Russian All - Military Union The Russian All - Military Union ( in Russian Русский Обще - Воинский Союз , abbreviated РОВС , " ROVS " ) is an organization that 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 purging 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 . The ROVS was formed outside of Soviet Russia . History . 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 . 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 to be murdered 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 . According to a 1988 oral history interview with Nikita Ivanovich Yovich , " Years passed , gradually people began dying off . In 1986 , the most senior man still alive turned out to be Captain Ivanov who lived in Detroit . Captain Ivanov received a communication from Paris saying that as the most senior man he was now obliged to assume the presidency of the R . A . S . U . He was ninety - one . He needed a deputy and I was recommended to him . I received a letter from this Captain Ivanov whom I had never met , an official letter - - ' Dear Nikita Ivanovich , As of such and such a date , I have become the President of the Russian Armed Services Union . I am alone and am requesting your help . ' And so I answered the letter , - - ' Dear Captain Ivanov : I was brought up to be a soldier - - that means , never volunteer for duty , but never shirk it . ' A week later , I received orders from him , stating that as of such and such a date Lieutenant Nikita Ivanovich Yovich would be serving as his deputy . He gave me various orders , xeroxing lists and so forth , which I carried out . After a few years I began having problems with my health and I wrote to Captain Ivanov requesting to be relieved of my duties . I received no reply . I wrote again . All of a sudden I receive a letter saying that Captain Ivanov has had a stroke and is paralyzed . I phoned him , but there was no answer . And then I received orders from him , which he had somehow been able to sign - - I had been appointed president of the Russian Armed Services Union . " 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 . Although its significance and influence in the Russian émigré community ceased several decades before , in 1992 ROVS became active in Russia itself . In the mid 1990s , however , considering that the communist regime has fallen and that the Soviet Union was no more , a split emerged within 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 issue . The vast majority of members voted for the dissolution of ROVS . Vishnevsky died of cancer in that same year , but ROVS members , following the overwhelming poll results , dissolved the organization . Some , particularly in Russia , refused to accept this result and maintain that ROVS was never dissolved . According to them ROVS is now headquartered in Russia and its head is I . B . Ivanov .