Spetsnaz[note 1] (Russian:Спецназ) arespecial forces in the formerSoviet Union andRussia. Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union'sSpetsnaz GRU, special operations units of theMain Intelligence Directorate of the Soviet General Staff (GRU). Today it refers to special forces branches and task forces subordinate to ministries including defence, internal affairs, or emergency situations in countries that have inherited their special purpose units from thenow-defunct Soviet security agencies.
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The Russian abbreviationsspetsnaz andosnaz aresyllabic abbreviations ofSoviet era Russian, forspetsialnogo naznacheniya andosobogo naznacheniya, both of which may be interpreted as "special purpose". As syllabic acronyms they are not normallycapitalized.
InUkrainian they are known asspetspryz (спецприз), an abbreviation ofviiska spetsiialnoho pryznachennia (війська спеціяльного призначення).
They are general terms that were used for a variety of Sovietspecial operations (spetsoperatsiya) units. In addition, manyCheka andInternal Troops units (such asOMSDON andODON) also includedosobovo naznacheniya in their full names. Regular forces assigned to special tasks were sometimes also referred to by terms such asSpetsnaz andosnaz.
Spetsnaz later referred specifically to special (spetsialnogo) purpose (naznacheniya) or special operations (spetsoperatsiya;spec ops) forces, and the word's widespread use is a relatively recent, post-perestroika development in Russian language. The Soviet public used to know very little about their country's special forces until many state secrets were disclosed under theglasnost ("openness") policy ofMikhail Gorbachev during the late 1980s. Since then, stories aboutspetsnaz and their purportedly incredible prowess, from the serious to the highly questionable, have captivated the imagination of Russians. A number of books about the Soviet military special forces, such as 1987'sSpetsnaz: The Story Behind the Soviet SAS by defectedGRU agentViktor Suvorov,[1] helped introduce the term to the Western public.
TheImperial Russian Army had hunter-commando units, formed by a decree of EmperorAlexander III in 1886, which saw action inWorld War I prior to theRussian Revolution of 1917. Also, during World War I, GeneralAleksei Brusilov became one of the first senior commanders to use the tactics of fast actionshock troops for assaults following concentrated accurate artillery fire in what would later be known as theBrusilov Offensive of 1916. Such tactics, considered revolutionary at the time, would later inspire people like PrussianCaptain Willy Rohr in the development of the PrussianStormtroopers (founded in 1915).
The origins of the Spetsnaz can be found in theRussian Civil War. To act against anti-Communist workers and farmers, the Soviet regime set up so calledTschasti Osobogo Nasatschenia (Units for special use) in 1918. In the next year they were expanded to the so-calledCheka (The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission), fighting counterrevolution and (alleged) sabotage. They took part in theKronstadt rebellion 1921, setting up machine guns behind units of the Red Army, to "increase their motivation". TheGRU andNKVD descended from theCheka. Since 1927 Russians were experimenting with parachutes. Airborne units were used against central Asian and Afghan insurgents.
GRU andNKVD derived from theCheka and participated in theSpanish Civil War fighting fascists behind their lines using guerilla strategies. Fighting Germany, Japan, Poland and Finland in theSecond World War, new units of storm pioneers, parachuters, NKVD and GRU were set up. Thereby the soviets merged existing experiences and started to unify differentmilitary branches.[2]
The Soviet leadership had an urgent need for intelligence on German land forces innorthern Norway andFinland. On 5 July 1941 AdmiralArseniy Golovko of theNorthern Fleet authorized the formation of a ground reconnaissance detachment. This unit, the4th Special Volunteer Detachment, was to be recruited from the fleet's athletes and have an initial size of 65 to 70 personnel. Later the unit was renamed the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment. They were trained as frogmen.[3] The most prominent of these new recruits wasViktor Leonov, who joined theSoviet Navy in 1937. He was assigned to a submarine training detachment and then transferred to a repair station in the Northern Fleet atPolyarnyy.[4] Leonov had trained as ascuba diver, after which he joined 4th Special Volunteer Detachment, where he proved his daring and leadership skills conducting numerous clandestine operations and twice being awarded the title ofHero of the Soviet Union.[3]
Initially the unit was confined to performing small scalereconnaissance missions, platoon sized insertions by sea and on occasion on land into Finland and later Norway.[3] They began conducting sabotage missions and raids to snatch prisoners for interrogation.[3] They would also destroy German ammunition and supply depots, communication centers, and harass enemy troop concentrations along the Finnish and Russian coasts.[5] When the European conflict ended, the Naval Scouts were sent to fight the Japanese. Leonov along with Capt. Kulebyakin and 140 men, landed on a Japanese airfield atPort Vonsan, unaware that they were opposed by over 3,500 enemy soldiers. A tense standoff ensued, until the commanding officers of the unit managed to bluff the Japanese forces into surrendering.[6]
Each Soviet front/army up to 1942 had their own independent guard-battalion (Otdelnly Gwardieskij Batalion Minerow), OGBM, so called miners, forreconnaissance andcommando missions. The soldiers had to be younger than 30, were mostlyathletes orhunters and had to identify 100% with their mission. Many exhausted and wounded soldiers were, even in training, left to their own devices. The selection methods qualified the troops as elite but caused high numbers of casualties. The "miners" infiltrated foreign-occupied areas by air and land, and cooperated with, and trained, localpartisans.
