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123-657: Spetsgruppa "A" , also known as Alpha Group (a popular English name), or Alfa , whose official name is Directorate "A" of the FSB Special Purpose Center (TsSN FSB) (Russian: Спецназ ФСБ "Альфа"), is a stand-alone sub-unit of Russia's special forces within the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) . It was created by the Soviet KGB in 1974. Although little is known about the exact nature of its primary directives, it

246-681: A 39-man Soviet Airborne company. In October 1985, specialist operators from the KGB's Group "A" ( Alpha ) were dispatched to Beirut , 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 the Muslim Brotherhood ). It was believed that this was retaliation for the Soviet support of Syrian involvement in

369-485: 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 codenamed Operation "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

492-689: 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 an F-111A escape capsule, which now sits in a Moscow Museum . Soviet Spetsnaz forces took part in the Soviet–Afghan War of 1979–1989 in Afghanistan, usually fighting fast insertion/extraction-type warfare with helicopters. Their most famous operation, Operation Storm-333 ,

615-520: A flat, dusty valley in the western part of the Afghan capital. Designed by French architects A. Godard and M. Godard, as well as German architects, it was one of the first buildings in the country to get central heating and running water. The Swedish memoir writer Rora Asim Khan , who lived in Afghanistan with her Afghan husband in 1926–27, describe in her memoirs how she was invited to the palace by Queen Soraya to describe Western lifestyle and customs to

738-461: A ground reconnaissance detachment. This unit, the 4th 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. The most prominent of these new recruits was Viktor Leonov , who joined the Soviet Navy in 1937. He was assigned to

861-686: A member of the Special Air Service (SAS) team which had liberated the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980, immediately called it one of the worst hostage rescue attempts he had seen or heard about. The Beslan siege turned out to be particularly bloody, costing the lives of more than 333 people, including 186 children (age 1 to 17), 111 relatives, guests and friends, 17 school staff members and 10 Alpha members. No ballistic tests were carried out, and prosecutors were not allowed to examine

984-602: A reconnaissance mission around a Soviet cruiser berthed at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1956. In November 2007 the BBC and the Daily Mirror reported that Eduard Koltsov, a former Soviet frogman , claimed to have caught Crabb placing a mine on the Ordzhonikidze 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 an Order of

1107-578: A rising number of hostage taking situations, including at least two cases which involved buildings being taken over and hostages taken by violent groups of deserters from the Soviet Army , as well as other armed organizations. Notably, the 1983 hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833 in Tbilisi , Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic , was thwarted when Alpha stormed the airplane, killing three and capturing three other hijackers who were attempting to escape to

1230-681: A series of federal government reforms consolidating power in the Kremlin and strengthening of the powers of the President of Russia . The crisis began when a group of armed radical Islamist combatants, mostly Ingush and Chechen, occupied School Number One (SNO) in the town of Beslan , North Ossetia (an autonomous republic in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation ) on 1 September 2004. The hostage-takers were

1353-481: 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, including Aslambek 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 mass sieges which saw people taken in the thousands also involved FSB's Alpha Group and

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1476-882: A submarine training detachment and then transferred to a repair station in the Northern Fleet at Polyarnyy . Leonov had trained as a scuba 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 of Hero of the Soviet Union . Initially the unit was confined to performing small scale reconnaissance missions, platoon sized insertions by sea and on occasion on land into Finland and later Norway. They began conducting sabotage missions and raids to snatch prisoners for interrogation. They would also destroy German ammunition and supply depots, communication centers, and harass enemy troop concentrations along

1599-539: A suspect in attacks on Russian targets and alleged leader of an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan. Dokka Umarov himself was poisoned on 6 August 2013, and died on 7 September 2013. Darul Aman Palace The 150-room Darul Aman Palace was originally built in the 1920s, during the reign of Amanullah Khan . He reigned as Emir of Afghanistan between February 1919 and June 1926, and as King of Afghanistan between June 1926 and January 1929. The palace

1722-540: A terrible human cost. Shortly after their assessment was made, Gen. Karpukhin and Vympel 's Boris Beskov convinced the KGB Deputy chairman, Gennady Ageyev, that such a massive undertaking should be cancelled. As of 2018, nine officers of Alpha have been awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation : Alpha Group was severely downgraded during the dissolution and collapse of the Soviet Union . After

1845-747: A unique skill set. In 1979, the Alpha Group shot a young Soviet Ukrainian, named Yuri Vlasenko, who was occupying a room in the Consular Section of the Embassy of the United States in Moscow , demanding he be granted asylum in the United States. He was either killed by gunfire, or by the detonation of his home-made bomb, which also slightly damaged the building. Throughout the 1980s, Alpha became increasingly deployed domestically to respond to

1968-487: A variety of Soviet special operations ( spetsoperatsiya ) units. In addition, many Cheka and Internal Troops units (such as OMSDON and ODON ) also included osobovo naznacheniya in their full names. Regular forces assigned to special tasks were sometimes also referred to by terms such as Spetsnaz and osnaz . Spetsnaz later referred specifically to special ( spetsialnogo ) purpose ( naznacheniya ) or special operations (spetsoperatsiya; spec ops ) forces, and

