3 Russian army special forces

Spetsnaz GRU, or Russian army special forces, are the original SPETSNAZ and are generally considered the best trained units of the Russian militaryMilitary of Russia Military manpower Military age18 years of age Availabilitymales age 15-49: 36 million (2003 est. Fit for military servicemales age 15-49: 24 million (2003 est. Reaching military age annually1. 243 million (2003 est. Military expenditure. They are controlled by the GRU (the RussianThe term Russian can refer to: The Russian language Someone from Russia or with a Russian ethnic identity, see Russians Something of or pertaining to Russia. military intelligence agency). During the Cold War, these units were deployed in Eastern Europe in order to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage missions against the NATO forces in the event of a war in Europe. It is claimed that they are one of the best infantry forces in the world. For instance, it is related that in the mid 1990s, there was a competition in Alaska, USA, of Spetsnaz GRU and US Army Rangers. The Rangers managed to be first only in one competition - lifting weights. Spetsnaz GRU was better in any other aspect, including running, target shooting, stealth, etc.

Army GRU are also believed to have one of the best combat divers units in the world. The units of spetsnaz GRU have no official names, such as is the case with units of Spetsnaz MVD. They are generally referred to by numbers, for example, "18th Brigade of Spetsnaz", much like any other military unit. Few details are actually known about the operations of Spetsnaz GRU, but it is known that the units were heavily involved in wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

4 Russian Naval Spetsnaz

At the fall of the Soviet government, each of the Soviet Red Banner Fleets (four total) had a Naval Spetsnaz Brigade assigned to it. It was not known if they were GRU Spetsnaz or if the were raised by the navy. Current information is unclear.

5 Osnaz

Russian intelligence agencies, FSB, FPS and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR, "Sluzhba Vneshnej Razvedki", Russian analogue of American CIA) have their own Osnaz units.

6 The use and abuse of the term in the Russian language as of 2004

The word "Spetsnaz" is characteristic of the Russian language constructs of the Soviet era, being made by connecting first syllables of several words to produce an easily pronounceable and, in this case at least, perhaps a "scary sounding" word. Compare also Komintern - Communist International, kolhoz - collective farm, and gorkom - town-level committee of the Communist Party. Similar constructs are also prominent in the German and Japanese languages, whereas in the English language abbreviations generally consist of first letters rather than syllables.

However, the widespread use of this word is actually a relatively recent, post-Soviet development in the Russian language. The existence of these special forces units was not known to the general public during the Soviet era. In a sense, this became yet another state secret that was published during the glasnost of the Gorbachev's perestroika. There were a number of well-known books written about the Spetsnaz, best known of these "Aquarium" by Victor Suvorov, a GRU agent who defected to England and is best known for his revisionist views on Stalin's alleged complicity in the rise of Hitler and the making of the World War II. The stories about the Spetsnaz and their allegedly incredible prowess, from the more serious to the highly questionable, have captivated imaginations of the more patriotic, and perhaps less critical, Russians, particularly being set against the background of a generally known decay in the Russian military during perestroika and the post-Soviet era. It merits noting that the great interest in all things Spetsnaz ran parallel to the similarly intense, perhaps unhealthy, interest in all things related to intelligence, KGB, etc. The popularity of Spetsnaz was all the more enhanced by the reports of their very real accomplishments during Russia's second campaign in Chechnya starting in 2000.

At the turn of the 21st century, much of what would be generally considered as nonsense for military junkies was written about Spetsnaz, GRU, KGB, and similar "top secret" and "exciting" topics. The word "Spetsnaz" was sometimes frivolously used to refer to anything the speaker deemed somehow special or "cool". For example, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a well-known populist and nationalist politician of very ill repute, once referred to his and his political party comrades' going for a swim at a party-organized festival as a "Spetsnaz on the water", while speaking on camera. This somewhat intentionally extreme incident should give some sense of the extent the term has been debased for many less literate users.

Spetsnaz is also found in a few former Soviet countries (CIS) such as; Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia etc.

7 See Also

• Systema: The Martial Art Used by Spetsnaz

8 External links

• Spetsnaz GRU - Spetsnaz Training Association Moscow
• Special Operations.com - Spetsnaz
• Russian Special Ops Units - page in Russian
• Vyacheslav Mironov: Assault on Grozny Downtown

Military of the Soviet Union Special forces of Russia

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