Immediately before the major Russian offensive atSmolesk in 1943, 316OGBM were dropped by parachute in nine groups. Up to 300 km behind the enemy lines, they blew up 700 km of railways in cooperation with local partisans, using 3,500 explosive charges.[2]
By the end of the Second World War theSoviet Union dissolved most of the special units. At the end of the 1950s the KGB and GRU set new special forces units up. The 3rd guard special-reconnaissance-brigade was founded in 1966, being stationed with theSoviet forces in East Germany inFürstenberg/Havel.[citation needed]
Lieutenant-CommanderLionel Crabb was a BritishRoyal Navy frogman andMI6 diver who vanished during a reconnaissance mission around a Soviet cruiser berthed at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1956. In November 2007 theBBC and theDaily Mirror reported that Eduard Koltsov, a formerSoviet frogman, claimed to have caught Crabb placing a mine on theOrdzhonikidze hull near the ammunition depot and cut his throat. In an interview for a Russian documentary film, Koltsov showed the dagger he allegedly used, as well as anOrder of the Red Star medal that Koltsov claimed to have been awarded for the deed.[7][8] Koltsov, 74 at the time of the interview, stated that he wanted to clear his conscience and uncover what exactly had happened to Crabb.[9] Peter Mercer of the Special Boat Service describes this incident in his autobiography: "The cruiser [Ordzhonikidze] was carrying the two Soviet leaders, Khrushchev and Bulganin, on a goodwill visit to Britain. His [Crabb's] task was to measure the cruiser's propeller and to discover how the ship managed to travel at twice the speed originally estimated by British naval intelligence."
TheWarsaw pact invadedCzechoslovakia in 1968 to stop the "Socialism with a Human Face" movement. Spetsnaz units secured key points in the capital,Prague, seizing the airport, bridges, radio stations and the president's palace.[2]
Some 3,300 Soviet military experts, among them spetsnaz, were sent to Southeast Asia during theVietnam War. WithinSouth Vietnam, rumors persisted for years that men with blue eyes were reportedly spotted doing recon missions and testing their newSVD Dragunov sniper rifles.John Stryker Meyer was with Studies and Observation Group RT Idaho and had two encounters with what they believed were spetsnaz units operating in Laos in 1968.
Their mission was twofold: first of all, to help a communist nation defeat an American ally, and secondly, test and evaluate their most sophisticated radars and missiles directly against the best aircraft America could deploy. Soviets recovered at least two very important pieces of American equipment, a cryptographic code machine, and anF-111A escape capsule, which now sits in aMoscow Museum.[10]
Soviet Spetsnaz forces took part in theSoviet–Afghan War of 1979–1989 in Afghanistan, usually fighting fast insertion/extraction-type warfare with helicopters. Their most famous operation,Operation Storm-333, was executed on 27 December 1979 which saw Soviet special forces storming theTajbeg Palace in Afghanistan and killing Afghan PresidentHafizullah Amin, his son and over 300 of his personal guards in 40 minutes.[11] The Soviets then installedBabrak Karmal as Amin's successor.
The operation involved approximately 660 Soviet operators dressed in Afghan uniforms, including ca. 50KGB andGRU officers from theAlpha Group andZenith Group. The Soviet forces occupied major governmental, military and media buildings inKabul, including their primary target – theTajbeg Palace.
In the first one and a half years of the war, Spetsnaz units in the form of the 459th special forces company, were exclusively responsible for reconnaissance missions and intelligence gathering for the40th Army.[12] Aside from reconnaissance, the 459th was also tasked with capturing prisoners, kidnapping enemy agents, and targeted assassination of leaders and field commanders of the Mujahideen.
By 1985, the GRU had expanded its special forces footprint to two Spetsnaz brigades in Afghanistan, comprising just under 5,000 troops. These were the:[12]
15th Special Purpose Brigade – paired up and supported by239th Helicopter Squadron equipped withMi-24 (16 units),Mi-8 (16 units), deployment inGhazni.
22nd Special Purpose Brigade – paired up and supported by205th Helicopter Squadron equipped with Mi-24 (16 units) Mi-8 (16 units) deployed inLashkar Gah.