2091-682: Is a branch of the Security Service of Ukraine ; and a successor of the Soviet Union 's Alpha Group. It has continued to be informally called "Alpha". Georgia established its own Alpha unit in 1992. It was created as one of the three special forces units belonging to the Ministry of State Security, the other two being named Delta and Omega. In 1995, members of Alpha and the Minister of State Security, Igor Giorgadze , were blamed for

2214-771: Is believed that during the war in Afghanistan, Soviet special forces came in direct conflict with Pakistan Army 's special forces, the Special Service Group . This unit was deployed disguised as Afghans, supporting the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets. A battle reported as having been fought between the Pakistanis and Soviet troops took place in Kunar Province in March 1986. According to Soviet sources,

2337-566: Is speculated that the unit is authorised to act under the direct control and sanction of Russia's top political leadership, similar to its sister unit, the Directorate "V" ( Vympel ), which is officially tasked with protecting Russia's strategic installations, as well as conducting black operations inside and outside Russia. It is also available for extended police duties, for paramilitary operations, and for covert operations , both domestically and internationally. On 28 July 1974, Alpha Group

2460-599: The Alpha Group and Zenith Group . The Soviet forces occupied major governmental, military and media buildings in Kabul , including their primary target – the Tajbeg 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 the 40th Army . Aside from reconnaissance,

2583-728: The Kronstadt rebellion 1921, setting up machine guns behind units of the Red Army, to "increase their motivation". The GRU and NKVD descended from the Cheka . Since 1927 Russians were experimenting with parachutes. Airborne units were used against central Asian and Afghan insurgents. GRU and NKVD derived from the Cheka and participated in the Spanish Civil War fighting fascists behind their lines using guerilla strategies. Fighting Germany, Japan, Poland and Finland in

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2706-597: The Lebanese Civil War . However, by the time the Alpha group arrived, one of the hostages had already been killed. In a tit-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

2829-558: The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic made public their intent to secede from the Soviet Union and re-establish the independent Republic of Lithuania . As a result of this pronouncement, on 9 January 1991, the Soviet leadership dispatched Alpha Group to quell the independence movement and maintain Lithuania's status as a Soviet republic . This attempt to re-establish Soviet dominance culminated in

2952-651: The Main 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 the now-defunct Soviet security agencies . As spetsnaz is a Russian term, it is typically associated with the special units of Russia, but other post-Soviet states often refer to their special forces units by

3075-566: The Moscow theatre hostage crisis and the Beslan school hostage crisis . The crisis took place from 14 to 19 June 1995, when a group of 80 to 200 Chechen terrorists led by Shamil Basayev attacked the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk , where they stormed the main police station and the city hall. After several hours of fighting and Russian reinforcements imminent, the Chechens retreated to

3198-450: The Muslim Brotherhood ). It was believed that this was retaliation for the Soviet support of Syrian involvement in the Lebanese Civil War . However, by the time Alpha arrived, one of the hostages had already been killed. Through a network of supporting KGB operatives, members of the task-force identified each of the perpetrators involved in the crisis, and once identified, began to take the relatives of these militants as hostages. Following

3321-599: The Riyadus-Salikhin Battalion , sent by the Chechen terrorist warlord Shamil Basayev, who demanded recognition of the independence of Chechnya at the United 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

3444-615: The Russian Revolution of 1917. Also, during World War I, General Aleksei Brusilov became one of the first senior commanders to use the tactics of fast action shock troops for assaults following concentrated accurate artillery fire in what would later be known as the Brusilov Offensive of 1916. Such tactics, considered revolutionary at the time, would later inspire people like Prussian Captain Willy Rohr in

3567-621: The Russian White House , along with several Supreme Soviet deputies who had been taken hostage. Yeltsin ordered Russian troops to storm the building, including elements of the paratroopers, the Alpha and Vympel Groups, Russian ground forces, and the Internal Troops 's special forces unit, Vityaz . However, the Alpha troops initially refused to attack the White House, reportedly bringing their commander, Gen. Zaitsev, to

3690-527: The Second Kyrgyz Revolution . Criminal cases were brought to the court under the articles: 97 (murder), and 305 part 2 (exceeding the limits of authority). As a 'Tier 1' force, Alpha Group operators have access to a wide array of small arms. Spetsnaz Spetsnaz ( Russian : Спецназ ) are special forces in many post-Soviet states . Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union's Spetsnaz GRU , special operations units of

3813-532: The Second World War , new units of storm pioneers, parachuters, NKVD and GRU were set up. Thereby the soviets merged existing experiences and started to unify different military branches . The Soviet leadership had an urgent need for intelligence on German land forces in northern Norway and Finland . On 5 July 1941 Admiral Arseniy Golovko of the Northern Fleet authorized the formation of

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3936-741: The Spetsnaz GRU in attempted rescuing of the hostages. Russian special forces were instrumental in Russia's and the Kremlin backed government's success in the Second Chechen War after learning lessons from the mishandling of the first war . Under joint command of Unified Group of Troops (OGV) formed on 23 September 1999. GRU, FSB and MVD spetsnaz operators conducted a myriad of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, including targeted killings of separatist leadership, in

