northern Ireland), Ireland, Norway, Malta and New Zealand. In England, where bobbies have only a baton, handcuffs, a canister and a stun gun, the debate over arming the police is endless. While the arguments of those who are against guns are winning: the policeman will receive a deceptive sense of self-confidence, the weapon may be stolen, criminals will also acquire pistols, and an arms race dangerous for citizens will begin. In a shootout, a pistol will not protect you from a bullet fired at you, but it creates an obvious threat to life random passers-by. The main principle is to quickly call in armed support from special forces if necessary.

But this is a debate about whether or not to give pistols to patrol officers. A machine gun is a weapon of war. This is a very clear symbol that is understandable to the whole world. In November 2010, when a threat of terrorist attack was declared in Germany, police patrols in Berlin were issued machine guns. Photos of machine gunners with the Reichstag in the background went viral on the Internet. “Citizens can see that the police are acting,” the German Interior Minister said at the time.

The threat of a terrorist attack for Moscow, unfortunately, is not a myth. But to prevent them, there are special units of both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. What does the usual city patrol have to do with this? The only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn is the presence in Moscow of a constant terrorist threat of the “orange” and maybe even the “red” level.

Perhaps the problem is that the pistols that Russian police usually use are so outdated that they have to be supplemented with machine guns. You can’t just ban police officers from carrying machine guns, because it scares citizens and tourists. To do this, they must first be given modern pistols. That is, it turns out that it’s cheaper with an automatic. The problem of state poverty in general.

About ten years ago, my wife and I went on vacation to Egypt. We lived in the desert, in a hotel remote from all living things on the shores of the Red Sea. It occupied a huge territory. It had everything: its own large beach, several restaurants, pleasure boats, camels, horses, a diving center, sports grounds, a cinema hall. It was possible not to leave there at all, except on an excursion to the tombs of the pharaohs. This entire area was surrounded by a high concrete fence with barbed wire, and there were large numbers of Egyptian machine gunners stationed around the perimeter. Then it was difficult to say who could attack us in the middle of the desert. Imhotep perhaps. But such precautions quite created an unpleasant feeling of serious danger.

So it is in Moscow. It is not difficult for a visitor to guess that since the police are constantly walking around here with machine guns, it means that the city has serious security problems, that there is a war and heavily armed bandits somewhere nearby. Meanwhile, the authorities like to talk about the fact that in Moscow the level of robberies and assaults is steadily falling; it is already two times lower than in New York. If this is indeed the case, it is time to carry out demilitarization.

The Russian police are abandoning the PM pistol and are switching to the Glock 44 pistol, developed to their requirements. First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Alexander Gorovoy, said: “The Makarov pistol used today has long been obsolete. It is heavy, inconvenient, has a small magazine, and has not met the requirements for a long time.” police officers. However, until now there was nothing to replace him."

Indeed, back in the mid-90s it was planned that the PM would be replaced by the OTs-01 "Cobalt" revolver, developed by I.Ya. Stechkin, but its large-scale production could not be established for economic reasons. The license for Cobalt was sold to Kazakhstan, where it is produced for local law enforcement. And their Russian colleagues had no alternative to Makarov.

The policeman recalls: “In 2008, they decided to switch to the Yarygin pistol, but the army pistol turned out to be difficult for the police: not everyone was able to master assembly and disassembly, some parts were constantly lost... “Rooks” did not fit into the well-established supply system from -for cartridges and holsters that did not fit into it. Police officers had to buy them with their own money. In 2013, we turned to an Austrian company with a proposal to develop a pistol to our requirements, and the Austrians met us halfway..."

Specialists from the Russian company Orsis, which will become the manufacturer, participated in the development. Glock brand pistols are already being produced at a factory near Moscow. Since the pistol was developed jointly, and its production was established in Russia, there is no reason for it to fall under anti-Russian sanctions.

The Glock 28 was taken as the basis for the development of the pistol. The pistol uses automatic action with a blowback bolt; it is easy to handle and is similar to the PM. However, the Glock 44 looks somewhat unusual: the shape of the polymer frame follows the contours of a Makarov pistol. This was the requirement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: this is how the Glock 44 can be carried in a standard police holster. The double-row magazine holds 12 rounds, as opposed to 9 rounds in the PM. The ammunition is similar: the Glock 44 will be the first Austrian-designed pistol to use 9*18 cartridges. The curb weight of the Glock-44 is only 685 grams, and according to this parameter it is lighter than even an unloaded Makarov pistol. This year, Russian police will receive Glock 44.

