Misplaced Pages

#308691

129-787: The first units of what would become the Special Operations Forces were transferred from the GRU in 2009 as part of the continuing 2008 Russian military reform . The Special Operations Forces Command was established in 2012 and announced in March 2013 by the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov . According to Gerasimov, the SOF was designed as a strategic-level asset, elite special operations force units of

258-644: A signals intelligence (SIGINT) station in Lourdes , Cuba and other Soviet-bloc countries . Though less well known than the KGB, with which it shared a fierce rivalry, GRU is known to have been involved in several high-profile episodes; this included opening backchannel negotiations with the U.S. government during the Cuban Missile Crisis and contributing to the Profumo scandal that partly contributed to

387-632: 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

516-466: A 70-year-old retired army colonel, identified only as "Martin M." was believed to have spied for Russia for years. The officer in question, whose name was not disclosed and who might have been approached under a false flag , was reported to have been engaged in selling official secrets to his GRU handlers from 1992 until September 2018. In July 2019, Austria's Ministry of the Interior confirmed that

645-832: A GRU officer who defected to Great Britain in 1978 and wrote about his experiences in the Soviet military and intelligence services. According to Suvorov, even the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , the country's de facto leader, needed to undergo a security screening to enter GRU headquarters. Following the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, the GRU continued as an important part of Russia's intelligence services, especially since it

774-485: 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

903-689: 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 ,

1032-628: A cover for GRU preparing infrastructure for a surprise attack on Finnish locations in case of a conflict situation. Viktor Ilyushin, a GRU operative working as an Air Force deputy attaché, was expelled from France in 2014 for attempted espionage of the staff of François Hollande . In August 2015, a GRU unit posing as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant supporters called CyberCaliphate took TV5Monde offline for approximately 18 hours. GRU's APT – Fancy Bear used fake Facebook accounts to pose as associates of Emmanuel Macron 's campaign staff, with

1161-515: A defector from the GRU, in 1997 the agency deployed six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR, and commanded some 25,000 Spetsnaz troops. The first Russian body for military intelligence dates from 1810, in the context of the Napoleonic Wars raging across Europe, when War Minister Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly proposed to Emperor Alexander I of Russia the formation of

1290-461: 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

1419-700: A part of the comprehensive reform of the Russian Federation's Armed Forces, Special Operations Directorate, subordinate directly to the Chief of the General Staff, was created on the basis of the GRU 's 322nd Specialist Training Center in the Moscow region (Military Unit 92154). The unit saw extensive action in the Caucasus region and earned the nickname podsolnukhi (sunflowers), a nickname given to

SECTION 10

#1732791289309

1548-602: 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

1677-586: A secretary. Nikolayevich, along with an SVR officer, had reportedly tried to gather intelligence on the country's electricity infrastructure on behalf of Venezuela's Maduro government. On 17 April 2021, the Czech Republic announced its intelligence agencies had concluded that GRU officers, namely members of Russian military intelligence GRU's unit 29155 , were involved in two massive ammunition depot explosions in Vrbetice (part of Vlachovice ), near

1806-681: 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

1935-481: 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

2064-821: 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

2193-487: 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

2322-760: 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 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

2451-628: Is a cold weather/mountaineering training centre at Mount Elbrus codenamed "Terskol", in Kabardino-Balkaria and the 54th Special Reconnaissance Center in Vladikavkaz , North Ossetia–Alania . Several more sensitive centers specialised for training SOF specialists also exist in military secrecy . Depending on the individual tasks the operatives are being prepared for or specialise in, the training varies. The Special Operations Forces warfare training centers and facilities: According to

2580-620: Is an aggressive and well-funded organization which has the direct support of – and access to – President Vladimir Putin, allowing freedom in its activities and leniency with regards to diplomatic and legislative scrutiny." The United States alleges that the GRU, as well as the SVR (its civilian foreign intelligence counterpart), makes use of both legal (intelligence officers with diplomatic protection/official government roles) and illegal operatives. The "Havana syndrome," which affected U.S. diplomats and spies worldwide,

2709-719: 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,

SECTION 20

#1732791289309

2838-457: Is commanded by Maj. Gen. Andrei Vladimirovich Averyanov  [ d ] and based at the headquarters of the 161st Special Purpose Specialist Training Center in eastern Moscow. Its membership included decorated veterans from the Soviet war in Afghanistan and Russia's most recent series of wars in Chechnya and Ukraine . It has been linked to the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea ,

