ODON
| Independent Operational Purpose Division ODON Dzerzhinsky Division |
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|---|---|
ODON shoulder patch
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| Active | June 17th, 1924 – present |
| Country |
 Russia
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| Branch |
Internal Troops (until 2016) National Guard Forces Command (since 2016) |
| Type | Motorized infantry |
| Role | Protection of public order |
| Size | ~ 12,000 |
| Part of |
 Ministry of Internal Affairs (until 2016) National Guard of Russia (since 2016) |
| Garrison/HQ |
Reutov Balashikha |
| Nickname(s) | Dzerzhinsky Division |
| Motto(s) | "At any time, any place - any task!" |
| March | "My Division" |
| Anniversaries | June 17th |
| Engagements |
Winter War |
| Decorations |
 Order of Zhukov Order of Lenin Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner
|
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Major General Sergey Zakharov |
Winter War
German-Soviet War
Tbilisi tragedy
August Coup
Russian constitutional crisis of 1993
First Chechen War
Second Chechen War
Peace enforcement:
The Independent Operational Purpose Division or ODON, formerly called OMSDON (a.k.a. Dzerzhinsky Division) is a rapid deployment internal security division of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and then the Russian Federation, now the National Guard Forces Command of the Russian Federation. ODON (Russian: ОДОН) is an initialism for Отдельная дивизия оперативного назначения (Otdel'naya diviziya operativnogo naznacheniya, English: Independent Operational Purpose Division).
The precursor to the ODON was the 1st Automobile Fighting Detachment of the VTsIK (Russian: ) which was created in February 1918. The detachment was tasked with guarding the members of the VTsIK and the Sovnarkom and providing them with passenger cars. After relocation of the government to Moscow in March 1918, it was assigned to guarding the Moscow Kremlin as the site of the government alongside the Red Latvian Riflemen, then the "Kremlin cadets" (Russian: ). The detachment was renamed 1st Armored Car Detachment 'Ya. M. Sverdlov' in 1919, and was transferred to VChK in 1921. At the peak of its strength, the detachment had over 400 troops.
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