Departmental media in the information support system of the internal troops of the Ministry of internal Affairs of Russia in the late XX – early XXI century

The article defines the role and place of departmental mass media in the system of information support of internal troops the main power component of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in 1992–2016 in ensuring law and order and internal security of the state. Special attention is paid to the activity of periodical press of internal troops to inform soldiers who took part in counter-terrorist operations in the North Caucasian region of Russia. The peculiarities of the activities of the departmental mass media of the Interior Troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs are studied by defining the main stages of their development, the most important thematic areas, revealing, in addition to information and educational functions of these publications, the specifics of military journalists’ work to collect material in hot spots. As a result of the study, data were obtained indicating that the departmental print media played an important role in the system of information support for the internal troops and contributed to the strengthening of the moral and psychological condition of military personnel and, as a result, to the successful performance of tasks of the internal troops to combat gangs in the North Caucasus. The results given in the article are based on the pieces of work of domestic researchers, regulatory legal acts of Russian legislation, as well as publications of departmental mass media, the author’s own practical experience as a correspondent of departmental mass media of the internal troops.