The Spetsnaz often conducted missions to ambush and destroy enemy supply convoys.[13] TheMujahideen had great respect for the Spetsnaz, seeing them as a much more difficult opponent than the typical Soviet conscript soldier. They said that the Spetsnaz-ledair assault operations had changed the complexion of the war. They also credited the Spetsnaz with closing down all the supply routes along theAfghan-Pakistani border in 1986. In April 1986, the rebels lost one of their biggest bases, atZhawar inPaktia Province, to a Soviet spetsnaz air-assault. The Spetsnaz achieved victory by knocking out several rebel positions above the base, a mile-long series of fortified caves in a remote canyon. A successful long-term campaign codenamedOperation "Curtain" or "Veil", lasted from 1984 to 1988, which aimed to close off the Afghan-Pakistani border and cut off supply routes coming in from Pakistan. The operation caused great distress to the mujahedin war effort, with Spetsnaz units intercepting 990 supply caravans and killing 17,000 insurgents.[14] For their role inOperation Curtain, the Spetsnaz suffered a total of 570 killed with a further 11 missing.[15] Casualty breakdown by unit was:
In May 1986, the Spetsnaz also succeeded in inserting air-assault forces into remote regions inKonar Valley nearBarikot which were previously considered inaccessible to Soviet forces.[16]
It is believed that during the war in Afghanistan, Soviet special forces came in direct conflict withPakistan Army's special forces, theSpecial Service Group. This unit was deployed disguised as Afghans, supporting theMujahideen fighting the Soviets. A battle reported as having been fought between the Pakistanis and Soviet troops took place inKunar Province in March 1986. According to Soviet sources, the battle was actually fought between the GRU's 15th Spetsnaz Brigade, and the Usama Bin Zaid regiment of Afghan Mujahideen under Commander Assadullah, belonging to Abdul rub a-Rasul Sayyaf's faction.[17]Fighting is also alleged to have taken place duringOperation Magistral where over 200 Mujahideen were killed in a failed attempt to capture the strategicHill 3234 near the Pakistani border from a 39-man Soviet Airborne company.
In October 1985, specialist operators from the KGB'sGroup "A" (Alpha) were dispatched toBeirut,Lebanon. The Kremlin had been informed of the kidnapping of four Soviet diplomats by the militant group, the Islamic Liberation Organization (a radical offshoot of theMuslim Brotherhood). It was believed that this was retaliation for the Soviet support ofSyrian involvement in theLebanese Civil War.[18] However, by the time the Alpha group arrived, one of the hostages had already been killed. In atit-for-tat response, Alpha group operators first identified the terrorists using local sources, then moved into the Lebanese villages where the terrorists were from and took their relatives as hostages. Some of the hostages were dismembered, and their body parts sent to the hostage takers, with the threat that their relatives were next. The remaining hostages were released immediately.[19]
Russian sources indicate that the release of the Soviet hostages was the result of extensive diplomatic negotiations with the spiritual leader ofHezbollah, Grand AyatollahMohammad Hussein Fadlallah, who appealed to KingHussein of Jordan and the leaders of Libya and Iran to use their influence on the kidnappers.[20]
Either way, the show of brutal force had its effect, and for the next 20 years no Soviet or Russian officials were taken captive, until June 2006.[19]
After the collapse of the USSR, spetsnaz forces of the Soviet Union's newly formed republics took part in many local conflicts such as theTajikistani Civil War,Chechen Wars,Russo-Georgian War and theRusso-Ukrainian War. Spetsnaz forces also have been called upon to resolve several high-profile hostage situations such as theMoscow theatre hostage crisis and theBeslan school hostage crisis.[21]
Thecrisis took place from 14 to 19 June 1995, when a group of 80 to 200 Chechen terrorists led byShamil Basayev attacked the southern Russian city ofBudyonnovsk, where they stormed the main police station and the city hall. After several hours of fighting and Russian reinforcements imminent, the Chechens retreated to the residential district and regrouped in the city hospital, where they took between 1,500 and 1,800 hostages, most of them civilians (including about 150 children and a number of women with newborn infants).[22]
After three days of siege, the Russian authorities ordered the security forces to retake the hospital compound. The forces deployed were elite personnel from theFederal Security Service's Alpha Group, alongside MVD militsiya and Internal Troops. The strike force attacked the hospital compound at dawn on the fourth day, meeting fierce resistance. After several hours of fighting in which many hostages were killed by crossfire, a local ceasefire was agreed, and 227 hostages were released; 61 others were freed by the Russian forces.
A second Russian attack on the hospital a few hours later also failed and so did a third, resulting in even more casualties. The Russian authorities accused the Chechens of using the hostages as human shields.
