RUSSIAN SPETSNAZ

 During the 1970’s, when the Cold War was at its height, the West became aware of the existence of Soviet Spetsnaz troops, which were grouped into what were known as “diversionary brigades.”  Although the Cold War is over, Spetsnaz units are still part of the Russian order-of-battle, although their missions have changed. The Spetsnaz (Troops of special purpose) were raised as the troops of the Main Intelligence Department – GRU and in the 1980s numbered 30,000 soldiers.These were deployed: one Spetsnaz company per Army; one Spetsnaz regiment in each of the three “theaters of operations”; one Spetsnaz brigade in each of the four Soviet Fleets; and an independent Spetsnaz brigade in most military districts of the USSR. There were also special Spetsnaz intelligence units, one to each Front and Fleet: total 20. A Spetsnaz company was 135 strong, normally operating in 15 independent teams, although they could also combine for specific missions. A Spetsnaz brigade was 1,000-1,300 strong and consisted of a headquarters, three or four parachute battalions, a communications company, and supporting troops. It also included an anti-VIP company, composed of some 70-80 regular troops whose mission was to seek out, identify and kill enemy political and military leaders.A naval Spetsnaz brigade had a headquarters, two to three battalions of combat swimmers, a parachute battalion, supporting units, and an anti-VIP company.It also had a group of midget submarines designed to deliver combat swimmers to distant targets. The existence of Spetsnaz was a closely guarded secret within the Warsaw Pact and individual troops were not allowed to admit membership, to the extent that army Spetsnaz wore standard airborne uniforms and insignia, while naval Spetsnaz wore naval infantry uniforms and insignia.

Weapons

                                                                     
                                                                        AKS 74u



                   

                                                                         RPG 16


                                                

                                                                  
                                                                         NRS 2


                                            

                    

Training

Spetsnaz soldiers function in much the same way as the British SAS or the United States Delta Force. They specialize in reconnaissance, sabotage and assassination. Spetsnaz as a military organisation does not advertise it self or promote its existence, so it is in many ways a secret organisation. In most cases the uniforms of Spetsnaz soldiers is not distinctive from that of the ordinary Russian soldier. Spetsnaz soldiers are not always of Russian extraction either and they will employ selected operatives from foreign counties, usually as agents. There are an estimated 15,000 Spetnaz operatives worldwide. Due to the very harsh standards of their training the Spetsnaz have created a fierce reputation as one of the best special forces in the world today Those joining Spetsnaz with no previous military experience must be given the normal recruit's basic training in discipline, marching, fieldcraft, weapons handling, and range work. Once the recruit moves on to proper Spetsnaz training, however, the pressure intensifies. The training that they go through is all based upon pain from start to finish, where they exert themselves to the limits of human endurance including assault course fitness and martial arts training with real knives where trainees may receive minor stab wounds and cuts. Skills and tactics that are employed by the Spetsnaz teams include the following: Parachuting in all weather conditions with high altitude low opening "Halo jump", sky diving, swimmingunderwater. Unarmed combat and silent-killing techniques, including judo, karate, and knife-fighting. Sabotage using explosives, incendiaries, acids, chemicals and anything else that is available, Infiltration techniques, including the defeat of locks and high tech security systems. Foreign language and culture, including "sleeping" in a foreign country for years to learn about the country they infiltrated. Foreign weapons, tactics, skills and vehicles knowledge Survival in all environments including desert, jungle, open spaces and confined spaces Reconnaissance and map reading, including satellite navigation aids. They swear an oath of loyalty and this is on pain of death if they reveal the secrets that they have learned whilst in the service.Naval Spetsnaz must, in addition, learn combat swimmer techniques, the use of underwater weapons, canoeing, arrival and exit over beaches, exit and entry to submerged submarines. 

Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis

The crisis took place from 14 June to 19 June 1995, when a group of 80 to 200 Chechen separatists 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 the residential district and regroupedin the city hospital, where they took between 1,500 and 1,800 hostages, most of them civilians (including about 150 children and a number ofwomen 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 the hospital compound at dawn on the fourth day, meeting fierce resistance. After several hours of fighting in which many hostages were killed by crossfire, a local ceasefire was agreed, and 227 hostages were released; 61 others were freed by the Russian forces.A second Russian attack on the hospital a few hours later also failed and so did a third, resulting in even more casualties. The Russian authorities accused the Chechens of using the hostages as human shields.Shamil Basaev, mastermind behind the Moscow theater hostage crisis, was killed by FSB operators.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 a special freezer truck. In the years following the hostage-taking, more than 30 of the surviving attackers have been killed, 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

Logo

             
.

                                              " Any mission any time any place "