2967-832: Is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation . The GRU controls the military intelligence service and maintains its own special forces units . Unlike Russia's other security and intelligence agencies  – such as the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO) – whose heads report directly to

3096-599: 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,

3225-614: The 2006 Georgian–Russian espionage controversy , four officers working for the GRU Alexander Savva, Dmitry Kazantsev, Aleksey Zavgorodny and Alexander Baranov were arrested by the Counter-Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and were accused of espionage and sabotage . This spy network was managed from Armenia by GRU Colonel Anatoly Sinitsin. A few days later

3354-681: The 2015–2016 DNC hacks in the United States, alleging he played a leading role in the Bundestag hack. In 2018, German officials reported a key data network used by the Chancellery , ministries, and Parliament had been breached. German media attributed the attack to a Russian Government-sponsored hacking group, either Snake/Ouroborus or Fancy Bear. Spetsnaz Spetsnaz ( Russian : Спецназ ) are special forces in many post-Soviet states . Historically, this term referred to

3483-648: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . On 5 September 2018, Major Deniss Metsavas and Pjotr Volin were charged with giving classified information to the GRU The two were convicted in February 2019. In September 2018, Finnish police ran a large scale operation against numerous sites owned by Airiston Helmi Oy company that over years accumulated land plots and buildings close to nationally significant key straits, ports, oil refineries and other strategic locations as well as two Finnish Navy vessels. The security operation

3612-713: The East Hama offensive , Operation Khuzam , rescuing a Russian Military Police unit in the Idlib de-escalation zone and the entirety of the Eastern Syria campaign . The SOF also contributed to the success of the Rif Dimashq Governorate campaign in 2018 and Operation Dawn of Idlib in 2019. On 11 December 2017, SOF units provided top-level security for the unannounced visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Syria at Khmeimim Air Base by covering

3741-759: The Georgian Parliament . Since the mid-1970s the GRU has maintained a satellite communications interception post near Andreyevka, located approximately 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Spassk-Dalny , Primorsky Krai . According to a Western assessment of the GRU seen by Reuters in the autumn of 2018, the GRU had a long-running program to run "illegal" spies, i.e. those who work without diplomatic cover and who live under an assumed identity in foreign countries for years. The assessment said: "It plays an increasingly important role in Russia's development of Information Warfare (both defensive and offensive). It

3870-614: The Gulf of Aden , clashing with Somali pirates. In late February 2014, an unknown number of SOF operators alongside other Russian troops entered Crimea disguised as "little green men" and captured the Crimean Parliament and also began the blockading and capturing of other significant and strategic sites across the peninsula. SOF combat operations in Syria, which began covertly in late 2015 became more visible by January 2016 with

3999-728: 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

Special Operations Forces (Russia) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4128-597: 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

4257-469: The Migalovo airfield near Tver . The Special Operations Forces Command is similar in role to the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command . The command reached full operational capability later in 2013 and also serves as the central command authority for the entire SOF structure of which is subordinate directly to the General Staff. The training of the officer recruit special operators is carried out in

4386-514: 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

4515-648: The NKVD , and later KGB ; however, public statements of Soviet military intelligence veterans state the Fourth Directorate, and later GRU, had always been operationally subordinate to the KGB. Military intelligence was headquartered in a small and nondescript complex west of the Kremlin, whereas the NKVD was in the very centre of Moscow, next to the building that housed People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs at

4644-651: The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (then investigating the Douma chemical attack by Russia-backed Bashar al-Assad and evidence in the Skripal case). Spain has also investigated the travel of Unit 29155 member Denis Sergeev (who has also used the name Sergei Fedotov) to Barcelona in 2017 around the time of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum . The unit is also accused of being behind

4773-599: 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

4902-615: 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

5031-587: The Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School – RVVDKU (department of special and military intelligence and the department of the use of special forces) and the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School – NVVKU (department of special intelligence and the chair of the special reconnaissance and airborne training). At "Senezh", potential operators learn skydiving, mountaineering, swimming and military diving , and storming buildings and homes, while "Kubinka-2" focuses on maritime operations and reconnaissance and controls several naval special operations detachments. There

