Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the creation of a national guard to fight crime and terror.

Russia is creating a national guard to fight terrorism and organised crime, President Vladimir Putin says.

"The decisions have been taken, we are creating a new federal body of executive power," Putin told a meeting with his key security officials in the Kremlin on Tuesday.

The national guard will be created on the basis of the Interior Ministry's troops, Putin said. He said that Russia's drug enforcement agency and federal migration service would be now subordinate to the Interior Ministry.

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