According to official figures, 129 civilians were killed and 415 were injured in the entire event (of whom 18 later died of their wounds).[23] This includes at least 105 hostage fatalities.[22] However, according to an independent estimate 166 hostages were killed and 541 injured in the special forces attack on the hospital.[24][25] At least 11 Russian police officers and 14 soldiers were killed.[22] Basayev's force suffered 11 men killed and one missing; most of their bodies were returned to Chechnya in a special freezer truck. In the years following the hostage-taking, more than 40 of the surviving attackers were tracked down and have been assassinated, includingAslambek Abdulkhadzhiev in 2002 and Shamil Basayev in 2006, and more than 20 were sentenced, by the Stavropol territorial court, to various terms of imprisonment.
The masssieges which saw people taken in the thousands also involved FSB's Alpha Group and theSpetsnaz GRU in attempted rescuing of the hostages.
Russian special forces were instrumental in Russia's and the Kremlin backed government's success in theSecond Chechen War after learning lessons from the mishandling of thefirst war. Under joint command ofUnified Group of Troops (OGV) formed on 23 September 1999.[26] GRU, FSB and MVD spetsnaz operators conducted a myriad ofcounter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, includingtargeted killings of separatist leadership, in the meantime inflicting heavy casualties among Islamist separatists. Some of these successful missions were directed against separatist leaders such asAslan Maskhadov,Abdul Halim Sadulayev,Dokka Umarov,Akhmadov brothers,Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev,Akhmed Avtorkhanov,Ibn al-Khattab,Abu al-Walid,Abu Hafs al-Urduni,Muhannad,Ali Taziev,Supyan Abdullayev,Shamil Basayev,Ruslan Gelayev,Salman Raduyev,Sulim Yamadayev,Rappani Khalilov,Yassir al-Sudani. During these missions, many operators received honors for their courage and prowess in combat, including with the titleHero of the Russian Federation. At least 106 FSB and GRU operators died during the conflict.[27]
The crisis was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theatre on 23 October 2002 by 40 to 50 armedChechens who claimed allegiance to theIslamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya.[citation needed] They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to theSecond Chechen War. The siege was officially led byMovsar Barayev.
Due to the disposition of the theatre, special forces would have had to fight through 100 feet (30 m) of corridor and attack up a well defended staircase, before they could reach the hall in where the hostages were held. The terrorists also had explosive devices. The most powerful of these was in the center of theauditorium; if detonated, it could have brought down the ceiling and caused casualties in excess of 80% of the auditorium's occupants.[28] After a two-and-a-half-day siege and the execution of two hostages, spetsnaz operators from theFederal Security Service (FSB)Alpha andVympel a.k.a. Vega Groups, supported by theRussian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)SOBR unit, pumped anundisclosed chemical agent into the building'sventilation system and raided it.[citation needed]
During the raid, all of the attackers were killed, with no casualties among spetsnaz, but about 130 hostages, including nine foreigners, died due to poor first aid after falling unconscious from the gas. Most died after being evacuated from the theatre and laid outside on their backs instead of in the approved recovery position and then choking to death. Russian security agencies refused to disclose the gas used in the attack leading to doctors in local hospitals being unable to respond adequately to the influx of casualties.[29] All but two of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theatre to subdue the militants.[30][31] The use of the gas was widely condemned as heavy-handed.[32]
Physicians in Moscow condemned the refusal to disclose the identity of the gas that prevented them from saving more lives. Some reports said the drugnaloxone was used to save some hostages.[33]
Also referred to as theBeslan massacre[34][35][36] started on 1 September 2004, lasted three days and involved the capture of over 1,100 people as hostages (including 777 children),[37] ending with the death of 334 people. The event led to security and political repercussions in Russia; in the aftermath of the crisis, there has been an increase inIngush–Ossetian ethnic hostility, while contributing to a series of federal government reforms consolidating power in theKremlin and strengthening of the powers of thePresident of Russia.[38]
The crisis began when a group of armed radical Islamist combatants, mostly Ingush and Chechen, occupied School Number One (SNO) in the town ofBeslan,North Ossetia (anautonomous republic in theNorth Caucasus region of theRussian Federation) on 1 September 2004. The hostage-takers were theRiyadus-Salikhin Battalion, sent by the Chechen terrorist warlord Shamil Basayev, who demanded recognition of the independence ofChechnya at theUnited Nations and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya.