In early September, patrol officer Andrei Raisky died at the Kurskaya metro station in Moscow: the policeman was killed by a bullet from his own Makarov pistol. Behind Lately This is not the first time that service weapons not only do not help police officers, but even turn against them. And this despite the fact that attackers are increasingly attacking law enforcement officers every year. The conclusion is disappointing: Russian police have big problems with fire training. I understood the difficult relationship between law enforcement officers and their service weapons.

Victims in uniform

In the last two months, several high-profile attacks on police officers have been carried out in Russia, during which law enforcement officers showed surprising defenselessness. On July 27, at the Slovak Embassy in Moscow, a 17-year-old youth stabbed a 30-year-old police captain, platoon commander of a special police regiment for the protection of diplomatic missions. The captain received several stab wounds, including one to the chest, and was hospitalized. He did not use his service weapon. The policeman's attacker escaped; he was detained two days later.

On August 23, 31-year-old native of Kabardino-Balkaria Renat Kunashev in Sivtsev Vrazhek Lane, not far from the main building, from traumatic pistol Stechkin, converted to a live cartridge, shoot at two policemen. Law enforcement officers returned fire from their service weapons. The recording shows that the shootout in a narrow alley lasts half a minute, while Kunashev does not even try to hide from the bullets, while the police are hiding behind cars. The attacker, according to various sources, managed to fire from 10 to 20 shots, wounding one policeman in the leg. In the end, Kunashev received a bullet in the head, the wound turned out to be fatal.

Youtube / Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation

On the evening of August 21, a 23-year-old resident of the Moscow region, armed with a knife, confronted two police officers in Klin. To stop the attacker, they fired into the air, which had no effect. As a result, the robber was subdued, but he managed to wound both law enforcement officers.

Finally, on the night of September 3, patrol service officer Andrei Raisky was found dead in an office building at the Kurskaya metro station; The cause of his death was a gunshot wound to the head. A 42-year-old visitor from Orenburg, Nurlan Muratov, was detained on suspicion of committing a crime. According to the investigation, Raisky stopped Muratov for inspection and took him to an office building. There, Muratov snatched the policeman’s service pistol and shot him. According to another version, which, however, raises doubts, the accused hit Raisky several times on the head with a blunt object, but he managed to take out a pistol and shoot, but the bullet ricocheted in a cramped room and hit him in the eye.

In all cases, the service weapon did not help the police in any way. During the attack at the Slovak Embassy, ​​the police did not even use it; In Klin, for some reason, the patrolmen fired into the air; in the case at Kurskaya, the law enforcement officer apparently died from his own pistol. True, during the shootout near the Foreign Ministry building, the police still shot the attacker, but before that, the two of them had spent half a minute trying to hit the enemy, who was standing not far from them like a living target, without even trying to hide! It’s scary to think what would have happened if some militant with a serious weapon had been in the place of this shooter.

Weapon mess

According to Vladimir Vorontsov, founder of the Police Ombudsman community, today there is a Special Combat Training Center (CSBT) in the capital - it is located in the west of Moscow. Police speak highly of his instructors and methods. But there is one problem: the Center is not able to cover the entire metropolitan police garrison.

For employees working “on the ground,” shooting takes place once or twice a month, says Vorontsov. - What kind of classes are these? Pull the pistol out of the holster and hit the target with three bullets in ten seconds (exercise No. 2). That's all. But management cannot send employees to such classes without violating their labor rights. For example, a teaching staff employee works day and night. In theory, he should be called by order to shoot on a day off and given time off for this, but the units are catastrophically short-staffed, so there can be no time off. They get out of it as best they can.

Metropolitan Police departments periodically conduct employee tests to determine their suitability for situations involving the use of firearms. True, for some reason the test tasks included the assembly and disassembly of pistols and theoretical questions about how much the weapon weighs and at what speed the bullet flies. Of course it is useful knowledge, but they have a rather distant relationship with developing practical skills in using weapons.

The main place where ordinary police officers in the capital undergo their six-month initial training is the Professional Training Center of the Moscow Main Directorate on Klyazminskaya Street, popularly known as “Klyazma,” continues Lenta.ru’s interlocutor. - There is still an old shooting gallery there. They shoot there, but not nearly as thoughtfully as in the TsSBP. But at Klyazma, much attention is paid to all kinds of household work, cleaning the territory, drill and guard duty. It turns out that the employee must regularly visit shooting complexes at his own expense, but how can this be done with a salary of 43 thousand rubles? The most amazing thing is that some police somehow manage to do this.

