Spetsnaz

These Russian Special Forces are now supposed to be disbanded, but I personally don't believe this and would estimate that they are still very real and very active. After all Russia still needs a security force of some description and the description I would say would sound very much like ' Spetsnaz '

Soviet special forces are known as Spetsnaz, and they were formed in 1974 by Yuri Andropov to carry out special missions. Whether these missions are legal or was not questioned.

Spetsnaz is an acronym from the Russian word Spetsialnoe Naznachenie which translates as Special Purpose. Spetnaz are run by the Soviet Intelligence Directorate or GRU Glavnoe Razvedyvatelnoe Upravlenie.

Spetsnaz soldiers function in much the same way as the British SAS or the United States Delta Force. They do however specialise in reconnaissance, sabotage and assassination. (deniable)

The 'Soviet Military Encyclopedia', defines Special Reconnaissance as,

Reconnaissance carried out to subvert the political, economic and military potential and morale of a probable or actual enemy. The primary missions of special reconnaissance are: acquiring intelligence on major economic and military installations and either destroying them or putting them out of action, organizing sabotage and acts of subversion; carrying out punitive operations against rebels; conducting propaganda; forming and training insurgent detachments, etc. Special reconnaissance is ... conducted by the forces of covert intelligence and special purpose troops.

Spetsnaz troops normally operate deep in enemy territory and carry out typical militaristic actions such as destroying facilities, air fields, communications, missile silos etc. Some Spetsnaz units train for kidnapping and assassination of enemy personnel.

Spetsnaz units are lightly equipped to be able to move fast. A typical Spetsnaz soldier will be equipped with an AK-104 assault rifle, RMP heavy calibre belt fed machine gun or an SVD Dragunov 7.62 mm sniper rifle, a silenced 9mm pistol or .40 Varjag pistol, a combat knife and 8 hand grenades of various types including smoke and fragmentation. Other weapons that are carried in the team include, RPG-16 grenade launcher, R-350 burst type transmitter radio ( 1000 Kilometers range), plastic explosive and personnel mines. Also SA-14 and SA-7 surface to air missile launchers are available to the team if needs be.

Spetsnaz teams normally consist of 8 men who are highly trained in specific fields of warfare. Each team member also has certain knowledge of other members of the teams specialist training ( cross-training ) so that a mission can still go ahead even if one of them is killed.

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 end up getting 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), sky diving, swimming underwater.
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 countries economic infrastructures etc
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 of Spetsnaz !

Spetsnaz In Action

Spetsnaz as a military organisation does not advertise it self or promote its existence, 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. These are viewed as a peace time contingency, they are ready to go to any trouble spot any where at any time and " do the business ".

During the Afghanistan conflict in December1979 Spetsnaz surrounded President Hafizullah Amins palace in Kabul and with the use of silenced weapons they successfully killed Amin and every soldier in the palace. They then secured Kabul air port and this enabled mass landings of air borne troops. Subsequent operations in Afghanistan included attempts to ambush the rebel leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, infiltration of rebel-held territory, helicopter ambushes of rebel units and sabotage and destruction of rebel bases.

The way Spetsnaz units deal with terrorists is with a " no messing about " attitude. In 1985 a Soviet embassy had several of its personnel taken hostage by terrorists. they demanded that Syria stop its efforts to push Palestinians that gave Yasser Arafat support out of Lebanon. The demands were initially agreed by the Soviets who were trying to prevent hostage casualties. The terrorists however, later broke several of their agreements.

Once the 48-hour deadline for the hostage release was passed, Spetsnaz operatives moved in and kidnapped four of the terrorists. They then delivered one of the terrorists decapitated heads in a plastic bag back to the terrorists at the embassy, with a note telling them that soon another head would follow. In effect the Spetsnaz had reversed the tables ! Very soon after this, all of the hostages were released, and the terrorists surrendered.

Spetsnaz Fire Power

Here are a few examples of some of the weapons that Spetsnaz forces use. They are all of Russian manufacture, but Spetsnaz will utilise weapons from any country.

AKM/100 series Special 5.54mm Machine pistol. This is a shortened lighter version of the AK-104. Similar in size to the German Heckler and Kock MP5. It can easily be fired in one hand like a normal pistol except that of course it offers greater fire-power.

AK-104 7.62mm assault rifle also available in 5.54 and 9.3 mm to Spetsnaz operative. They are based on the very successful AK-47 design. These weapons can be fitted with folding skeleton shoulder stocks for airborne assault.

Spetsnaz SVD Dragunov 7.62mm sniper rifle with accessories. This rifle is accurate and powerful. It works on the same gas blow-back principle as is utilised in the AK-47.