On the third day of the standoff, counter terrorism units stormed the building using heavy weapons after several explosions rocked the building and children started escaping. It was in this chaos most of the officers were killed, trying to protect escaping children from gun fire.[39][40] At least 334 hostages were killed as a result of the crisis, including 186 children.[41][42] Official reports on how many members of Russia's special forces died in the fighting varied from 11, 12, 16 (7 Alpha and 9 Vega) to more than 20[43] killed. There are only 10 names on the special forces monument in Beslan.[44] The fatalities included all three commanders of the assault group: Colonel Oleg Ilyin, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Razumovsky of Vega, and Major Alexander Perov of Alpha.[45] At least 30 commandos suffered serious wounds.[46]
By the mid-2000s, the special forces gained a firm upper hand over separatists and terrorist attacks in Russia dwindled, falling from 257 in 2005 to 48 in 2007. Military analystVitaly Shlykov praised the effectiveness of Russia's security agencies, saying that the experience learned in Chechnya and Dagestan had been key to the success. In 2008, the AmericanCarnegie Endowment's Foreign Policy magazine named Russia as "the worst place to be a terrorist", particularly highlighting Russia's willingness to prioritize national security over civil rights.[48] By 2010, Russian special forces, led by the FSB, had managed to eliminate the top leadership of the Chechen insurgency, except forDokka Umarov.[49]
From 2009, the level of terrorism in Russia increased again. Particularly worrisome was the increase in suicide attacks. While between February 2005 and August 2008, no civilians were killed in such attacks, in 2008 at least 17 were killed and in 2009 the number rose to 45.[50] In March 2010, Islamist militants organised the2010 Moscow Metro bombings, which killed 40 people. One of the two blasts took place at Lubyanka station, near the FSB headquarters. Militant leaderDoku Umarov—dubbed "Russia'sOsama bin Laden"—took responsibility for the attacks. In July 2010, PresidentDmitry Medvedev expanded the FSB's powers in its fight against terrorism.
In 2011, Federal Security Service exposed 199 foreign spies, including 41 professional spies and 158 agents employed by foreign intelligence services.[51] The number has risen in recent years: in 2006 the FSB reportedly caught about 27 foreign intelligence officers and 89 foreign agents.[47] Comparing the number of exposed spies historically, the then-FSB DirectorNikolay Kovalyov said in 1996: "There has never been such a number ofspies arrested by us since the time when German agents were sent in during the years of World War II." The 2011 figure is similar to what was reported in 1995–1996, when around 400 foreign intelligence agents were uncovered during the two-year period.[citation needed]
Olympic organizers received several threats prior to the Games. In a July 2013 video release, Chechen Islamist commander Dokka Umarov called for attacks on the Games, stating that the Games were being staged "on the bones of many, many Muslims killed ...and buried on our lands extending to the Black Sea."[52] Threats were received from the groupVilayat Dagestan, which had claimed responsibility for theVolgograd bombings under the demands of Umarov, and a number of National Olympic Committees had also received threats via e-mail, threatening that terrorists would kidnap or "blow up" athletes during the Games.
In response to the insurgent threats, Russian special forces cracked down on suspected terrorist organizations, making several arrests and claiming to have curbed several plots,[53] and killed numerous Islamist leaders including Eldar Magatov, a suspect in attacks on Russian targets and alleged leader of an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan.[54] Dokka Umarov himself was poisoned on 6 August 2013, and died on 7 September 2013.[55]
Although crime has been markedly reduced and stability increased throughout Russia compared to the previous year, about 350 militants in the North Caucasus have been killed in anti-terror operations in the first four months of 2014, according to an announcement by Interior MinisterVladimir Kolokoltsev in theState Duma.[56]
On 23 September 2014, Russian news agencies marked the 15th anniversary of the formation of theUnified Group of Troops (OGV, orОГВ) in the North Caucasus. The OGV is the inter-service headquarters established atKhankala, Chechnya to command all Russian (MOD, MVD, FSB) operations from the start of the second Chechen war in 1999.