4059-576: The Vietnam War . Within South Vietnam , rumors persisted for years that men with blue eyes were reportedly spotted doing recon missions and testing their new SVD 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

4182-567: The Volgograd 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, and killed numerous Islamist leaders including Eldar Magatov,

4305-739: The White House , Russia's acting parliament, after paratroopers secured the entrance, to eliminate the President of the Russian SFSR , Boris Yeltsin , and various other anti-coup leaders assembled there. In addition to Alpha Group, Gen. Karpukhin was also given authority of Vega Group (Vympel) , elements of the Soviet Airborne, Internal Troops , special units of the Dzerzhinsky Division ( OMSDON ), mobilised units of

4428-512: The legislative election of 1995 (Goncharov later became a State Duma deputy). Gen. Karpukhin, who resigned from the service following the 1991 coup attempt, became chief of security to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev , after which he worked with private security companies in Moscow, and ran unsuccessfully for the Duma as a member of the Union of Patriots in 1995. In October 1995, Alpha killed

4551-759: The "Chechenization" policy that began in 2003, Alpha members (along with the other Russian personnel and pro-Moscow Chechen militia) participated in at least 10 mixed "combined special groups" ( svodnye spetsialnye gruppy , SSGs), considered death squads by human rights groups and outside observers. It is believed that the SSGs were behind many of the numerous "name/address cleansings" ( imeny/adressny zachistki ): usually night-time raids by masked men in unmarked vehicles, targeting specific active or former rebel combatants, their supporters, their relatives, or other civilians for either forced disappearance or outright extrajudicial killing . In 2005, Human Rights Watch declared that

4674-474: The 22nd Independent Brigade of Spetsnaz GRU , Alpha Group still suffered casualties at Pervomayskoye. These included a friendly fire incident which occurred after fighting had ended, when a regular soldier accidentally fired his vehicle's Grom gun, killing two Alpha members. When the Alpha Group was deployed, they were sent in without winter clothing and quartered in unheated buses. One of the unit's commanders claimed they were "set up", saying: "The first day it

4797-983: 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: 15th Special Purpose Brigade – paired up and supported by 239th Helicopter Squadron equipped with Mi-24 (16 units), Mi-8 (16 units), deployment in Ghazni . 22nd Special Purpose Brigade – paired up and supported by 205th Helicopter Squadron equipped with Mi-24 (16 units) Mi-8 (16 units) deployed in Lashkar Gah . The Spetsnaz often conducted missions to ambush and destroy enemy supply convoys. The Mujahideen had great respect for

4920-735: The Alpha Group had a leading role, Yeltsin fired the first Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) , Sergei Stepashin . Two months later, Alpha and Vityaz were both transferred from the MVD to the FSB. Simultaneously, Mikhail Barsukov became the new head of the organization, and created the FSB Anti-Terrorist Center (ATC), headed by Gen. Viktor Zorkin. Directorate "A" (Alpha) was tasked with protecting transportation and buildings while Directorate "V" (Vega/Vympel)

5043-460: The Chechen dossier between 1996 and 1999." Alpha was active during the Second Chechen War that began in 1999, as well as the subsequent Insurgency in the North Caucasus . During the 2000 Battle of Komsomolskoye , Alpha snipers attached to Vladimir Shamanov 's Western Group of federal forces, were deployed in an attempt to suppress Ruslan Gelayev 's snipers in the village. According to the unit's veterans, operations in which Alpha took part led to

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5166-549: 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). This includes at least 105 hostage fatalities. However, according to an independent estimate 166 hostages were killed and 541 injured in the special forces attack on the hospital. At least 11 Russian police officers and 14 soldiers were killed. Basayev's force suffered 11 men killed and one missing; most of their bodies were returned to Chechnya in

5289-424: The FSB headquarters. Militant leader Doku Umarov —dubbed "Russia's Osama bin Laden "—took responsibility for the attacks. In July 2010, President Dmitry 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. The number has risen in recent years: in 2006

5412-467: The FSB reportedly caught about 27 foreign intelligence officers and 89 foreign agents. Comparing the number of exposed spies historically, the then-FSB Director Nikolay Kovalyov said in 1996: "There has never been such a number of spies 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

5535-828: The Finnish and Russian coasts. 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 at Port 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. Each Soviet front/army up to 1942 had their own independent guard-battalion ( Otdelnly Gwardieskij Batalion Minerow), OGBM, so called miners, for reconnaissance and commando missions. The soldiers had to be younger than 30, were mostly athletes or hunters 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

5658-424: The KGB's Department 8. It was Boyarinov who ordered that all Afghan witnesses of the operation be killed, and he was accidentally shot dead by Alpha troops when he was mistaken for a palace guard. According to Russian sources, the members of this highly trained group performed remarkably well, losing only two men; the lightest casualties of any of the forces involved in the raid. However, the success of Storm-333 , and

