Russian Special Forces

Razor

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I don't think so. I think they come under exterior or defense ministries. They are the direct successors of the KGB; surely no internal matter this. OMON (ОМОН), yes, probably is internal.
KGB was all powerful. So Russia divided KGB into internal intelligence and external intelligence. Internal Intelligence and law enforcement are handled by FSB (Federal Security Service) and external intelligence and espionage activities are handled by SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service). And I don't know about this but the wiki article says FSB comes under the Ministry of Justice.
External intelligence activities are ALSO carried out by GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate,(military intelligence)) which is part of MoD.

I am guessing its approximately like
FSB=FBI (though FSB is way more powerful than FBI )
SVR=CIA
GRU=DIA

PS: Each of the above (FSB, SVR, GRU) have their own 'spetsnaz' units and supposedly the GRU spetsnaz are the best.
 

debasree

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dont know that the russians use so sophisticated weapons thanks for info bro
 

indian_sukhoi

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Having a Special forces under the command of Spy agency is a good thing to maintain.

According to some Russian military sources, Alpha Group was "degraded" and demoralized by the political manipulation it suffered in the vicious political battles that surrounded the eventual dissolution and collapse of the Soviet Union. The KGB wished to use the organization in its hardline campaign against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, and the first elected President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, was also guilty of using it to shell the White House in Moscow during the constitutional crisis of 1993.[11] Following the crisis, both Alpha Group and Vega Group (Vympel) were briefly put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD).[
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Group#Russian_Federation
 

boris

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KGB was all powerful. So Russia divided KGB into internal intelligence and external intelligence. Internal Intelligence and law enforcement are handled by FSB (Federal Security Service) and external intelligence and espionage activities are handled by SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service). And I don't know about this but the wiki article says FSB comes under the Ministry of Justice.
External intelligence activities are ALSO carried out by GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate,(military intelligence)) which is part of MoD.

I am guessing its approximately like
FSB=FBI (though FSB is way more powerful than FBI )
SVR=CIA
GRU=DIA

PS: Each of the above (FSB, SVR, GRU) have their own 'spetsnaz' units and supposedly the GRU spetsnaz are the best.
Very right,Russian SF units come under Intel agencies,Alfa under FSB,MVD Spetsnaz under the Interior Ministry(Sonny Puzikas was a part of this Unit) & the tier 1 SF the GRU Spetsnaz under the GRU.

I have seen a lot of pics of Alfa and MVD but no original ones of the GRU unit.
 

Kunal Biswas

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Merged a old thread, but it appears in first page..
 

ALBY

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Russia to re-build its special force units

Russia is trying to rebuild its special operations forces after disbanding three of twelve Spetsnaz brigades (the 67th in Berdsk, 12th in Asbest, and 3rd in Samara) three years ago. The cuts three years ago were part of an army wide reorganization and reduction of personnel strength. There were also recruiting problems, especially the inability to recruit and retain enough career Spetsnaz troops. But now one of the disbanded brigades (the 67th) is being rebuilt in Siberia. The government is concerned about growing Islamic radicalism in central Russia and the five Central Asian nations that used to be part of the Soviet Union but became independent in 1991. Russia has military and security agreements with these five Moslem nations and wants another Sptsnaz brigade available in case there is a spike in Islamic terrorism. -The Russian generals have come to learn that when you need something done, nothing works better than a brigade of special operations commandos.

Despite the 2009, cutbacks, Russia's ground forces, especially the country's numerous special operations units, have apparently benefited greatly from the major reforms being institu
ted in the armed forces in the last eight years. Airborne Forces (paratroopers) and special operations forces (Spetsnaz) have historically been a major source of pride to Russians, going back to the '70s and '80s, when 30,000 Spetsnaz and airborne troops constituted the most effective troops available during the Afghan War (1979-1989). Following the c
ollapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia's special ops suffered the same problems as the rest of the Russia, namely corruption, low morale, low funding, and a major decline in the quality of training. Special operations soldiers were often accused of doing contract killings and other "special tasks" for the Russian mob during the chaotic '90s. There are only about 12,000 of these elite troops left.

The lowest point for the state of the Russian special operations forces was 1999-2004, during the height of the Second Chechen War. Spetsnaz and Airborne troops suffered major reversals and defeats at the hands of Chechen rebels, with an entire company of supposedly "elite" paratroopers being wiped out during one battle. The most embarrassing moment for Russia's elite was the 2002, Moscow theater siege and the 2004, Beslan school siege. During the former, Spetsnaz troops, instead of executing a well-planned attack on the hostage-takers, bungled the rescue, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of hostages along with all the hostage takers. During the Beslan incident, Russian special operations forces conducted a conventional-style assault on the building, in some cases recklessly using RPO-A rocket launchers with incendiary warheads, tanks, and RPG-7V1s to blast their way into the school. Both incidents not only damaged Russia's reputation abroad, as it was seen as callously disregarding the lives of its own citizens, but also the reputation of the country's best soldiers.

After the Beslan incident Spetsnaz apparently decided to get its act together and it's shown in recent years. But by 2009, Russian special operations forces had expanded to a size that could not be sustained without lowering quality. The Russian military reforms did result in major improvements in the equipment and training of Russian elite forces, primarily paratroopers and special operations forces. But there was not enough money to pay what was needed to retain many elite troops. That is now changing.

