Russian Armed Forces
The maroon beret is worn by members of elite MVD Spetsnaz units, although it is referred to as 'Krapoviy' meaning crimson. In a contrast to the Western style, Russian troops wear the badge over the right eye on the beret. In the Soviet era, paratroopers wore a maroon beret until the early 1960s when General Vasily Filipovich Margelov decided that a maroon beret for paratroopers was a Western idea and introduced a cornflower blue beret. This may have been influenced by the cornflower blue of the Soviet Air Force and the cornflower blue helmets worn by Soviet paratroopers during the Great Patriotic War.
Read more about this topic: Maroon Beret
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