5781-605: The Moscow OMON, three tank companies, and a squadron of helicopters. On-site analysis of the area was conducted by Airborne deputy commander Alexander Lebed , and other senior officers who mingled with the crowds of anti-coup protesters nearest to the White House. There was a general consensus among the military officials who gathered that day, as evidenced by their statements months after the botched coup attempt, that had they followed through on their endeavour it would have succeeded. The stated mission objectives could have been reached in no more than half-an-hour, but it would have come at

5904-441: The Moscow siege, significant losses among the unit's personnel. At Budyonnovsk (Budennovsk) in Stavropol Krai , two abortive storming attempts by Alpha and Vympel killed scores of hostages in a major public relations disaster for the Russian government, as the carnage was televised live across the country. In the first, a pre-dawn raid, only 86 out of more than 1,500 hostages were freed, but more than 30 hostages were killed before

6027-411: The Mujahideen left the palace a gutted ruin, including the garage containing the vehicles of the former King which were removed and used as target practice, all ultimately being destroyed. It was mostly used as a refugee settlement and a nomad camp until the early 2000s, when it became a battalion headquarters for the Afghan National Army . In 2005, a plan was unveiled to refurbish the palace for use as

6150-422: The Queen and the King's mother Intended as the seat of a future parliament, the building remained unused and partially complete for many years after religious conservatives under Habibullah Kalakani forced King Amanullah from power in 1929, and halted his reforms. In later years it served as the medical school for Kabul University , as well a warehouse, and the seat of several smaller ministries. The building

6273-443: The Red Star medal that Koltsov claimed to have been awarded for the deed. Koltsov, 74 at the time of the interview, stated that he wanted to clear his conscience and uncover what exactly had happened to Crabb. 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

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6396-400: The Russian heartland, and were made up of the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis in June 1995, the Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis in January 1996, the Moscow theatre hostage crisis in October 2002, and the Beslan school hostage crisis in September 2004. Each of these high-profile incidents resulted in hundreds of fatalities and injuries among the hostages and, with the exception of

6519-466: The Soviet Embassy, were able to quickly secure important government institutions throughout Kabul . Those institutions included: the Ministry of the Interior; the headquarters of the KHAD security service; the Ministry of Defense ( Darul Aman Palace ); and the Tajbeg Palace , in which, during a 34-minute storming, they successfully assassinated President Hafizullah Amin , along with his mistress and his young son (the orders were to kill every Afghan in

6642-411: The Spetsnaz, seeing them as a much more difficult opponent than the typical Soviet conscript soldier. They said that the Spetsnaz-led air assault operations had changed the complexion of the war. They also credited the Spetsnaz with closing down all the supply routes along the Afghan-Pakistani border in 1986. In April 1986, the rebels lost one of their biggest bases, at Zhawar in Paktia Province , to

6765-405: The armed man who hijacked a bus carrying South Korean tourists in Moscow. He had demanded $ 1 million and to be flown out of the country. In December 1997, Alpha freed the Swedish trade counsellor Jan-Olof Nyström who was kidnapped in Moscow by a gunman similarly demanding a ransom and a flight out of Russia. The hostage was swapped for Alpha's Colonel Anatoly Saveliev (Savelyev), and the hostage-taker

6888-402: The arrest of Chechen commander Salman Raduyev in 2000, the killing of Chechen commander Arbi Barayev in 2001, the killing of Chechen separatist President Aslan Maskhadov in 2005, and the killing of foreign militant leader Abu Hafs in Dagestan in 2006. Following the transfer of responsibility for operations in Chechnya from the Ministry of Defence to the FSB in January 2001, and prior to

7011-435: The assault group: Colonel Oleg Ilyin, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Razumovsky of Vega, and Major Alexander Perov of Alpha. At least 30 commandos suffered serious wounds. 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 analyst Vitaly Shlykov praised the effectiveness of Russia's security agencies, saying that

7134-454: The attack leading to doctors in local hospitals being unable to respond adequately to the influx of casualties. 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. The use of the gas was widely condemned as heavy-handed. Physicians in Moscow condemned the refusal to disclose the identity of the gas that prevented them from saving more lives. Some reports said

7257-402: 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. Fighting is also alleged to have taken place during Operation Magistral where over 200 Mujahideen were killed in a failed attempt to capture the strategic Hill 3234 near the Pakistani border from

7380-429: The brink of suicide over the open insubordination of his troops in the face of a presidential order. When one of the Alpha troops, Lt. Sergeyev, who was near the White House, was mortally wounded by sniper fire from the nearby Hotel Ukraina , the unit finally agreed to move. Opposition gunmen were blamed for the shooting, but it is possible that the shots were actually fired by members of a special unit loyal to Yeltsin; it

7503-406: The building). The assault on Tajbeg Palace was given the name Operation Storm-333 and involved a combined force of Soviet Airborne paratroopers (VDV) , and special forces groups from the GRU and the KGB, including 24 men from the "Thunder" detachment of Alpha Group. The Alpha detachment were dressed in Afghan uniforms and headed by Grigoriy Boyarinov, commandant of the special operations school of

