It can easily be fired in one hand like a pistol except that of course it offers greater firepower.  It is more often than not, carried by Spetsnaz paratroopers.

The Spetsnaz SVD Dragunov 7.62mm sniper rifle as pictured below is a very accurate and powerful rifle. Its self loading mechanism works on the same gas blow back principle as found in the standard AK47 as it is in fact a built from the ground up factory modification of this weapon.

At 100 meters the SVD Dragunov  shot holes in a 16mm thick piece of armour plate with special 7.62mm armor piercing bullets.

The Armour piercing bullets go clean through, literally like the proverbial hot knife through butter.

The Spetsnaz 5.45 mm x 39 mm armour piercing bullets also penetrate steel plate quite easily, this time 10mm thick steel at 100 meters.

You would not stand a chance against these bullets even if you wore modern body armour !

Special Spetsnaz  9.3 x 64mm soft point ammunition is designed to expand and fragment 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.

As stated earlier, they won't pussy foot around, they go in, take the objective, finish business and leave.

Below is the MP445 Varjag .40 ACP pistol that is the weapon of choice for many Spetsnaz operatives.

Spetsnaz use a variety of handguns of various calibers, this particular weapon is chambered for the .40 Smith & 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 has the advantage of making it hard to locate with metal detectors.

The PB model 6P9 pistol as seen below is also a favorite of Spetsnaz operatives.  PB is an abbreviation for Pistolet Besshumnyj  ( silenced pistol ) This double action pistol is based on the standard Makarov pistol and is chambered for the 9x18mm bullet and its magazine holds 8 of them.  The silencer can be detached  very quickly which enables the gun to be carried whilst being concealed.

The gun was so successful being very quiet and  powerful at  close range that the KGB also adopted it for its.....clandestine use.  Even though this pistol was designed in 1967 it is still in use today, if it works well, is tried and tested...then why change it ?

The Spetsnaz Today: 

Edited extracts below written by Time reporter Paul Quin Judge in Moscow, reproduced from http://www.time.com/time/magazine

Now, like the rest of the Russian armed forces, their 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 quarter 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, where the money is good and readily available, if you dare to seek it.

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, it as simple as that"

They take time off from their units, and stand behind the boss, fully armed with automatic weapons, while he talks to his rival. The other side sees they are serious guys, 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 a pitiful $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 only 5 foot x 8 foot 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 guys.  Volodya, a well educated officer who commanded a Spetsnaz unit, remembers his men as "some of the most intelligent people I have ever known".

Spetsnaz soldiers are amongst the best trained in the world, they are handpicked and training can last a full 5 years, the training is harsh and 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.