Today, a lot of all kinds of new products in the field of weapons and equipment are being developed for security forces of various departments, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Meanwhile, the material and technical equipment of the police, Vorontsov notes, leaves much to be desired. These are old, uncomfortable holsters and pistols—sometimes from the 60s—and well-worn bulletproof vests. They weigh eight kilograms, and if you wear them 12 hours in a row for two years, health problems cannot be avoided.

A separate story is the legal assessment of the use of weapons, says Vorontsov. - The police are simply afraid to use it. On the one hand, the law says that every armed officer is an authorized representative of the authorities and himself interprets the requirements of the law in a specific situation. On the other hand, this interpretation of his has no meaning or authority for management and employees (TFR). They will then judge in their own way and accuse the policeman of exceeding his authority. In the end, the policeman with the pistol is faced with the choice of “either six will be punished or three will be judged.”

Ammo in short supply

Meanwhile, back in the 70s of the 20th century, a the new kind sport - practical shooting. It was created precisely as an applied discipline for American police: it turned out that standard exercises with weapons at a shooting range were not enough for law enforcement officers. Practical shooting fills these gaps: it reinforces the ability to quickly and correctly draw and hold a weapon, aim and pull the trigger. In addition, this sport involves the creation of increasingly new and more complex scenarios for the use of weapons. Exercises in it are carried out for a while, using special elements that distract and irritate the shooter.

Today, practical shooting is actively developing in Russia, and against this background low level fire training of Russian police officers is especially noticeable. However, this is not surprising: since the times of the USSR, shooting ranges have not been provided for in standard police department buildings - they began to be included in projects only recently, in new buildings. This means that most police officers cannot regularly practice shooting by dropping into a shooting range before or after their shift. Of course, there are places like TsSBP, but it is unlikely that a law enforcement officer who is overloaded beyond measure will be able to visit them regularly, especially if he lives on the other side of the city or in the region.

Yes, in some police departments there are premises equipped for shooting - as, for example, on the famous Petrovka, 38. However, according to Lenta.ru's source in law enforcement agencies, training there is very rare, and when they do happen, ammunition They are frankly saving money. While a typical training session at private shooting ranges may involve hundreds of rounds, being able to fire two eight-round magazines in a police shooting class is considered a great success. And there are no instructors nearby.

As a result, by training once or twice a month, police officers consolidate not their shooting skills, but rather their characteristic mistakes when shooting. This even affects the performance of the elementary and most important exercise for assessing the “combat readiness” of an employee, Exercise No. 2. A Lenta.ru source notes: in the fall of 2008, even in the legendary Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR), many operatives were unable to complete exercise No. 2 with a satisfactory rating. As for police officers whose positions are not directly related to maintaining order on the streets, there are many among them who are simply afraid to pick up their service weapons. It is not surprising that when such a need arises, the most basic safety requirements are violated.

Transatlantic parallels

The only people who shoot well and shoot a lot are special forces soldiers, but not ordinary police officers,” says the chairman of the “Right to Arms” movement in an interview with Lenta.ru. - If we take the police in the USA for comparison, then, like ours, law enforcement officers report for every shot - they are strict about this. But every American police officer is a priori determined that the enemy may be armed, because there are a lot of weapons in the country. And across the ocean, law enforcement officers are immediately conditioned to the fact that they have the right to use weapons, because their main task is to return from their shift alive and healthy.

According to Shmelev, despite the fact that crime in Russia has changed a lot and has become more armed, police officers are still trained according to Soviet methods of the 60s of the last century. For example, the standard for drawing a weapon and the first aimed shot is approximately 3.5-4 seconds. For comparison: for people who are passionate about defensive shooting (by no means top shooters), this standard is 1.2-1.3 seconds. Judging by the regulations, the police clearly have nowhere to rush.

But even for this, law enforcement officers are trained in a traditional shooting range, while in preparation Russian special forces Today, elements of practical shooting training for athletes are increasingly being used, and competitions among special forces are conducted by certified practical shooting judges. In the USA, police departments (analogues of our Ministry of Internal Affairs) take advantage of the opportunity to invite instructors from the National Rifle Association and pay them for training personnel.

For the American police, shooting training is one of the main disciplines; tests are regularly taken in it, continues the Lenta.ru interlocutor. - If you don’t pass, you lose bonuses, part of your salary, up to and including dismissal. In our police force, shooting training is taught by the same police officers. At the same time, there are practically no shooting ranges in local police departments; they cope with the situation as best they can. On the other hand, what choice do they have?