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7626-432: The ceiling and caused casualties in excess of 80% of the auditorium's occupants. After a two-and-a-half-day siege and the execution of two hostages, spetsnaz operators from the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alpha and Vympel a.k.a. Vega Groups , supported by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) SOBR unit, pumped an undisclosed chemical agent into the building's ventilation system and raided it. During

7749-446: The cost of 70 of its defenders' lives in some of the fiercest fighting during the last battle. Allegations arose, following the Khasavyurt Accord of August 1996, that the ATC carried out clandestine operations intended to discredit the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria , so that it would not receive international recognition of its independence. According to Jonathan Littell , the service "... was most likely deeply involved ..." in many of

7872-447: The crimes performed in 1991 in Vilnius and Riga have no limitation ..." ("Riga" referring to a similar crackdown in January 1991, when six Latvian policemen and civilians were killed by Soviet OMON and KGB forces, possibly including Alpha Group members). During the events of the Soviet coup attempt in August 1991, Alpha Group's commanding officer, Gen. Karpukhin, was commanded by KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov to forcibly enter

7995-465: The development of the Prussian Stormtroopers (founded in 1915). The origins of the Spetsnaz can be found in the Russian Civil War . To act against anti-Communist workers and farmers, the Soviet regime set up so called Tschasti Osobogo Nasatschenia (Units for special use) in 1918. In the next year they were expanded to the so-called Cheka (The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission), fighting counterrevolution and (alleged) sabotage. They took part in

8118-565: The disappearances had reached the scale of a crime against humanity , and that "Russia has the inglorious distinction of being a world leader in enforced disappearances." Chechnya's UFSB also formed a local Alpha unit, believed to be similar in its role to the SSGs. The group was instrumental in the Russian government's attempts to forcibly bring an end to a series of mass hostage crisis incidents, in which groups of Chechen and other separatist militants took hostages. These events took place in Russia's southern territories near Chechnya as well as in

8241-455: The drug naloxone was used to save some hostages. Also referred to as the Beslan massacre started on 1 September 2004, lasted three days and involved the capture of over 1,100 people as hostages (including 777 children), 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 in Ingush – Ossetian ethnic hostility, while contributing to

8364-421: The end of the Second World War the Soviet 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 the Soviet forces in East Germany in Fürstenberg / Havel . Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Crabb was a British Royal Navy frogman and MI6 diver who vanished during

8487-458: The experience learned in Chechnya and Dagestan had been key to the success. In 2008, the American Carnegie 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. By 2010, Russian special forces, led by the FSB, had managed to eliminate the top leadership of the Chechen insurgency, except for Dokka Umarov . From 2009,

8610-458: The failed bombing attempt on the life of President Eduard Shevardnadze . After that, Giorgadze fled to Moscow, and Georgia's Alpha was purged and reorganised. A special unit named "Alfa" Special Operations Executive (ASOE) was established within the State Committee on National Security (GKNB) of Kyrgyzstan . In 2010, eight members of ASOE, including five snipers and the unit's commander, were charged with shooting and killing unarmed people during

8733-428: The fall of the USSR, both Alpha and Vympel were transferred to the newly formed Main Guard Directorate (GUO) , which was established on the basis of the KGB's Ninth Chief Directorate . In 1993, they were taken from GUO control, and for a time being put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) . As part of the government shakeup following the June 1995 Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis in which

8856-643: The government, but were launched by troops acting without orders. At Pervomayskoye, a small settlement on the outskirt of Kizlyar in Dagestan, in an operation that was conducted under the direct control of Barsukov, Alpha Group was mostly held in reserve during multiple failed storming attempts spearheaded by Vityaz and the SOBR (a special forces unit of the Moscow police ), supported by tanks and armoured vehicles. Further attacks were conducted with heavy artillery, including Grad launchers firing salvos of rockets into

8979-528: The high-profile kidnappings which damaged Chechnya's reputation. Littell wrote: "It is impossible to say whether these provocations were part of a more general FSB policy or whether the [ATC] and its departments were running their own show; certainly it did not reflect the official policy of the government, nor of those officials like Ivan Rybkin , the Secretary of the Security Council , tasked with

9102-605: The highly questionable, have captivated the imagination of Russians. A number of books about the Soviet military special forces, such as 1987's Spetsnaz: The Story Behind the Soviet SAS by defected GRU agent Viktor Suvorov , helped introduce the term to the Western public. The Imperial Russian Army had hunter-commando units, formed by a decree of Emperor Alexander III in 1886, which saw action in World War I prior to

9225-476: 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

9348-576: The information provided by Lithuania was "too vague". In response, the Lithuanian parliament discussed breaking diplomatic ties with Austria in protest. A joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of all three Baltic States condemned Golovatov's release, and said that it should have been one of "... the occasions when suspects are detained and extradited, particularly when they are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity ..." as "...

