Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces


Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Главного управления Генерального штаба Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации ), commonly known as the Spetsnaz G.U. or Spetsnaz GRU is the special forces of the G.U., the foreign military intelligence agency of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
The Spetsnaz GRU was formed in 1949, the first spetsnaz force in the Soviet Union, as the military force of the Main Intelligence Directorate, the foreign military intelligence agency of the Soviet Armed Forces. The force was designed in the context of the Cold War to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage against enemy targets in the form of special reconnaissance and direct action attacks. The Spetsnaz GRU inspired additional spetsnaz forces attached to other Soviet intelligence agencies, such as the Vympel and Alpha Group of the KGB.

Modus operandi

The concept of using special forces tactics and strategies in the Soviet Union was originally proposed by the military theorist Mikhail Svechnykov, who envisaged the development of unconventional warfare capabilities in order to overcome disadvantages that conventional forces may face in the field. Svechnykov was executed during the Great Purge in 1938, but practical implementation of his ideas was begun by Ilya Starinov, dubbed the "grandfather of the spetsnaz". Following the entrance of the Soviet Union into World War II, basic forces dedicated to acts of reconnaissance and sabotage were formed under the supervision of the Second Department of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces, and were subordinate to the commanders of Fronts.
The primary function of Spetsnaz troops in wartime was infiltration/insertion behind enemy lines, usually well before hostilities are scheduled to begin and, once in place, to commit acts of sabotage such as the destruction of vital communications logistics centers, and the possible assassination of key government leaders and military officers. Spetsnaz GRU operatives would have to complete training that included the following: weapons handling, fast rappelling, explosives training, marksmanship, counter-terrorism, airborne training, hand-to-hand combat, climbing, diving, underwater combat, long-range marksmanship, emergency medical training, and demolition.

History

Soviet era

The situation was reviewed after the war ended, and between 1947 and 1950 the whole of the Main Intelligence Directorate was reorganized. The first "independent reconnaissance companies of special purpose" were formed in 1949, to work for tank and combined-arms armies, which were tasked to eliminate amongst others enemy nuclear weapons systems such as the MGR-3 Little John and MGM-1 Matador. In 1957, the first Spetsnaz battalions were formed under the GRU, five to operate beyond the 150–200 km range of the reconnaissance companies. The first brigades were formed in 1962, reportedly to reach up to 750 kilometres in the rear to destroy U.S. weapons systems such as the MGM-52 Lance, MGM-29 Sergeant, and MGM-31 Pershing. Two 'study regiments' were established in the 1960s to train specialists and NCOs, the first in 1968 at Pechora near Pskov, and the second in 1970 at Chirchik near Tashkent. According to Vladimir Rezun, a GRU defector who used the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov", there were 20 GRU Spetsnaz brigades plus 41 separate companies at the time of his defection in 1978.

Known missions

The first major foreign operation of the unit came in 1968, when Moscow decided to crackdown on the Prague Spring and move the troops of Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia. The Spetsnaz GRU was tasked with capturing the Prague Airport. On the night of 21 August, a Soviet passenger plane requested an emergency landing at the Prague Airport, allegedly due to engine failure. After landing, the commandos, without firing a shot, seized the airport and took over air traffic control. At the same time, other Spetsnaz GRU units that had infiltrated into Prague a few days before the operation, seized control of other key city points.
In 1968 at the peak of the Vietnam War, nine GRU special forces operatives raided a secret US airbase in Cambodia in a bid to capture a brand new Super Cobra attack helicopter, equipped with the latest guidance systems and guided missiles at the time. As a result of the operation, one helicopter was stolen and taken to Vietnam which was eventually brought back to the Soviet Union. The rest were destroyed and 15 Americans soldiers were killed in the operation. According to the Soviets, the U.S. learnt about the attack on the base by Soviet special forces years later thanks to a KGB leak.
In 1979, the undercover Spetsnaz GRU unit codenamed "Muslim Battalion" participated in Operation Storm-333, the successful mission to kill Hafizullah Amin, the President of Afghanistan, and to capture Amin's residential palace which triggered the Soviet–Afghan War.

Russian Federation era

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the deactivation of the GRU in 1992, control of the special forces was transferred to the newly formed G.U. and were maintained to their respective assigned units as before.
Following the 2008 Russian military reform, a brand new Directorate of Special Operations was established in 2009 following studies of American and various Western special operations forces units and commands. The newly formed Special Operations Forces which is directly subordinated to the General Staff, bypassing the GRU. In 2013, the Directorate became the Special Operations Forces Command with a GRU unit transferring to the Command.
In 2010, Spetsnaz GRU units were reassigned and attached to the military districts of the Ground Forces and subordinated to the operational-strategic commands, due to Anatoliy Serdyukov's military reforms. This decision was reversed in 2013 and Spetsnaz GRU units were reassigned to GRU divisions and placed under GRU authority again. By early 2017 it was being reported that Serdyukov's reform had been almost entirely reversed to the pre-2010 status quo.

Known operations

Throughout the mid-1990s to 2000, Spetsnaz GRU were involved in both the First Chechen War and more prominently in the Second Chechen War and also the Invasion of Dagestan in August 1999. The special forces learned invaluable lessons from the first war and transformed into a better and more effective fighting force and were instrumental in Russia's and the Russian backed government's success in the second war.
In 2003, during the Second Chechen War, the GRU formed the Special Battalions Vostok and Zapad, two ethnic Chechen units that belonged to the Spetsnaz GRU which fought primarily in Chechnya, but also in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War as well as peacekeeping operations after the 2006 Lebanon War. The controversial battalions were eventually disbanded in November 2008.
GRU Spetsnaz maintains an airborne unit, the Separate Spetsnaz Airborne Reconnaissance Unit, which participated in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. The unit is housed at Matrosskaya Tishina 10 in Moscow.
After the Crimean crisis and the start of the rebel insurgency by pro-Russian rebels, Ukraine has on numerous occasions accused various Spetsnaz forces of aiding the rebels and even fighting on the ground in Eastern Ukraine. In December 2014, Ukrainian military claimed that the Spetsnaz GRU was involved in attacks on an airport in Donetsk which was later captured by DPR in the battle.
In late 2015, GRU special forces operators were reportedly involved in the Syrian Civil War, appearing in the government offensives of Aleppo and Homs. GRU officials have also visited Qamishli, near the border with Turkey.

Listing of brigades

Below is a list of current "Spetsnaz" units in the Russian Armed Forces that fall under GRU operational control during wartime operations:
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The navy also fields dedicated maritime sabotage and counter-sabotage diver units. These units also include combat swimmers, trained to conduct underwater combat, mining and clearance diving. The task is to protect ships and other fleet assets from enemy frogmen and 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. There are PDSS units in all major naval bases across Russia. The OMRP is composed of reconnaissance divers that fall under operational subordination to the Main Intelligence Directorate. There are four OMRPs in Russia serving each fleet: Northern Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet and Pacific Fleet, each consisting of 120–200 personnel.