Russian Spetsnaz - KGB and FSB Special Purpose Forces

KGB and FSB Special Purpose Forces

The Center of Special Operations of the FSB (CSN FSB, центр специального назначения ФСБ) is officially tasked with combating terrorism and protecting the constitutional order of the Russian Federation. The CSN FSB consists of three different "operative" divisions: Department A (also known as Spetsgruppa Alfa), Department V (also known as Spetsgruppa Vympel) and the Special Purpose Service. The headquarters of CSN FSB is an enormous complex of buildings and training areas, with dozens of hectares of land and scores of training facilities. The average training of a CSN officer lasts about five years.

• "A" or Alpha (Alfa) is a well-known counter-terrorist unit created in 1974. Today Alpha is a highly professional unit, which consists of roughly 700 operators and support personnel in five operational detachments. The majority of them are stationed at Moscow, the rest of the unit is located in three other cities – Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg and Khabarovsk. All the Alpha operators undergo special airborne training, special mountain training, and special counter-sabotage dive training. It also was used in operations in other countries, the most known being Operation Storm-333, during which detachments from Alpha and Zenith supported the 154th Independent Spetsnaz Detachment (also referred to as the "Muslim Battalion") of the GRU on a mission to overthrow and kill the Afghan President Hafizullah Amin.

• "B" or Vympel (or Vega, also known under other names) was formed in 1981 from a merge of two elite Cold War-era KGB special units Cascade (Kaskad) and Zenith (Zenit) that were similar to the CIA's Special Activities Division (responsible for covert operations involving sabotage, assassination, etc. in other countries), re-designated for counter-terrorist and counter-sabotage operations. Currently they are tasked with protection of strategic installations such as key factories and transportation centers. They are also heavily used in missions in the North Caucasus, along with their counterparts from Alpha. Vympel has four operative units stationed in Moscow, but it also has multiple branch offices in virtually every city where there is a nuclear power plant.

• Special Purpose Service – Not much information about it can be obtained, but it is known that they also participate in FSB special operations in the North Caucasus and also act as bodyguards for government officials.

Together with Center of Special Operations and its elite units, there are many FSB special forces units of regional significance. Such operative detachments are usually called ROSN (Regional Department of Special Designation). The strongest ROSNs are said to be stationed at Saint Petersburg (ROSN Grad) and Nizhny Novgorod.

The foreign intelligence service SVR also has its own paramilitary special force, known as Barrier and estimated to be about 300-strong.