5160-403: 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

5289-505: 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

Special Operations Forces (Russia) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5418-434: The United States Department of Justice indicted six Unit 74455 GRU officers for multiple cyberattacks, including the December 2015 Ukraine power grid cyberattack , the 2017 Macron e-mail leaks , the 2017 NotPetya attacks , the 2018 Winter Olympics hack (for which the GRU attempted to frame North Korea ), several 2018 attacks on Skripal case investigators, and a 2018–2019 cyberattack campaign against Georgian media and

5547-404: 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

5676-459: 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,

5805-456: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Spetsnaz GRU remained intact as part of the Russian GRU until 2010, when it was reassigned to other agencies. In 2013, however, the decision was reversed and Spetsnaz GRU units were reassigned to GRU divisions and placed under GRU authority again. GRU officers train at a Ministry of Defence military academy at 50 Narodnoe Opolchenie Street, with intelligence agents receiving additional training at

5934-474: The president of Russia (see Intelligence agencies of Russia ), the director of the GRU is subordinate to the Russian military command, reporting to the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the General Staff . The directorate is reputedly Russia's largest foreign-intelligence agency, and is distinguished among its counterparts for its willingness to execute riskier "complicated, high stakes operations". According to unverified statements by Stanislav Lunev ,

6063-415: The 2015 poisonings of Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Grebev (also spelled Emilyan), the 2016 Montenegro coup attempt , and the poisoning of Russian defector Sergei Skripal . Unit 29155 operatives have also been tracked to Switzerland during the time (early 2018) other GRU units hacked the World Anti-Doping Agency (then investigating state-sponsored doping by Russian Olympians ) and attempted to hack

6192-764: 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

6321-403: The Armed Forces... A set of documents has already been elaborated to determine the direction of development, methods of training and application of these forces". On 15 March 2013, according to Russian media reports, the creation of the Special Operations Center of the Ministry of Defense for around 500 professional soldiers began in the suburban village of Kubinka-2. The Formation of the Center

6450-549: 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

6579-865: The Cherepovets Higher Military School of Radio Electronics. The A.F. Mozhaysky Military-Space Academy has also been used to train GRU officers. According to the Federation of American Scientists : "Though sometimes compared to the US Defense Intelligence Agency , [the GRU's] activities encompass those performed by nearly all joint US military intelligence agencies as well as other national US organizations. The GRU gathers human intelligence through military attaches and foreign agents. It also maintains significant signals intelligence ( SIGINT ) and imagery reconnaissance ( IMINT ) and satellite imagery capabilities." Soviet GRU Space Intelligence Directorate had put more than 130 SIGINT satellites into orbit. GRU and KGB SIGINT network employed about 350,000 specialists. On 9 November 2018 Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that

SECTION 50

#1732791289309

6708-486: The Czech-Slovak border, in October 2014. The explosions killed two persons and "inflicted immense material damage, seriously endangered and disrupted the lives of many local residents", according to the Czech prime minister. In 2007, Deniss Metsavas, a Lasnamäe -born member of the Estonian Land Forces , was targeted with a honey trapping operation while visiting Smolensk . He was subsequently blackmailed into providing information to GRU handlers. His father, Pjotr Volin,

6837-421: The Day of the SOF, according to multiple Russian official news agencies (albeit not acknowledged formally), to mark the establishment of Russian control over the building of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Simferopol , Crimea on 27 February 2014. The Special Operations Forces are a highly mobile, well-trained and equipped, constant combat prepared special operations force of

6966-435: The Expedition for Secret Affairs under the War Ministry ( Russian : Экспедиция секретных дел при военном министерстве ); two years later, it was renamed the Special Bureau ( Russian : Особая канцелярия ). In 1815, the Bureau became the First Department under the General Chief of Staff. In 1836, the intelligence functions were transferred to the Second Department under the General Chief of Staff. After many name-changes through

7095-424: 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

7224-467: 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

7353-828: 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

7482-416: The Fourth Department, the Intelligence Service, the Razvedupr , or the RU. […] As a result of the re-organisation [in 1926], carried out in part to break up Trotsky's hold on the army, the Fourth Department seems to have been placed directly under the control of the State Defense Council (Gosudarstvennaia komissiia oborony, or GKO), the successor of the RVSR. Thereafter its analysis and reports went directly to