Since its inception, the OGV combined operations has conducted 40,000 special missions, destroyed 5,000 bases and caches, confiscated 30,000 weapons, and disarmed 80,000 explosive devices and in the process has killed over 10,000 insurgents in the time frame of 15 years. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) noted that the decorationHero of the Russian Federation has been awarded to 93 MVD servicemen in the OGV (including 66 posthumously). Overall, more than 23,000 MVD troops have received honors for their conduct during operations.[57]
Russian spetsnaz forces participated in the2014 Grozny clashes.[citation needed]
According to multiple Western sources and Ukraine, Spetsnaz unit of the VDV RF took part in theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. Several hundred members of the45th Detached Guards Spetsnaz Regiment and the 22nd Spetsnaz brigade were sent in, disguised as civilians.[58][59][60][61]
Russian Spetsnaz units have been used in theRussian invasion of Ukraine beginning in early 2022, they were initially tasked with going after high-ranking Ukrainian officials, including presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy in order to decapitate the Ukrainian command and control structure, with the objective being to foster chaos. Like other Russian plans during the start of the invasion, the Russian Spetsnaz failed to take out Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian leadership.[62]
The Russian military was not dissuaded by the failure, and continued to use spetsnaz in the conflict, particularly deploying them when conventional Russian forces faced significant resistance. This caused the heavy attrition rate suffered by the Russian forces to also reach the Russian Spetsnaz, according to a Pentagon leak in April 2023, all but one of five Spetsnaz brigades that had participated in the war had suffered significant losses by late summer 2022. According to the estimate, one of the separate Spetsnaz brigades in question had only ″125 personnel active out of 900 deployed.″ The casualties were expected to have increased following theUkrainian counteroffensive in September 2022 that liberated hundreds of square miles of territory in a few days, during this offensive, the GRU's Third Guards Spetsnaz Brigade, considered one of the most elite Russian units, was caught in the retreat and had to fight a defensive action in the town ofLyman. A report by the BBC assessed that the Spetsnaz unit lost up to 75% of its men during this action.[62][63][64]
The high amount of losses suffered in Ukraine are expected to leave a strategic capability gap, since special forces unlike conventional units cannot be ″mass-produced″, the leaked Pentagon documents estimated that it would take Russia up to ten years to reconstitute its special operations capability, and this estimate referred to outdated 2022 figures. Although there are no figures concerning Spetsnaz losses after the summer of 2022, the extremely heavy losses suffered by the entire Russian forces suggest that Spetsnaz units have continued to take significant losses in the invasion.[62][64]
"War on the Rocks" reports that various Russian special missions units have been openly supporting Syrian army units, and along with theRussian Aerospace Forces, have been invaluable in pushing back anti-government forces.[65]
At the peak of the deployment, there was a detachment of approximately 250GRU spetsnaz soldiers, probably drawn from several units, includingnaval spetsnaz from the 431st Naval Reconnaissance Point, while SOF operators from theKSSO, reportedly conducted mainly sniper/counter-sniper, sabotage and reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines.[66]
Russian military theoristColonelMikhail Svechnykov originally proposed the concept of using special tactics and strategies. Svechnykov (executed during theGreat Purge in 1938), envisaged the development ofunconventional warfare capabilities to overcome disadvantages faced by conventional forces in the field. In the 1930s the "grandfather of thespetsnaz",Ilya Starinov,[67]began the implementation of the idea.[68]
During World War II,Red Army reconnaissance and sabotage detachments formed under the supervision of the Second Department of theGeneral Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces. These forces were subordinate tofront commanders.[69] The infamousNKVD internal-security and espionage agency also had their own special purpose (osnaz) detachments, including many saboteur teams who were airdropped into enemy-occupied territories to work with (and often take over and lead) theSoviet Partisans.
In 1950Georgy Zhukov advocated the creation of 46 militaryspetsnaz companies, each consisting of 120 servicemen. This was the first use of"spetsnaz" to denote a separate military branch sinceWorld War II. These companies were later expanded to battalions and then to brigades. However, some separate companies (orSpN) and detachments (ooSpN) existed with brigades until thedissolution of the Soviet Union.
The special-purpose forces of the Armed Forces of theSoviet Union included fourteen land brigades, two naval brigades and a number of separate detachments and companies, operating under theMain Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and collectively known asSpetsnaz GRU. These units and formations existed in the highest possible secrecy, disguised asSoviet paratroopers (Army spetsnaz) ornaval infantrymen (Naval spetsnaz) by their uniforms and insignia.
Twenty-four years after the birth of spetsnaz, the Chairman of the KGB GeneralYuri Andropov (in that office from 1967 to 1982) established the first counter-terrorist unit. From the late 1970s through to the 1980s, a number of special-purpose units were founded in the KGB (1954–1991) and in theMinistry of Internal Affairs (MVD) (1946–1954).
Spetsgruppa 'A' (Alpha Group)counter-terrorist unit was created in 1974.
Spetsgruppa "V", abbreviation of the Directorate в (Russian Cyrillic for V), also known as "Vega" in period 1993–1995, was formed in 1981, merging two elite Cold War-era KGB special units—Cascade (Kaskad) and Zenith (Zenit)—which were similar to the CIA'sSpecial Activities Division (responsible for clandestine / covert operations involving sabotage and assassination in other countries) and re-designated for counter-terrorist and counter-sabotage operations.
These were special forces of theMVD Internal Troops.
During the 1990s special detachments were established within theFederal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) and theAirborne Troops (VDV). Some civil agencies with non-police functions have formed special units also known asspetsnaz, such as the Leader special centre in theMinistry of Emergency Situations (MChS).
