My latest Moscow News column, Retooling Russia’s Riot Police, is out today. I riff off the responses to the recent UK riots (and in particular to the perceived weakness of the initial police response) to talk a little about Russian public order forces, and why – as usual before elections – they are being strengthened. The OMON, by the way, are not becoming OPON now that the militsiya are the politsiya, but KON: Komanda osobennogo naznacheniya (‘Special Designation Commands’). I plan to discuss the reforms to the public order and security forces here in a few days.

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