9471-459: The initial invasion, marked the beginning of the ten-year Soviet–Afghan War , and subsequently, Alpha Group's extensive involvement throughout the conflict. Six years later, in October 1985, Alpha Group was dispatched to war-torn Beirut , Lebanon. The Kremlin was informed of the kidnapping of four Soviet diplomats by the militant group, the Islamic Liberation Organization (a radical offshoot of

9594-695: The kidnappers. 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. After the collapse of the USSR, spetsnaz forces of the Soviet Union's newly formed republics took part in many local conflicts such as the Tajikistani Civil War , Chechen Wars , Russo-Georgian War and the Russo-Ukrainian War . Spetsnaz forces also have been called upon to resolve several high-profile hostage situations such as

9717-425: 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. In March 2010, Islamist militants organised the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings , which killed 40 people. One of the two blasts took place at Lubyanka station, near

9840-539: The local school was taken over by Chechen-led militants from Ingushetia , and was subsequently raided by the heavily armed FSB special forces of Alpha and Vympel. The operation was overseen by the head of the Special Purpose Center, Gen. Alexander Tikhonov, who forbade extinguishing the fire in the school, while the actual attack was personally led by Gen. Pronichev, and supported by tanks, armoured personnel carriers and attack helicopters. John McAleese ,

9963-604: The meantime inflicting heavy casualties among Islamist separatists. Some of these successful missions were directed against separatist leaders such as Aslan 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

10086-634: The mujahedin war effort, with Spetsnaz units intercepting 990 supply caravans and killing 17,000 insurgents. For their role in Operation Curtain , the Spetsnaz suffered a total of 570 killed with a further 11 missing. Casualty breakdown by unit was: In May 1986, the Spetsnaz also succeeded in inserting air-assault forces into remote regions in Konar Valley near Barikot which were previously considered inaccessible to Soviet forces. It

10209-498: The project, of which 25 percent were female. By July 2019, most of the major reconstruction work on the palace was completed. On 18 April 2020, an opening ceremony was held as the palace was used as a temporary COVID-19 isolation and treatment center with 200 beds during the COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan . The palace is a U-shaped brick building, built in a European neoclassical style . It has 3 floors with 150 rooms, including

10332-411: 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

10455-417: The rescuers were forced to retreat after four hours of fighting, which also resulted in the deaths of several men on both sides. After that, the leader of the hostage-takers, Chechen commander Shamil Basayev , agreed to release pregnant and nursing women, and to allow emergency services to put out a fire in the main building and to collect and remove dead bodies. The assault was then resumed at noon and included

10578-486: 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). After three days of siege, the Russian authorities ordered the security forces to retake the hospital compound. The forces deployed were elite personnel from the Federal Security Service 's Alpha Group, alongside MVD militsiya and Internal Troops. The strike force attacked

10701-405: The seat of Afghanistan's future parliament. It was to be funded primarily by private donations from foreigners and wealthy Afghans. In April 2012, a number of government compounds around the palace were targeted for attacks by Taliban-led insurgent groups. Eventually it was decided to develop a new building opposite the palace to house the parliament under a grant, provided by India. Construction

10824-556: The siege for their physical and emotional suffering, and to prosecute the officials who committed the human rights violations, ruling that the authorities had failed to minimise the risks to the hostages. Russia failed to uphold the ECHR ruling, paying the compensation to victims but not launching an investigation into the violations. Another controversy was the use of tank cannons, portable flamethrowers, and other weapons such as grenade launchers in Beslan , North Ossetia. On 3 September 2004,

10947-545: The special forces' weapons to determine who exactly killed the hostages. In 2007, 447 survivors and relatives of victims of the Beslan massacre brought a complaint against the Russian government in seven applications to the ECHR. The Minsk territorial unit of Alpha continues to exist within the State Security Committee (KGB) of Belarus, known simply as "Alfa" («Альфа»). The Almaty territorial unit of Alpha

11070-521: The standard Soviet policy of no negotiations with terrorists , one of the hostages taken by Alpha Group had his testicles removed and sent to the militants before being killed. The warning was clear: more would follow unless the remaining hostages were released immediately. The show of force worked; and, for a period of 20 years, no Soviet or Russian officials were taken captive, until the 2006 abduction and murder of four Russian embassy staff in Iraq. However,

11193-525: The surviving hostages in another major humiliation for the Kremlin. 26 out of the 150 hostages lost their lives (most of the original 2,000 hostages had been released in Kizlyar), and in all the incident resulted more than 300 fatalities, mostly among the Russian forces. Although they avoided the kind of devastating losses that decimated the Moscow SOBR (including the death of their commanding officer) and

11316-606: The term as well, since these nations also inherited their special purpose units from the now-defunct Soviet security agencies. The Russian abbreviations spetsnaz and osnaz are syllabic abbreviations of Soviet era Russian, for spetsialnogo naznacheniya and osobogo naznacheniya , both of which may be interpreted as "special purpose". As syllabic acronyms they are not normally capitalized . In Ukrainian they are known as spetspryz ( спецприз ), an abbreviation of viiska spetsiialnoho pryznachennia ( війська спеціяльного призначення ). They are general terms that were used for

11439-399: The territorial Alpha unit from Krasnodar Krai) took part in a defence of the FSB headquarters. The separatist forces began to systematically retake individual buildings which were being defended by cut-off groups of Russian military and security forces. By the war's final ceasefire, the main FSB office was one of the few key structures still being held by federal forces in central Grozny, but at