In total, by December 1991, at the time of the collapse of the USSR, the GRU reconnaissance and sabotage formations had:
In Russia, in 2013 a Special Operations Forces Command was established for Special Operations Forces which had earlier been established from around 2009 following a study of Western special-operations forces units and commands. The Command was not under the control of the GRU but reported directly to the General Staff – as did the GRU.[70]
The 5th Spetsnaz Brigade is a special forces brigade of the Armed Forces of Belarus, formerly part of the Soviet spetsnaz.[71] In addition, theState Security Committee (KGB) of Belarus that was formed from the inherited personnel and operators after the break up of the Soviet Union. KGB of Belarus has its own Spetsgruppa "A" (Alpha Group), which is the country's primary counter-terrorism unit.[72]
As with many post Soviet states, Kazakhstan adopted the termAlpha Group to be used by its special forces. The Almaty territorial unit of Alpha was turned into the special unit Arystan (meaning "Lions" in Kazakh) of theNational Security Committee (KNB) of Kazakhstan.[73] In 2006, five members of Arystan were arrested and charged with the kidnapping of the opposition politicianAltynbek Sarsenbayuly, his driver, and his bodyguard; the three victims were then allegedly delivered to the people who murdered them.[74]
Kokhzal (meaning wolf pack in Kazakh language) is a special forces unit of Kazakhstan responsible for carrying out anti terror operations as well as serving as a protection detail for thePresident of Kazakhstan.[75]
The elite units of theArmed Forces of the Russian Federation are controlled, for the most part, by the military-intelligenceGRU (Spetsnaz GRU) under the General Staff. They were heavily involved in secret operations and training pro-Russian forces in the civil war in Chechnya during the 1990s and 2000s. In 2010, as a result of the2008 Russian military reform, GRU special forces came under the control of theRussian Ground Forces, being "directly subordinated to commanders of combined strategic commands."[76] However, in 2013, these spetsnaz forces were placed back under the GRU. TheRussian Airborne Troops (VDV, a separate branch of the Soviet and Russian Armed Forces) includes the45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade. In 2009, a Directorate of Special Operations was established that reported directly to the General Staff not the GRU to establish the Special Operations Forces which in 2013 became the Special Operations Forces Command.[70] Most Russian military special forces units are known by their type of formation (company, battalion or brigade) and a number, like other Soviet or Russian military units. Two exceptions were the ethnic ChechenSpecial BattalionsVostok andZapad (East and West) that existed during the 2000s. The "Structure" chapter contains the list of special purpose units of the Russian Armed Forces.[77][78]
The FSB Spetsnaz maintain a training base near the village of Averkyevo.[79] There is a "killing house" providing training similar to the SAS close to Moscow.
Russian special forces wear differentberets depending on the branch of the armed forces they belong to. These include:
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Following units belong to their specific military branches, but come under GRU operational control during wartime operations.
TheRussian Navy also fields dedicated maritime sabotage and counter-sabotage diver units. These units also includecombat swimmers, trained toconduct underwater combat,mining andclearance diving. The task is to protect ships and other fleet assets from enemy underwater special forces. The term "combat swimmers" is correct term in relation to the staff of the OSNB PDSS. Every PDSS unit has approximately 50–60 combat swimmers.[88] There are PDSS units in all major Naval Bases.[88]
The Centre of Special Operations of the FSB TsSN FSB,центр специального назначения ФСБ) is officially tasked with combating terrorism and protecting the constitutional order of the Russian Federation. The TsSN FSB consists of estimated 8,000 operators and personnel[89][90] in at least 7 operative divisions:
TsSN FSB headquarters is a large complex of buildings and training areas, with dozens of hectares of land and scores of training facilities. The average training period for a TsSN officer is about five years.[91]
Spetsgruppa 'A' (Alpha Group) is the premiercounter-terrorism unit of the FSB. Consisting of about 720 personnel, of which about 250–300 are trained for assault operations and the rest are support personnel.[92] These are dispersed in five operational detachments, including one permanent detachment in theChechen Republic. Other units are stationed inMoscow,Krasnodar,Yekaterinburg andKhabarovsk. All Alpha operators undergo airborne, mountain and counter-sabotage dive training. Alpha has operated in other countries, most notablyOperation Storm-333 on a mission to overthrow and kill Afghan presidentHafizullah Amin).[citation needed]
Spetsgruppa "V", abbreviation of the Directorate в (Russian Cyrillic for V), also known as "Vega" in period 1993–1995, was formed in 1981, continues the lineage of two eliteCold War-era KGB special units—Cascade (Kaskad) and Zenith (Zenit). Its modern function is the protection of strategic installations, such as factories and transportation centers. With its Alpha counterparts, it is heavily used in theNorth Caucasus. Vympel has four operative units in Moscow, with branch offices in nearly every city containing anuclear power plant.
Spetsgruppa "S", abbreviation of the Directorate C (Russian Cyrillic for S), also known as Smerch, but also known as the Special Operations Executive (SOE), is a relatively new unit formed in July 1999. Officers from Smerch are frequently involved with the capture and transfer of various bandit and criminal leaders who help aid disruption in the North Caucasus and throughout Russia. Operations include both direct action against bandit holdouts in Southern Russia as well as high-profile arrests in more densely populated cities and guarding government officials. Because of its initials, this group is casually referred to as "Smerch". With the Centre of Special Operations and its elite units, many FSB special forces units operate at the regional level. These detachments are usually known as ROSN or ROSO (Regional Department of Special Designation), such asSaint Petersburg'sGrad (Hail) orMurmansk'sKasatka (Orca).