For the foreseeable future the Russians know that their elites are the most effective, reliable troops they have and can't afford to have them spread thinly across the military in different formations. Instead, the Russians appear to be concentrating their most effective forces into specific units in order to have a lot of them ready to go and already integrated when they go into action. The same goes for the regular army, as it slowly but surely improves in quality.

The Spetsnaz brigades contain about 1,600 troops, at full strength, and the 67th brigade only had about a thousand troops when it was disbanded in 2009. Now it is being revived with 400 troops transferred from another Spetsnaz brigade. It will take several years, perhaps as many as five, to get the revived 67th brigade up to full strength.
 

Razor

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

Good move. Good to see that Russia is focusing on a threat that can eat the country from the inside.
Could you give the source, please.
 

ALBY

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Good move. Good to see that Russia is focusing on a threat that can eat the country from the inside.
Could you give the source, please.
Here's the link; http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsf articles/20120606.aspx?comments=Y. I tried to include the link under the story but there is option for edit.
 
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sayareakd

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

12000 is low number for size of Rusia. They need to re build it.
 

Razor

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

12000 is low number for size of Rusia. They need to re build it.
Spetsnaz, short for spetsialnogo naznacheniya meaning Special purpose forces is a blanket term, and includes a lot of special forces.

The 12,000 number talked about here, I suspect, is the GRU (Military Intelligence) Spetsnaz. The GRU Spetsnaz are considered the best of the special forces of Russia, comparable to Tier One special forces of the USA (i.e. Delta Force, DEVGRU(SEAL Team 6))
Secondary Special Forces include Army Spetsnaz, Naval Spetsnaz, FSB (Internal Intelligence) Spetsnaz, SVR(External Intelligence) Spetsnaz, MVD (Interior Ministry) Spetsnaz etc.
It's a good move that Russia is increasing its spetsnaz forces, especially considering Chechnya and the fact the Islamic militancy is fast spreading.
 
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ALBY

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12000 is low number for size of Rusia. They need to re build it.
It all happened as a result of economic crisis and utterly foolish policies like bringing SF units like vympel under the banner of ordinary police force etc.As a result of which even some entire special force units had resigned and got converted into private military groups. But there should be one point to be noted unlike in India, parachute regiments aka VDV are not labelled as commando units in Russia.
 

imd47

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

The lowest point for the state of the Russian special operations forces was 1999-2004, during the height of the Second Chechen War. Spetsnaz and Airborne troops suffered major reversals and defeats at the hands of Chechen rebels, with an entire company of supposedly "elite" paratroopers being wiped out during one battle. The most embarrassing moment for Russia's elite was the 2002, Moscow theater siege and the 2004, Beslan school siege. During the former, Spetsnaz troops, instead of executing a well-planned attack on the hostage-takers, bungled the rescue, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of hostages along with all the hostage takers. During the Beslan incident, Russian special operations forces conducted a conventional-style assault on the building, in some cases recklessly using RPO-A rocket launchers with incendiary warheads, tanks, and RPG-7V1s to blast their way into the school. Both incidents not only damaged Russia's reputation abroad, as it was seen as callously disregarding the lives of its own citizens, but also the reputation of the country's best soldiers.

After the Beslan incident Spetsnaz apparently decided to get its act together and it's shown in recent years. But by 2009, Russian special operations forces had expanded to a size that could not be sustained without lowering quality. The Russian military reforms did result in major improvements in the equipment and training of Russian elite forces, primarily paratroopers and special operations forces. But there was not enough money to pay what was needed to retain many elite troops. That is now changing.

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Simply strategypage lies about the spetsnaz units...
In the storming of the theater first duvrovka not died a single hostage... all the hostages died by the incomptentence of the medicals and evacuation services when alpha and vympel left the building all the hostages stay alive, by the way the only similar situation carried out by the United States atf all the hostages died
In beslanns any kind of assault be planned... Simply the gym explode and the murderous beasts began machine-gunning women and children fleeing.The members of the tssn simply made to human shields to children...
Rpo don't be use within the school but in a building where a group of terrorists who have fled were hiding were not used, the rpg is used to create mouse holes and not as combat weapons .Only a inert projectile be firing against him school tangentially to create an entry point ....... Simply in beslan the tssn forces left to kill to protect with their bodies to the children
 

Bhadra

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

In India there is a proverb "Par Upadesh Kushal Bahutere" There lot many to advise others !

Has any one of the commentator ever tried to find out the state of Indian SFs ? And offer some good advice...
 

Bhadra

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

How many of you are volunteers for Indian SF... I will give you a try.....
 

Akim

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

Simply strategypage lies about the spetsnaz units...
In the storming of the theater first duvrovka not died a single hostage... all the hostages died by the incomptentence of the medicals and evacuation services when alpha and vympel left the building all the hostages stay alive, by the way the only similar situation carried out by the United States atf all the hostages died
In beslanns any kind of assault be planned... Simply the gym explode and the murderous beasts began machine-gunning women and children fleeing.The members of the tssn simply made to human shields to children...
Rpo don't be use within the school but in a building where a group of terrorists who have fled were hiding were not used, the rpg is used to create mouse holes and not as combat weapons .Only a inert projectile be firing against him school tangentially to create an entry point ....... Simply in beslan the tssn forces left to kill to protect with their bodies to the children
Look for the Discovery film about the capture of the theater on Dubrovka "Nord-Ost". I have not found it in the English version.
 

sayareakd

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Re: Russia to re-build its special force units

Moscow theater was good operation all the terrorist died, if medical services were careful most of the people would have been saved.
 

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