11562-458: The threat that their relatives were next. The remaining hostages were released immediately. Russian sources indicate that the release of the Soviet hostages was the result of extensive diplomatic negotiations with the spiritual leader of Hezbollah , Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah , who appealed to King Hussein of Jordan and the leaders of Libya and Iran to use their influence on

11685-526: The time, other, more offensive special forces of the KGB included the groups Zenit and Kaskad/Omega. Another important mission for Alpha was to provide security for the Soviet leadership against enemy special forces in times of crisis or war. Later, territorial Alpha units were established across the Soviet Union: Initially, this special-purpose counter-terrorism unit was involved in delicate operations which necessitated its members have

11808-542: The title Hero of the Russian Federation . At least 106 FSB and GRU operators died during the conflict. The crisis was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theatre on 23 October 2002 by 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya . They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War . The siege

11931-486: The title Hero of the Soviet Union : Gen. Viktor Karpukhin and Gen. Gennady Zaitsev. Soon, Alpha was assigned missions far exceeding its formal scope. On 27 December 1979, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev launched a surprise armed intervention and regime change operation in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan . Soviet forces, including KGB commandos who had infiltrated the country on a pretense to guard

12054-420: The total victory of Yeltsin's faction. In the end, Rutskoy and the other leaders of anti-Yeltsin faction, including Ruslan Khasbulatov , Vladislav Achalov and Viktor Barannikov , all negotiated their surrender to the Alpha troops, who had entered the shelled and burning building after the shooting stopped, and brought them, along with the detained Supreme Soviet deputies, to Lefortovo Prison . The Alpha Group

12177-453: 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, local partisans . Immediately before the major Russian offensive at Smolesk in 1943, 316 OGBM 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. By

12300-484: The two-year period. 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." Threats were received from the group Vilayat Dagestan , which had claimed responsibility for

12423-528: The use of tear gas ; it stopped after over an hour later when Basayev agreed to release the remaining women and children. The overall death toll of more than 120 people included three Alpha members. In the end, the crisis was resolved through negotiations that led to an agreement involving a ceasefire in Chechnya and high-level peace talks, both of which later broke down, with full-scale hostilities resuming in October 1995. Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin claimed that both attacks had not been authorised by

12546-657: The use of an unknown chemical agent to assist Alpha Group and the SOBR break the October 2002 Moscow hostage crisis , by knocking out the people inside the building. The FSB chemical attack resulted in the deaths of at least 129 hostages and serious damage to the health of many others, yet was hailed by the group's officers as their "... first successful operation for years". In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Russia to pay compensation to 64 survivors of

12669-487: The veracity of this story has been brought into question. Another version says that the release of the Soviet hostages was the result of extensive diplomatic negotiations with the spiritual leader of Hezbollah , Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah , who appealed to King Hussein of Jordan , and the leaders of Libya and Iran, to use their influence on the kidnappers. On 11 March 1990, the Supreme Council of

12792-422: The village, and helicopter gunship support. According to statements made to justify the use of unlimited force, the FSB had been informed, falsely, that the hostages had been executed by their captors, prior to the commencement of military operations. This full-scale offensive continued for three days, until the Chechen militants fought their way through the siege lines in a night-time break-out, escaping with many of

12915-592: The violent seizure of the Vilnius TV Tower on 13 January 1991 , during which the Soviet forces killed 13 unarmed Lithuanian protesters, as well as one Alpha operative (Lt. Viktor Shatskikh, who was apparently struck in the back by friendly fire ). In 2011, the former commander of Alpha Group, retired KGB Col. Mikhail Golovatov , was detained at Vienna International Airport on a European Arrest Warrant due to this incident, issued by Lithuania, but Austrian authorities released him within 24 hours, claiming that

13038-442: The west, which also resulted in the loss of five hostages. The unit also became involved in the ethnic conflicts throughout the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Alpha was also used as the "spearhead" of KGB counterintelligence operations, interdicting hostile intelligence operations on Soviet territory and seizing enemy spies such as CIA agent Adolf Tolkachev in 1985. Two commanding officers of Group "A" were awarded

13161-411: 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 the glasnost ("openness") policy of Mikhail Gorbachev during the late 1980s. Since then, stories about spetsnaz and their purportedly incredible prowess, from the serious to

13284-400: Was 15 below and we were standing in the fields with no warm clothes. There were no sleeping bags, no water, no food. The hostages were being destroyed, the rebels were being destroyed and we were being destroyed there. That's what happened." Several highly controversial actions made the force susceptible to criticism revolving around the loss of life among the hostages. One of these actions was

13407-490: Was completed in 2015. In the Spring of 2016, work began on a 16 to 20 million dollar restoration project, intended to renovate the palace in time for the centenary of Afghanistan's full independence in 1919. Nearly 600 tons of debris was initially removed from the 150-room building and by the spring of 2017, workers were taking down plaster and concrete from the inner walls. Over 80 engineers and architects were involved in

