Of course, military reform has been on the drawing board for several years and has defeated the efforts of several defense ministers. Gryzlov, however, was tasked with something new -- reforming the MVD, which has become one of the country's most ineffective, unwieldy and criminalized structures. The MVD is perhaps a unique institution: It can be seen as a second national army because its force strength is considerable even by the dimensions of the defense ministry forces, but it is even more criminalized. The internal troops have their own aviation, anti-aircraft capabilities, intelligence and counterintelligence, artillery, and heavy armor. Beside the internal troops, the MVD has special forces (such as OMON) and a police force that reaches into every nook and cranny of the country. The only structure that can compete with the MVD in the number and variety of its directorates is the Soviet-era KGB.

Three such structures had a particularly high degree of autonomy within the MVD: the Main Directorate for Fighting Organized Crime (GUBOP), the Main Directorate for Fighting Economic Crime (GUBEP), and Directorate "R," which deals with criminality in the sphere of high technology. Soon after his appointment in March 2001, Gryzlov's inspection of the three directorates revealed that they not only did not fight crime but in fact were involved in illegal business activities covering precisely the spheres they were supposed to control. The GUBOP was the first of the government agencies that started providing protection ("krysha") to businesses and became one of the largest rackets in Moscow. Soon after the inspection, the GUBOP officially was disbanded by order 585 of the MVD minister. According to Gryzlov, the GUBOP did not perform the functions it was assigned. However, over a year has passed since Gryzlov's decision and the GUBOP still exists. The same is true of the other main directorates of the MVD which were supposed to be disbanded but in fact have remained active. Kommersant quotes an anonymous member of the central directorate of the MVD, who comments that the MVD reshuffle has been most advantageous for St. Petersburg policemen and FSB cadres, these being Putin's favorites, who profit the most from new positions or vacancies, especially at the rank of general.