At 100 metres the Dragunov 7.62 mm Sniper rifle shot holes in a 16mm thick piece of armour plate. The Armour piercing bullets go clean through.

The Spetsnaz 5.45 mm x 39 mm armour piercing bullets also penetrate steel plate quite easily, this time 10mm thick at 100 metres. You would not stand a chance against these bullets even if you wore modern body armour !

Special Spetsnaz 9.3 mm x 64mm soft point Ammunition. Designed to expand on impact as the soft lead core is exposed. They are in effect dum-dum rounds, and are outlawed by the Geneva convention. as all bullets fired in the theatre of combat should be FMJ or Full Metal Jacket. This means that no lead core is exposed, instead the copper jacket that surrounds a bullet completely covers it.

Spetsnaz MP445 Varjag .40 ACP Pistol. Spetsnaz use a variety of handguns of various calibres, this particular weapon is chambered for the .40 Smith and Wesson ACP round. It is a double action pistol and is powerful and accurate. An interesting feature about this pistol is that apart from the barrel the gun is made from a special ultra tough thermosetting plastic which also makes it hard to locate with metal detectors.

At around 1990 the Spetsnaz had a shooting contest with the British SAS. The SAS won !

The Spetsnaz Today. ( A special addendum )

Edited extracts below written by Time reporter Paul Quinn Judge in Moscow, reproduced from....

http://www.time.com/time/magazine

Now, like the rest of the Russian armed forces, the special forces are in crisis--demoralized, neglected and underpaid. Unlike most Russian soldiers, though, the Spetsnaz have salable skills. They are snipers, explosives and communications specialists, experts in close combat and surveillance, trained to be cool under extreme pressure and to think for themselves. In today's Russian marketplace that makes them perfect bodyguards and perfect killers. Many veterans have found well-paid work in private security companies or protecting prominent public figures. Many serving officers are moonlighting to make ends meet. And a small but significant minority of retired and active-duty Spetsnaz have, according to their colleagues, disappeared into the criminal underworld.

For example, a number of current and former Spetsnaz officers from the Russian Airborne forces have been arrested in connection with the 1994 murder of Dmitri Kholodov, an investigative journalist killed by a booby-trapped briefcase while he was working on a story about high-level military corruption.

Spetsnaz soldiers hire themselves out to the underworld in less dramatic ways as well, "Say a crime boss is planning a confrontation with a rival," "He phones his Spetsnaz contact and asks for four to five guys. They take time off from their units, and stand behind the boss, fully armed, while he talks to his rival. The other side sees they are serious kids, and is impressed." For a couple of hours' work they make $200 each, If there is any shooting, their fee goes up to $500. This is more than a year's official salary for an experienced NCO, who officially makes about $30 a month.

Wretched salaries are not the only source of demoralization. Living conditions would provoke a mutiny in many countries. Sergei, the Spetsnaz NCO, lives in a slum. Officially called NCO married quarters, his single room measures 1.5 m by 2.5 m and he lives there with his wife and daughter. Ten families share a rat-infested kitchen and a single toilet whose walls are rotting with damp. Sergei does not wear his uniform when he goes into the city--civilians view soldiers as losers, he says.

Yet when he first joined the Spetsnaz he felt great pride in the accomplishment. In those days it was rare to be recruited for the Spetsnaz and even harder to qualify. Spetsnaz veterans across the country acted as informal talent scouts, identifying promising soldiers for their old units. The recruits were fit and tough, and sometimes edging dangerously close to trouble with the law. "The saying used to be," Ivan recalled, "that you either went into the Spetsnaz or into prison." They had something else in common, veterans say: though often unsophisticated, they were usually very bright. Volodya, a well-educated officer who commanded a Spetsnaz unit, remembers his men as "some of the most intelligent people I have ever known."

The training was brutal, and still culminates in a session of unarmed combat that would probably be banned in any Western army. The recruit must hold out for 12 minutes against three or four successive assailants, all qualified Spetsnaz soldiers. "Basically they try to kill you," says Alexei, an Ex-Spetsnaz operative. Occasionally they succeed, and soldiers frequently end up hospitalized after the sessions. These days, though, when the battered but exhilarated survivors receive their maroon berets, they sometimes get something extra. Shady-looking civilians, there with the blessing of senior officers and eager to meet the graduates, have been seen handing out envelopes of money. For many Spetsnaz vets, such scenes point to the heart of the matter: in their view the Spetsnaz-turned-mafia hit man is less to blame than the corrupt state that has left its special forces to rot.