13530-798: Was created on the orders of the KGB Chairman, Yuri Andropov , in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich massacre . It might have been established as a response to West Germany 's creation of the Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (or the GSG 9 ). By attaching a special-purpose unit to the office of the First Chief Directorate in Moscow (later the Seventh Directorate), it was hoped that the Soviet Union's defensive capacity against terrorist attacks would increase significantly. At

13653-415: Was executed on 27 December 1979 which saw Soviet special forces storming the Tajbeg Palace in Afghanistan and killing Afghan President Hafizullah Amin , his son and over 300 of his personal guards in 40 minutes. The Soviets then installed Babrak Karmal as Amin's successor. The operation involved approximately 660 Soviet operators dressed in Afghan uniforms, including ca. 50 KGB and GRU officers from

13776-575: Was gutted by fire on 14 December 1968, and was afterwards restored to house the Ministry of Defence during the 1970s and 1980s. In the Communist coup of 1978 , the building was once more set on fire. Much of the building was damaged by tank fire during Shahnawaz Tanai 's failed coup attempt on 6 March 1990. It was once again severely damaged during the 1990s Afghan Civil War , as rival Mujahideen factions fought for control of Kabul. Heavy shelling by

13899-460: Was in this chaos most of the officers were killed, trying to protect escaping children from gun fire. At least 334 hostages were killed as a result of the crisis, including 186 children. 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 killed. There are only 10 names on the special forces monument in Beslan. The fatalities included all three commanders of

14022-673: Was involved in the First Chechen War of 1994–1996, following the Chechens' declaration of independence from the Russian SFSR and then the Soviet Union in 1990–1991. In the fall of 1994, Alpha provided personal security details for the main commanders of the invasion of Chechnya , Defense Minister Pavel Grachev and federal Interior Minister Viktor Yerin , as they travelled to the Mozdok airbase in North Ossetia , which

14145-549: Was killed during the storming of the embassy. Colonel Savelyev was injured during the action, and died in hospital of a heart attack shortly thereafter. In 1993, during the Russian constitutional crisis , Yeltsin, who by then was President of the Russian Federation, used Alpha and Vympel during a deadly showdown in central Moscow against the pro-parliament forces that sided with Vice-President Alexander Rutskoy (declaring him an acting president). The pro-parliament faction had seized

14268-417: Was officially led by Movsar 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 the auditorium ; if detonated, it could have brought down

14391-534: Was rumoured that the snipers in the hotel were commanded by Alexander Korzhakov , chief of the Presidential Security Service (SBP) . The crisis ended when Yeltsin's forces, paratroopers supported by tanks and armoured personnel carriers, many of which were manned not by conscripts but members of the Union of Afghanistan Veterans, stormed and seized the White House on 4 October 1993, killing dozens, and possibly hundreds, of people, and ensuring

14514-603: Was severely damaged during the 1990s civil war . However, between 2016 and 2020, the palace was renovated and completely restored to its former glory. Most work was completed for the 100th anniversary of Afghan independence , which was on 19 August 2019. The site is open to the public and all tourists . Construction of the Darul Aman Palace began in the early 1920s as part of the endeavours of Emir Amanullah Khan to modernise Afghanistan. In June 1926, Amanullah proclaimed himself as King of Afghanistan . The palace

14637-632: Was tasked with protecting strategic sites (another Directorate, "K", was tasked with ideological counterintelligence); "A" and "V" were soon joined in a Tsentr Spetsnaz (Special Purpose Center) under Gen. Vladimir Pronichev . Meanwhile, Alpha veterans became active in legitimate businesses (such as the private security company Alpha-B co-founded by Col. Golovatov in August 1993) in organised crime , as well as in politics. The Alpha veterans' association, led by Sergey Goncharov, strongly opposed Russian President Yeltsin faction's party, Our Home – Russia , in

14760-448: Was the main headquarters, staging area and logistics base for Russian forces entering Chechnya. Later, many Alpha troops served in "mobile anti-terror groups" ( mobilnye gruppy antiterrora ), as well as providing security for the pro-Moscow Chechen government complex and the regional FSB headquarters in the Chechen capital Grozny . In August 1996, when the city was retaken by Chechen separatist forces, 35 of them (including 14 members of

14883-480: Was to be part of the new capital city called Darulaman , connected to Kabul by a narrow gauge railway . Amanullah Khan invited 22 architects from Germany and France to build the palace. The palace is considered to be a testimony of the Afghan-German ties, as it was designed by German engineer Walter Harten and his team of engineers. The palace is an imposing neoclassical building on a hilltop overlooking

15006-492: 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." The Warsaw pact invaded Czechoslovakia 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. Some 3,300 Soviet military experts, among them spetsnaz, were sent to Southeast Asia during

15129-530: Was turned into the special unit Arystan (meaning "Lions" in Kazakh ) of the National Security Committee (KNB) of Kazakhstan. In 2006, five members of Arystan were arrested and charged with the kidnapping of the opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbayuly , his driver, and his bodyguard; the three victims were then allegedly delivered to the people who murdered them. Special Group "Alpha"

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