Soviet and Russian Military Special Forces
The elite units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were mostly formerly controlled by the military intelligence GRU (Spetsnaz GRU). They were heavily involved in the wars in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in Chechnya in the 1990s and 2000s, as well as in the training of pro-Soviet forces and various secret operations during the Cold War. The Russian Airborne Troops (VDV, a separate branch of the Russian Armed Forces) have the 45th Independent Guards Spetsnaz Regiment. Since 2010, as a result of the 2008 military reforms, GRU special forces come under the control of the Ground Forces.
Most units of the military Spetsnaz have no official names and are generally referred to by the type of its formation (company, battalion and brigade) and a number, much like any other Soviet or Russian military unit. An exception was given to the ethnic Chechen Special Battalions Vostok and Zapad ("east" and "west") during the 2000s.
List of Spetsnaz units in the Russian Armed Forces in 2012:
- Russian Ground Forces
- Western Military District
- 2nd Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- 16th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- Southern Military District
- 10th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- 22nd Independent Guards Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- 346th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- 25th Independent Spetsnaz Regiment (opSpN)
- Central Military District
- 3rd Independent Guards Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- 24th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- Eastern Military District
- 14th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade (obrSpN)
- Western Military District
- Russian Airborne Troops
- 45th Independent Guards Spetsnaz Regiment (opSpN VDV)
- Russian Navy
- 42nd Independent Naval Reconnaissance Spetsnaz Point (omrpSpN - Pacific Fleet)
- 420th Independent Naval Reconnaissance Spetsnaz Point (omrpSpN - Northern Fleet)
- 431st Independent Naval Reconnaissance Spetsnaz Point (omrpSpN - Black Sea Fleet)
- 561st Independent Naval Reconnaissance Spetsnaz Point (omrpSpN - Baltic Fleet)
Read more about this topic: Russian Spetsnaz
Famous quotes containing the words soviet, russian, military, special and/or forces:
“The tremendous outflow of intellectuals that formed such a prominent part of the general exodus from Soviet Russia in the first years of the Bolshevist Revolution seems today like the wanderings of some mythical tribe whose bird-signs and moon-signs I now retrieve from the desert dust.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“My faith is the grand drama of my life. I’m a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith. I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colours for those who see none.”
—Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
“And weren’t there special cemetery flowers,
That, once grief sets to growing, grief may rest:
The flowers will go on with grief awhile,
And no one seem neglecting or neglected?
A prudent grief will not despise such aids.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Ah! how much a mother learns from her child! The constant protection of a helpless being forces us to so strict an alliance with virtue, that a woman never shows to full advantage except as a mother. Then alone can her character expand in the fulfillment of all life’s duties and the enjoyment of all its pleasures.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)