Russian All-Military Union

The Russian All-Military Union (in Russian Русский Обще Воинский Союз, abbreviated РОВС, "ROVS") was founded by White Army General Pyotr Wrangel in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on September 1 1924. This organization united all veterans of the Russian White movement, soldiers and officers alike, who were living abroad and desired to stay united for the purpose of liberating Russia from the Bolshevik regime. The Union, known in Russian as the "ROVS", also tried to conduct operations within the USSR for the purpose of starting a national anti-communist uprising. It is important to note that the ROVS was formed outside of Soviet Russia.

Aside from anti-communism, the ROVS did not have an official political orientation, somewhat adhering to the old Russian military dictum which said "The Army is outside of politics" (in Russian "Армия вне политики"), believing that the political orientation of Russia cannot be predetermined by émigrés living outside of its borders (the philosophy of "non-predetermination" or in Russian "непредрешенчество"). Many (but not all) of its members had monarchist sympathies of varying flavors: constitutional vs. autocratic, Romanov vs. non-Romanov oriented.

The ROVS, along with other similar Russian émigré organizations, became a prime target for the Soviet secret police, the OGPU. The OGPU set up a fake anti-communist monarchist organization, the Monarchist Union of Central Russia, which was successfully used to confuse and later demoralize the ROVS. They also successfully instituted a secret provocational organization within the ROVS known as the "Inner Line" (in Russian "Внутренная Линия"), controlled by the double-agent General Nikolai Skoblin, which masqueraded as a patriotic Russian intelligence organization.clarifyme|date=June 2008 By the time the "Inner Line" was exposed by the Russian émigré organization National Alliance of Russian Solidarists (NTS), two of the ROVS's leaders, General Alexander Kutepov and General Evgenii Miller, were kidnapped and taken by force to the USSR in 1930 and 1937 respectively. By the time World War II started the ROVS lost most of its significance and influence. During the war the ROVS maintained a cautious position, not siding officially with Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, but waiting for the emergence of an independent Russian Liberation Army.

The ROVS continued to be active into the 1990s, having evolved into an organization that was principally concerned with the historical preservation of the pre-communist and anti-communist Russian military tradition. In the ROVS's possession are a significant number of Russian imperial and White Army battle flags and standards, which are meant to be returned to Russia when "a national Russian army" is once again in existence.

In the mid-1990s a split emerged within the ROVS on whether to continue the organization's existence. In 2000, Vladimir Vishnevsky, a U.S. resident and the ROVS chairman at that time, requested a vote on this question. The vast majority of members voted for the dissolution of the ROVS. Vishnevsky died of cancer in that same year, but ROVS members, following the overwhelming poll results dissolved the organization. Several members, however, rejected this turn of events. This faction, primarily based in Russia and currently headed by Igor Ivanov, claims that the ROVS was not dissolved and named Nikolai Feodorov (d. 2003), a U.S. resident and Russian Civil War veteran, an honorary chairman of their organization.

List of ROVS Chairmen/Commanders

1924-1928 General Pyotr Wrangel (as the commander of the Russian Army)

1924-1929 Grand Duke General Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov (as the supreme commander of all Russian forces, in concurrence with General Wrangel)

1929-1930 General Alexander Pavlovich Kutepov

1930-1937 General Evgenii Karlovich Miller

1937-1938 General Feodor Feodorovich Abramov

1938-1957 General Alexei Petrovich Arkhangelsky

1957-1967 General Alexei Alexandrovich Von Lampe

1967-1979 General Vladimir Grigorievich Zharzhevsky

1979-1983 Captain Vladimir Petrovich Osipov

1983-1984 Starshina Vladimir Ivanovich Diakov

1984-1986 Lieutenant Peter Alekseevich Kalenichenko

1986-1988 Captain Boris Mihailovich Ivanov

1988-1988 Sotnik Nikita Ivanovich Iovich

1988-1989 Lieutenant Vladimir Vladimirovich Granitov

1989-2000 Captain Vladimir Nikolaevich Butkov

2000-2000 Lieutenant Vladimir Aleksandrovich Vishnevsky

Russian ROVS: 2000- Igor Borisovich Ivanov (see explanation above)

ee also

*White movement
*White Emigre
*Pyotr Wrangel

References

* M.V. Nazarov, The Mission of the Russian Emigration, Moscow: Rodnik, 1994. ISBN 5-86231-172-6