TheSVR RF, formerly theFirst Chief Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, has its own top secret elite special force within the Operations Department of Directorate Z known asZaslon [ru] (Заслон) (meaning Screen, Barrier or Shield) about which extremely little is known. Formerly inPGU KGB SSSR calledVympel (e.g. French counterpart;Action Division).
However, mere existence of such group within SVR is denied by Russian authorities. Nevertheless, there were some rumors that such group does indeed exist and is assigned to execute very specific special operations abroad primarily for protection of Russian embassy personnel and internal investigations. It is believed that the group is deep undercover and consists of approximately 300–500 highly experienced operatives speaking several languages and having extensive record of operations while serving in other secret units of the Russian military.[93][94][95]
The Russian government established theNational Guard of Russia in 2016. The Guard's special forces (consolidating and replacing the forces of theMVD Internal Troops,SOBR, andOMON) includes a number ofRussian Internal Troops (VV,Russian:Внутренние войска (ВВ),romanized: Vnutrenniye voiska, successors to the SovietInternal Troops) paramilitary units to combat internal threats to the government, such as insurgencies and mutinies. These units usually have a unique name and an official OSN (previously known as OSNAZ (Russian:ОСНАЗ) or Отряд особого назначения (Otryad osobogo naznacheniya) meaning "special purpose unit") number, and some are part of theODON (also known as the Dzerzhinsky Division). OBrON (Independent Special Designation Brigade) VV special groups (spetsgruppa) were deployed to Chechnya.[96]
The following is a list ofNational Guard OSNs (отряды специального назначения, otryady spetsial'novo naznacheniya or "special purpose detachments") in 2012:[97]
Furthermore, the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR/Russia also had numerous naval detachments that conducted maritime operations.[98][99][100][101] These include:
These detachments today form theNational Guard Naval Service Corps and report to the National Guard HQ.
The vast majority of MVD special forces were transferred to the National Guard in 2016.
Previously, the MVD hadPolitsiya (police, formerlyMilitsiya) special forces stationed in nearly every Russian city. Most of Russia's special-police officers belong toOMON units, which are primarily used asriot police and not considered an elite force—unlike theSOBR (known as the OMSN from 2002 to 2011) rapid-response units consisting of experienced, better-trained and -equipped officers. The Chechen Republic has unique and highly autonomous special-police formations, supervised byRamzan Kadyrov (who has served asHead of the Chechen Republic since 2007) and formed from theKadyrovtsy, including the (Akhmad or Akhmat) Kadyrov Regiment ("Kadyrov'sspetsnaz").
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From 2003 until 2016 TheFederal Drug Control Service of Russia has operated the OSN "Grom", which became part of theFederal Police in April 2016, and now is subordinate to the MVD'sMain Directorate for Drugs Control.
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The RussianMinistry of Justice maintains several spetsnaz organizations:
The following is a list ofFederal Penitentiary Service OSNs:
Like many other post-Soviet states,Ukraine inherited its spetsnaz units from the remnants of the Soviet armed forces, GRU and KGB units. Ukraine now maintains its own spetsnaz structure under the control of the Ministry of Interior, and under the Ministry of Defence, while theSecurity Service of Ukraine maintains its own spetsnaz force, theAlpha group. The term "Alpha" is also used by many other post Soviet states such as Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan as these units are based on the Soviet Union's Alpha Group. Ukraine'sBerkut special police force gained mainstream attention during the 2014Revolution of Dignity as it was alleged to have been used by the government to quell the uprising. However, this is disputed as many officers were also wounded and killed in the action.[116]Current Ukrainian spetsnaz units with Soviet lineage:
The video game,Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege features five spetsnaz operators named Glaz, Fuze, Kapkan, Tachanka, and Finka. In another Tom Clancy game, Endwar, Spetsnaz Guard Brigades is the name of the élite branch of the Russian army.The spetsnaz have also been referenced and featured multiple times in the video game seriesCall of Duty, mainly in the Modern Warfare titles. Spetsnaz are also featured in multiple entries in theARMA series.
Two gangsters in theGuy Ritchie filmRocknRolla have a 'scar competition' in which they show healed wounds (and describe how they occurred) from injuries they incurred whilst on several spetsnaz operations.
Season 1, Episode 4 ofMacGyver (2016 TV series) focuses on stopping spetsnaz agents from activating a Cold War era bomb.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)After fighting in the civil war, Starinov joined the GRU. In the 1930s, he became one of the founders of GRU Spetsnaz forces, preparing Soviet soldiers and foreign communists to conduct operations behind invaders' lines.
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