7611-413: The GKO and the Politburo, apparently even bypassing the Red Army Staff. The first head of the Fourth Directorate was Yan Karlovich Berzin , who remained in the post from March 1924 until April 1935 (in 1938, he was arrested and executed as a Trotskyite during the Stalinist purges ). Military intelligence was known for its fierce independence from the rival "internal intelligence organizations" , such as

7740-540: The GRU handled human intelligence exclusively outside the USSR. In addition to operations against the Axis powers, GRU is credited with having infiltrated the British nuclear weapon programme and up to 70 American government and scientific institutions. During the Cold War , the GRU, like many of its Western rivals, maintained rezidenturas , or resident spies, worldwide; these included both "legal" agents, based at Soviet embassies with official diplomatic cover , and "illegal" officers without cover . It also maintained

7869-445: The GRU since 1997, reportedly over Korabelnikov's objections to proposed reforms. Pursuant to these reforms, the following year, the official name of the unit was changed from "GRU" to the "Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff", or "G.U."; however, "GRU" continues to be commonly used in media. The GRU underwent severe reductions in funding and personnel following the 2008 Russo-Georgian War , during which it failed to discover

SECTION 60

#1732791289309

7998-486: The GU's 100th anniversary, President Putin proposed restoring the agency's former name: Главное разведывательное управление (GRU). The GRU is organized into numerous directorates, directions, and sections. According to the data available in open sources in 1997, the structure of the Main Directorate consists of at least 12 known directorates and several other auxiliary departments. The American Congressional Research Service , based on interviews with various experts, gives

8127-447: The Institute of the Russian Diaspora. The unit originated from Soviet GLAVPUR ( Glavnoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie , or the Main Political Department) and was created in early 1990s and notably employed colonel Aleksandr Viktorovich Golyev, whose memoirs were published in 2020 along with other GRU documents. In the 1990s, the unit focused on pro-Soviet disinformation in newly split republics such as Lithuania and Chechnya. In later years

8256-409: The KSSO whose primary missions would be foreign interventions including counter-proliferation , foreign internal defense operations and undertaking the most complex special operations and clandestine missions for protecting interests of the Russian Federation. SOF are distinct from the Spetsnaz GRU that until 2010 were under the Main Intelligence Directorate and whose subsequent subordination

8385-408: The Red Army. (Since 2006, the Russian Federation has officially observed the date of 5 November as the professional holiday of military intelligence in Russia.) The military human intelligence service thus established was originally known as the Registration Agency ( Registrupravlenie , or Registrupr ; Russian: Региструпр ) of the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of

8514-443: 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

8643-433: The Republic; Simon Aralov was its first head. Its early history was marked by a series of reorganisations influenced by the Soviet-Polish War , the consolidation and restablisation of the Soviet Union, and the general reorganisation of the Red Army; this included changes to its name, status, and responsibilities. Throughout most of the interwar period, the men and women who worked for Red Army Intelligence called it either

8772-478: The Russian Defence Ministry as of February 2019, there are ten cases among SOF personnel in Syria that have been confirmed to be killed in action . Four members whose status are presumed to have been killed still remains unclear as of September 2019. GRU (G.U.) The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation , formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate , and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU ,

8901-1015: The Russian Ministry of Defense. Designed for performing specific tasks, the SOF have the ability to function both within the country and abroad, in peacetime and in wartime (with application of military force, by necessity). The Russian Ministry of Defense defines the term "special operation" as "methods and ways of fighting not characteristic of conventional forces: reconnaissance and sabotage , subversion and sedition , counter-terrorism , counter-sabotage, counterintelligence , guerrilla , counter-guerrilla and other activities". The SOF have been primarily involved in Syria , conducting target acquisition for Russian Air Force combat planes conducting airstrikes and Russian Navy sea-launched cruise missile strikes, serving as military advisors training Syrian government troops, seek and destroying critical enemy objects, disruption behind enemy lines through ambushes, high value targeted assassinations and retaliation strikes against select groups of fighters. In 2009, as