Rare trunks

Another important difference between American police and their Russian colleagues is that they carry weapons constantly, 24 hours a day. Even while not on duty, a law enforcement officer in the United States, if necessary, is obliged to take measures to suppress illegal actions. Russian police, on the contrary, carry weapons only at work, handing them over at the end of their shift. And then in uniform, but unarmed, they go home.

Finally, an important nuance is the weapon itself, notes Igor Shmelev. - American law enforcement officers can choose a service weapon from several options or purchase their own and carry it on duty. The only caveat: if the caliber is non-standard, the policeman will provide himself with ammunition. Plus, law enforcement officers both overseas and in Europe have very ergonomic service equipment that allows them to quickly draw weapons. In our country, only special forces can boast of this.

The Makarov pistol, the main service weapon of the Russian police, was put into service in 1951 and became obsolete by the end of the 20th century, just like the 9x18 cartridge for which it was developed. Supporters of the pistol cite a number of its advantages, in particular its special stopping power. But in modern world this is far from the main thing. But the Makar’s unsuitability for short-term skirmishes makes it useful only at the firing line.

For comparison: in the USA and many European countries, revolvers and pistols of a larger caliber than the 9x18 cartridge are considered to be the service weapons of the police. Such ammunition is more powerful and deadlier, but more expensive. And the weapons themselves, which are in service with law enforcement forces abroad, are much newer: the same Glock 17 (adopted into service in 1980) today has several special straps for attaching target designators, sights and flashlights, and a pair of pads are always included with it on the handle, taking into account the individual characteristics of the owner. A Glock-19, SIG Sauer 266, Colt, Heckler and Koch is even younger. What can I say - both in the USSR and in Russia, the pistols in service with the police were developed for army officers. Simply put, for completely different tasks. Any foreign company, even a Chinese one, clearly distinguishes between army and police pistols.

***

When asked about shooting training police officers at the press center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs explained to Lente.ru that citizens recruited to serve in internal affairs bodies undergo professional training to perform official duties, including in conditions involving the use of firearms. This training is carried out in universities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, as well as in professional training centers of the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

"At the end vocational training Fire training classes are held at the employees' place of duty at least once every two weeks. Monitoring of professional readiness, including skills in using firearms, is carried out during professional service and physical training classes at the employees’ place of service,” the department reported.

As noted in the press service, a set of exercises is provided to confirm skillful use of service weapons. According to a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, each of them is designed in such a way that during training an employee acquires the skills of firing in a wide variety of situations. The use of firearms by employees is regulated by the requirements of Article 23 of the Federal Law “On Police”.

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We did a little historical excursion to find out what law enforcement officers used to arm themselves with different countries. Let's now look at modern police weapons. Let's start, perhaps, with the shirt that is closer to the body - with our native Russian police (although honestly: for me the word “police” in our realities is associated not with a policeman, but with a policeman). Of course, listing all conceivable models is a disastrous task. We will try to limit ourselves to the most common or popular ones.

The previously mentioned tendency to combine military and police weapons in Russia continues to operate today. All the “trunks” that will be discussed below are used not only by various law enforcement agencies, but also by the military.

Until now, the most popular pistol used by the police remains the 9-mm Makarov pistol. Developed in 1948 and put into service in 1951, it replaced the famous revolver.

In the early 90s, it was modernized (the main changes were a higher muzzle velocity and an increased magazine capacity) and received the designation PMM. The second “M”, as you understand, means “modernized”.

The morally outdated PM began to be replaced by the Yarygin pistol, designed for the use of 9-mm Parabellum cartridges. Created at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, the model turned out to be quite heavy (950 g without cartridges) and bulky, with a high center of gravity, threatening to “block” the weapon. Almost the main disadvantage, many experts consider the lack of a function for safely releasing the cocked hammer.

Of course, it also has advantages: less recoil and bounce when fired compared to the PM, a more capacious magazine (for 18 rounds), high penetration and stopping effect. In addition, a Weaver rail and a tactical flashlight with a laser target designator can be installed on the PY. But in general, the design of the pistol is considered obsolete by the time it was created.

Not just pistols...

The police also have machine guns. The most popular, naturally, is the AK-74U, which uses a 5.45x39 mm cartridge. The thing is certainly formidable, but somewhat outdated. It is not surprising that gunsmiths were asked to develop a new, more modern machine gun for use as a police weapon.

At the Kovrov Mechanical Plant in the late 90s, the AEK-919K “Kashtan” was created, using the widespread PM cartridge.

