Thanks to the existence of the emergency reserve of Russia (at that time the USSR), millions of people were saved during the Great Patriotic War. The same state system made it possible to quickly localize the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which broke out in the early hours of the ill-fated April day in 1986, and save Ukraine, Belarus and part of Europe from a nuclear explosion.
Reserves of Ancient Russia and Tsarist Russia
In the USSR they joked that the emergency reserve should provide the population with everything necessary for ten years of a nuclear war. However, the history of the formation of the inviolable state reserve began in the times of Ancient Russia, when food supplies were kept in vast uninhabited areas - in monasteries. Information has come down to us about the Solovetsky Monastery, in which food supplies would be enough for several years. The monastery, by the way, exists to this day, it is located on the Solovetsky Islands (these are the very notorious Solovki) in Belysea.
By the end of the 18th century, stocks of bread (grain) and s alt were made in tsarist Russia, in 1913 some cereals and flour were added to the list of products. During the period of the October socialist and February bourgeois revolutions, state reserves ran out, as expected, but the first Soviet government already in 1926 initiated the creation of a reserve fund, which is regulated at the highest state level.
Early Soviet history of the state reserve
In fact, NZ in the USSR appeared in 1931, when the Committee of Reserves was formed, and V. V. Kuibyshev was appointed its head. Since then, the entire emergency food supply has been regulated by one instance, and not by separate institutions, organizations and enterprises. The fundamental document on the formation of state reserves was drawn up in 1939. The then structure of state reserves in general terms has been preserved to this day.
Emergency reserve in the pre- and post-war years
Let's open the bins of our Motherland. The pre-war situation necessitated an increase in NZ. The emergency reserve was now able to meet the needs of industry. At this stage, it was not exclusively a mobilization reserve for the troops, as it was before. Since 1939, an untouchable emergency stock has been laid down for storage. It consists of products and materials for weapons and military equipment, food, fuel, household and medical (dressing materials, medicines) property.
In many ways, it was the emergency reserve formed that helped make up for the huge losses of the Soviet Union in the early years of the Great Patriotic War. Contradictory as it may seem, but during this period the reserves of the USSR not only did not decrease, but almost doubled due to tin, aluminum, nickel, zinc, bread and canned meat. After the Great Victory, attempts were repeatedly made to revive the state reserve system, but in fact this was only done by the 1960s.
NZ in the last decade of the twentieth century
In 1990, the Emergency Materials Administration was formed. The structure was created to form a system of the state reserve, consisting of food, medical, financial, material and technical stocks.
The system was developed on the basis of statistical data and with the aim of promptly taking priority measures in case of possible emergency situations: natural disasters, man-made disasters, military aggression of other states against Russia and other nationwide accidents. The emergency stock is stored at our own enterprises of the state reserve or at certain points located in all regions of Russia.
“On the state material reserve”
The modern emergency reserve (its formation, storage and composition) is regulated by the 1994 Federal Law "On the State Material Reserve".
Documentfound that the state reserve in Russia is intended for:
- ensuring the prompt elimination of the consequences of natural disasters and man-made disasters;
- timely provision of humanitarian assistance and state support to the affected regions and constituent entities of the Russian Federation: their residents, enterprises, institutions and organizations;
- regulating the market during an economic or energy crisis;
- meeting Russia's needs during the mobilization period.
Structure of Russia's emergency reserve
In 2006, in honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the state reserve system, the federal services slightly lifted the veil of the strictest secrecy and allowed a small part of journalists to the Federal Reserve. In a special report "Inviolable Reserve" small nuggets of information about the most important secret structure of the Russian Federation were made public.
So, it is known that at the moment the state reserve has about 10 thousand items of food products, medical products, military equipment and industrial goods. Just how many reserves are in the country, only two people know: the President of the Russian Federation and the head of the Rosrezerv structure. The latter, by the way, assured that the reserves would be enough to provide for the entire population of the Russian Federation during the three months of the emergency. Of course, we are talking primarily about food. Medicines, dressings, equipment, clothing and fuel are stored much longer.
In addition to essential goods, the NZ structure includes several institutions: Research Institute, Experimental Mechanical Plant, Polytechnic College and Information and Computing Center.
The reserves store not only long shelf life products, but even threads and needles, the main list of medicines, dressings, clothes and fabrics, raw materials, machinery, fuel, and even dismantled railway bridges across the main rivers. More than half of the NZ is food, so the stock is updated every one or two years, the rest (metals, equipment, clothes, etc.) - every 15 years.
Localization and equipping of Rosrezerv storage facilities
Storage of the emergency stock is in the strictest secrecy. Each vault is equipped with powerful pumps in case of flooding with groundwater, as well as almost half a meter iron doors.
These rooms, which are located at least 150 meters underground, are able to withstand a nuclear explosion or a serious natural disaster. It is believed that the vaults are located far from settlements, but the exact localization is known only to the above two people.
State reserves of other states
It is known that the emergency reserve of Russia was used in almost thirty operations of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation and ensured the timely provision of humanitarian assistance to twenty foreign countries. By the way, foreign countries also pay great attention to the formation of reserves. That's itinformation that the untouchable food supply of the United States of America will last for two years of war.
Rosrezerv employees regularly exchange some information regarding emergency reserves with colleagues from the CIS countries and Europe, mutually share developments and discuss international problems. Cooperation provides an opportunity to act in a coordinated and expeditious manner in the event of an international emergency.