9030-425: The Russian intelligence's recent operations that appeared to be botched might have been intended for discovery. Similarly, in 2019, Eerik-Niiles Kross , a former Estonian intelligence official, opined that GRU's apparent sloppiness "has become part of the psychological warfare . It's not that they have become that much more aggressive. They want to be felt. It's part of the game." On 2 November 2018, while marking

9159-429: The Sandworm Team or the Main Center for Technologies, used various fictitious online identities ( DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 ) to coordinate the release of the politically sensitive stolen documents with WikiLeaks for "maximum political impact" starting on the eve of the 2016 Democratic National Convention . Its guilt has been reported by American media and a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation. In October 2020,

9288-559: The Soviet Union's Spetsnaz GRU , special operations units of 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

9417-556: The Special Purpose Center "Senezh" and the headquarters at the Special Purpose Center "Kubinka-2", analysts believe the size is around 2,000 to 2,500 total personnel. The command has supporting elements providing combat support and combat service support functions. There is a dedicated special aviation brigade that directly controls combat aviation assets at Torzhok , and a squadron of Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft at

9546-658: 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

9675-569: The WhisperGate malware against several Ukrainian organizations. The advisory detailed the tactics and techniques used by Unit 29155 and offered further analysis of WhisperGate. Unit 35555 is a socio-psychological research laboratory linked to supporting Wagner and other private military companies. Unit 54777, alternately called the 72nd Special Service Center, is one of the GRU's primary psychological warfare capabilities. Unit 54777 retains several front organizations , including InfoRos and

9804-473: The alleged Russian bounty program where Taliban militants were paid to kill American troops, although the program's existence is uncertain, unproven, and unverified. The FBI, CISA , and NSA concluded that cyber actors linked to the GRU's 161st Specialist Training Center (Unit 29155) had conducted cyber operations targeting global entities for espionage, sabotage, and reputational harm since at least 2020. Starting on January 13, 2022, these actors deployed

9933-470: The area. During peacetime, the SOF may also be called in to execute certain specialised homeland security operations. In May 2013, the General Staff said that the unit would be tasked with security of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and that the SOF now comprised air and naval components. Again, when Russia hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup , the SOF and FSB special forces units took charge of ensuring

10062-619: The arrested officers were handed over to Russia through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) . Spetsnaz GRU unit No. 48427, an airborne unit, participated in the Russo-Georgian War . The 2015 Bundestag hack was attributed by German intelligence to the GRU. In 2020, Germany issued an arrest warrant for Dmitry Badin, a GRU officer and Unit 26165/ Fancy Bear member also accused of involvement in

10191-435: 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

10320-507: 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

10449-559: The attempted 2018 OPCW hack and targeting its investigation into the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), for which the Dutch investigation blames pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists armed with surface-to-air missiles by Russia. Unit 29155 is tasked with foreign assassinations and other covert activities aimed at destabilizing European countries. The Unit is thought to have operated in secret since at least 2008, though its existence only became publicly known in 2019. It

10578-523: 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

10707-471: The bottom of Kuznetsky Most . Consequently, Soviet military intelligence came to be known in Soviet diplomats' cant as distant neighbours (Russian: дальние соседи ) as opposed to the near neighbours of the NKVD/KGB. The GRU was created under its current name and form by Joseph Stalin in February 1942, less than a year after the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany . From April 1943

10836-498: 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

10965-503: The colonel's handler was a Moscow-born GRU officer Igor Egorovich Zaytsev, a Russian national, for whom an international arrest warrant had been issued. An investigation by Bellingcat and Capital identified GRU officer Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev (using the alias Sergey Vyacheslavovich Fedotov) as a suspect in the 2015 poisoning of Bulgarian arms dealer Emiliyan Gebrev ( Емилиян Гебрев ) in Sofia , following an attack that mirrored

11094-416: The creation of the Special Operations Forces. While speaking to foreign military attaches in Moscow , he said: "After reviewing the practice of the formation, training and the use of special operations forces in the leading countries of the world, Russia's Defense Ministry has also begun to create them... A corresponding command was created, which is engaged in planning work and implements a plan of training of

11223-607: 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

11352-507: 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

11481-720: 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

11610-588: 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,

11739-632: The expulsion of several Russian Embassy staffers, including the defence attaché to Ottawa . In December 2020, Migración Colombia confirmed the expulsion of two Russian diplomats accused of espionage. One of the assailants was identified as Aleksandr Nikolayevich Belousov who, according to the National Intelligence Directorate of Colombia, is a GRU officer that had been credited by the Russian Embassy in Bogotá as

