RUSSIAN FEDERATION Police Jewish Autonomous Oblast OMON Special Purpose Mobile Unit sleeve patch

(Russian: ОМОН—Отряд мобильный особого назначения, Еврейская автономная область)

Thermal embossed.

OMON was a system of special police units of Federal Police within the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was created as the special forces of the Soviet police in 1988, and then played major roles in several armed conflicts. In modern context, the OMON were used more like riot police, or as a gendarmerie-like force. On 5 April 2016, the functions of OMON were taken over by the newly established National Guard of Russia.

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a federal subject of Russia in the Russian Far East, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast in Russia and Heilongjiang province in China. Its administrative center is the town of Birobidzhan. As of the 2010 Census, JAO's population was 176,558 people. Judaism is practiced by only 0.2% of the population of the JAO. Article 65 of the Constitution of Russia provides that the JAO is Russia's only autonomous oblast. It is one of the world's only official Jewish territories, the other being Israel.