True, police patrols are not equipped with them; these are special forces weapons, which will require a small-sized machine gun in confined spaces.

Since 2006, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs began to be equipped with 9-mm PP-2000. A very interesting unit with a plastic case and a magazine for 20 or 44 rounds of 9x19 Parabellum cartridges.

Light weight (just over one and a half kg without cartridges), the ability to shoot with thick gloves, as well as an installed Picatinny rail for a bunch of “bells and whistles” (silencer, optical or IR laser laser, tactical flashlight, collimator or optical sight) will allow it to become a worthy replacement for the old one good Kalash.

Izhmash made it even simpler: they developed the PP-19-01 Vityaz submachine gun, which is based on the AK-74U design (the unification of parts is 70%). The main difference is the cartridge.

The Vityaz uses a 9x19 cartridge, both from domestic and foreign companies. Well, a “trifle” in the form of a Picatinny rail is a thing that goes without saying for modern weapons.

When describing Russian police weapons, one cannot fail to mention another well-known development - the PP-91 KEDR. It is CEDAR, and not “Cedar”, as is often mistakenly written. After all, this is an abbreviation for “design by Evgeniy Dragunov.” This submachine gun has a long history. It began to be developed back in the 70s of the last century for the army, but due to its short effective firing range it was not accepted into service. Yes, this is understandable, because the cartridge used here was a pistol 9x18 PM.

KEDR was “reanimated” in the 90s, when the police needed funds to suppress a surge in crime. A silencer and a laser target designator can be installed on it. Currently, it is the second most common submachine gun as a police weapon in Russia in law enforcement agencies.

The last decade of the 20th century post-Soviet space turned out to be incredibly hectic. How he joked main character one feature film: “...disasters, prostitution, banditry and shortages in the army.” All this was true for that turbulent time. Of course, in such a troubled time, it was not easy for the police. So, what did the law enforcement officers arm themselves with in those years?

1. Makarov pistol

A widely known self-loading pistol, which was developed by Soviet designer Nikolai Fedorovich Makarov back in 1948. It was put into service in 1951. It was used not only by employees as personal weapons law enforcement, but military. Without cartridges, this device weighs 0.73 kg. The ammunition used is a 9x18 mm PM cartridge. The combat rate of fire is 30 rounds per minute, and the target range is 50 meters. The pistol is powered by an 8-round magazine.

2. Yarygin’s pistol “Rook”

The self-loading pistol is already made in Russia. Serially produced at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant. Weight is 0.95 kg. The ammunition used is the 9x19 mm Parabellum cartridge. The sighting range is identical to the PM - 50 meters. The weapon is powered by an 18-round magazine. Produced since the late 90s.

3. Submachine gun "Vityaz"

"Vityaz" is a 9-mm submachine gun that was developed by Izhmash in 2004 specifically for units of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The weapon got its name from the name of the unit it was originally supposed to carry. The design of this weapon was based on the AKS-74U assault rifle. The weapon has good ergonomics compared to the AK. Weight without magazine – 2.9 kg. Sighting range – 200 meters. The weapon is powered by 30-round magazines.

4. AKS-74U

Where would organs be without genuine “classics”. Although the “U” can be safely considered a weapon with very dubious characteristics, this machine gun has been in service with the Ministry of Internal Affairs for many decades. Weight without cartridges is 2.7 kg. The ammunition used is a 5.45x39 mm caliber cartridge. The targeting range reaches 500 meters, and the effective range is no more than 300 meters. Ammunition is supplied from a box magazine with 30 rounds of ammunition.

5. TT

In the 90s, one could still see old, but not good (contrary to popular “popular” opinion) Tula Tokarevs among law enforcement officers. For the Second world war and the post-war period in the USSR they made about 1,740,000 TT. Not all of them were shot and carried out through the bullet chamber. A lot of TTs were “clean”. As a result, the pistol became one of the most stolen weapons in the 90s and was in constant demand among criminals.

6. PMM

The modernized Makarov pistol was developed in the early 90s. Weapons were used both in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in the army. Weight without cartridges is 0.76 kg. The ammunition used is the 9x19 mm PMM cartridge. Sighting range – 50 meters. It is powered by a 12-round magazine.

7. PR-73 and PR-90

Behind the “scary” abbreviation lies the usual “Rubber Stick”, a non-lethal weapon used by police around the world. In the 90s, a fundamentally new baton called PUS-2 “Argument” was also created. Initially, this baton was used only by riot police.

Continuing the topic, even more interesting things about weapons! Only this time we will talk about the most and the helmet.