11868-527: The failed 2018 Salisbury poisoning , and an unprecedented number of disclosed GRU agents. Korobov died on 21 November 2018, "after a serious and prolonged illness", according to the official Defence Ministry statement. His death provoked speculations and unverified reports of him having fallen ill in October that year following a harsh dressing-down from President Vladimir Putin . However, former CIA station-chief Daniel Hoffman cautioned in 2017 that some of

11997-403: The fall of a British administration. GRU was distinguished for its "closer ties with revolutionary movements and terrorist groups, greater experience with weapons and explosives, and even tougher training for recruits"; new recruits were allegedly shown footage of a traitorous officer being fed into a crematorium alive. The existence of the GRU was not publicized during the Soviet era, though it

12126-655: The following organization of the GRU, although it acknowledges that the organization's true structure is "a closely guarded secret." 4 Regional Directorates: 11 Mission-Specific Directorates: Unit 26165, also known as Fancy Bear, STRONTIUM, and APT28, is a cyber operations / hacking group . Unit 26165 was originally created during the Cold War as the 85th Main Special Service Center, responsible for military intelligence cryptography . The Netherlands has accused Unit 26165 of also being involved in

12255-418: The goal of interfering with the 2017 French presidential election . Georgy Petrovich Roshka, a member of the GRU's Unit 26165 was involved in the theft of Macron's emails, and subsequent distribution via WikiLeaks . In December 2019, Le Monde reported that the joint effort by British, Swiss, French and U.S. intelligence agencies had discovered an apparent "rear base" of GRU in southeastern France, which

12384-605: 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

12513-476: 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

12642-644: 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

12771-425: 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

12900-604: 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

13029-513: The more advanced anti-aircraft weapons obtained by Georgia. However, it continued to play a key role in several Russian operations, including in Russia's intervention in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent annexation of Crimea . GRU agents were also implicated in numerous cyberwarfare operations across the West, including in the U.S., France, and Germany. Many of its successes took place during

13158-493: The most dangerous directions from sea, air and land. Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu later personally thanked all the military personnel involved for their exemplary performance of the task. In February 2022, the SOF was involved in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine , conducting covert operations targeting critical military infrastructure and support systems of Ukraine and reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. While official numbers are classified, between

13287-578: 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

13416-411: 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

13545-486: 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

13674-622: The security. The SOF also conducted counter-terrorism and special operations during the insurgency in the North Caucasus region disguised as other Spetsnaz units. On 2 December 2017, an unnamed mountain with a height of 3,939 meters located on the Sudor ridge in the Irafsky District of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania , was named "Mountain of Special Operations Forces". The SOF has also taken part in anti-piracy operations in

13803-784: The soldiers assigned to the unit while serving in Chechnya . It was reported that Colonel Oleg Martianov, who later became a member of the board of the Military-Industrial Commission , was one of the founders and first commander of the SOF from 2009 to 2013. In 2012, the Special Operations Directorate was reorganized as Special Operations Command, which was followed by plans to upscale the Forces manpower up to 9 special purpose brigades. On 6 March 2013, General Valery Gerasimov announced

13932-778: The successful Latakia offensive . They played a crucial role in the Palmyra offensive , provided support to the Syrian Army attempting the recapturing of Raqqa , repelling the ISIL offensive on Palmyra and throughout the Syrian push for Aleppo in the same year. They returned during the Second battle of Palmyra in 2017 and saw action throughout the year in the Eastern Homs offensive , North Hama offensive , Operation Grand Dawn ,

14061-674: The techniques used in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal . That attack has been specifically tied to Unit 29155 . Three individuals were charged in absentia by the Bulgarians in January 2020. In March 2021, six Bulgarian nationals alleged to be members of a GRU spy ring operating in Bulgaria were arrested in Sofia . The GRU received intelligence from Jeffrey Delisle of the Royal Canadian Navy , leading to

14190-496: The tenure of Igor Sergun , who headed the service from late 2011 until his death in early January 2016. Sergun's sudden death shortly after the restoration of the GRU's influence led to speculations of foul play by Russian adversaries. The tenure of Sergun's successor, Igor Korobov , was marked by what some news media construed as multiple high-profile setbacks, such as the thwarted 2016 coup d'état attempt in Montenegro ,

14319-458: 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

14448-554: 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

14577-453: 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

14706-536: 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

14835-634: The unit covered a broad range of activities from running NGOs targeting Russian expatriates in Western countries (InfoRos, Institute of the Russian Diaspora, World Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots Living Abroad, Foundation for Supporting and Protecting the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad) and manipulating public opinion in Russia and abroad in preparation for armed conflicts such as in Georgia, Donbas or Syria. Unit 74455, also known as

14964-411: 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

15093-828: The years, in April 1906, the Military intelligence was carried out by the Fifth Department under the General Chief of Staff of the War Ministry. The GRU's first predecessor in Soviet Russia was established by the secret order signed on 5 November 1918 by Jukums Vācietis , the first commander-in-chief of the Red Army (RKKA), and by Ephraim Sklyansky , deputy to Leon Trotsky , the civilian leader of

15222-473: Was also recruited by GRU agents as leverage against Deniss, and would serve as a courier for classified information. In May 2017, Russian citizen Artem Zinchenko was convicted of spying on Estonia for the GRU. In 2018, Zinchenko was traded back to Russia in exchange for Raivo Susi, an Estonian imprisoned for espionage. In 2022, Zinchenko fled Russia to seek asylum in Estonia, citing personal opposition to

15351-468: 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

15480-513: 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

15609-418: Was left unclear until 2013 where the decision was reversed and GRU special forces units were reassigned to GRU divisions and placed under GRU authority again. Russia's SOF are manned exclusively by professional personnel hired on contract, of which all are full-time servicemen consisting of commissioned officers and regular soldiers. On 26 February 2015, President Vladimir Putin decreed that 27 February be

15738-441: Was mentioned in the 1931 memoirs of the first OGPU defector, Georges Agabekov , and described in detail in the 1939 autobiography, I Was Stalin's Agent, by Walter Krivitsky , the most senior Red Army intelligence officer ever to defect. GRU became widely known in Russia, and outside narrow confines of the Western intelligence community , during perestroika , due partly to the writings of " Viktor Suvorov " ( Vladimir Rezun ),

15867-417: 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

15996-640: Was possibly linked to GRU’s Unit 29155, as reported by the Insider. Symptoms included migraines and dizziness. Investigations suggested incidents might have occurred as early as 2016, with potential prior events in Frankfurt, Germany. The U.S. Congress passed the Havana Act in 2021 to provide aid to affected personnel and families. Commonly known as the Spetsnaz GRU , it was formed in 1949. Following

16125-596: Was presumably used by GRU for the clandestine operations carried out throughout Europe. Investigators had identified 15 agents – all of them members of GRU's Unit 29155 – who visited Haute-Savoie in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes , region of France from 2014 to 2018, including Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov , who are believed to be behind the poisoning of the former GRU colonel and British double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018. During

16254-412: Was run in parallel in multiple locations, involving Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, local police, Tax Administration, Border Guard, and Finnish Defence Forces. During the operation, a no-fly zone was declared over Turku Archipelago where key objects were located. While official cause given for the raid was multi-million euro money laundering and tax fraud, media speculated that the company had been

16383-669: Was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013. The center would be directly subordinate to the Special Operations Forces Command of the Russian Ministry of Defense. At the end of April 2013, units of the Special Operations Forces conducted a special tactics exercise at Elbrus mountains at an altitude of 4,500 meters. The exercise was dedicated to practice transportation of one of the SOF units by military transport aviation and army aviation, as well as air insertion of personnel and cargo into target

16512-699: Was the only one to more or less maintain operational and institutional continuity: the KGB had been dissolved after aiding a failed coup in 1991 against the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev . It is now succeeded by the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Federal Security Service (FSB). Evidencing its growing strategic profile, in 2006 the GRU moved to a new headquarters complex at Khoroshovskoye Shosse  [ ru ] , which cost 9.5 billion rubles to build and incorporates 70,000 square meters. In April 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev fired then-GRU head Valentin Korabelnikov , who had headed

16641-492: 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

#308691