Tag Archives: spetsnaz
New Pictures Of Russia’s Alpha Spetsnaz Counter-Terrorism Division
Alpha (aka Group A) is an FSB special forces counter-terrorism division. Alpha can be likened to USA’s SEAL Team Six, UK’s SAS, and Germany’s KSK. Alpha’s main tasks are counter-terrorism and hostage rescue, and they are trained to accomplish their missions by any means necessary, not limited to the use of chemical weapons (as was done during the theater siege in Moscow)
Alpha was created in 1974, shortly after the Munich massacre, to give the Soviet Union an edge in counter-terrorism defense. On December 27, 1979, 24 soldiers from the Alpha division participated in the assassination of the President of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. In October of 1985, after four Soviet diplomats were taken hostage by extremists in Lebanon, Alpha operatives embarked on a brutal mission to get them back. After one of the hostages was killed, Alpha members were able to find out the identities of those responsible, captured their family members, and proceeded to cut pieces off their bodies and send them to the extremists. The remaining hostages were released shortly.
On August 20th, 1991, during the Soviet Coup D’etat attempt, Alpha’s commander Vladimir Kryuchkov was ordered to storm the White House and assassinate Boris Yeltsin, among others. Kryuchkov, along with Colonel Beskov of the Vympel Spetsnaz division ended up convincing Gennadiy Ageyev, the general of the KGB at the time, to abort the mission due to the high risk of unnecessary life lose. It is widely believed that had they accepted the mission, they would have succeeded in assassinating Boris Yeltsin.
After the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Alpha continued to participate in high scale operations/conflicts, including the Moscow theater siege, the first and second Chechen campaigns, and the Beslan school hostage crisis. The Alfa are very well trained and equipped, and use both domestic and foreign weapons (such as the Glocks and the AR-15 shown in the pictures above). They even use the Israeli corner-shot weapon system.
FSB Spetsnaz Open Championship 2011
For the first time, members of FSB’s Spetsnaz took part in shooting competitions at night. The need for such competitions is apparent, as ¾ of all special operations take place at night. 150 participants from over 30 divisions of Spetsnaz from around the country gathered at a special training site in St. Petersburg to “save hostages and eliminate terrorists” within a certain time frame. Commander of special operations Agrat Alexander Krilov is the only man at the competition who’s face can be shown and who’s name can be revealed. He has survived multiple altercations with terrorists in major hot spots. The competition will be composed of 7 operations, each of which has it’s own designation such as storm, clear-out, automobile, room, etc. The contestants will be fully equipped, and will perform special tasks such as switching short barrels to long ones, use shields, and use night vision equipment.
What awaits behind the door of each room, the soldiers are unaware of, as would be the case in real life; terrorists prefer to work at night to carry out their operations. The conditions of these competitions are as close to real life situations as possible. This will allow the contestants to figure out whatever limitations they have and fix them here, rather than in a real conflict. Especially for the competition, 8 special rooms were set up; each containing a unique training situation including terrorists and hostages. The hostages are marked on the paper targets as a hand, while the terrorists are marked by pistols. Actions must be carried out within seconds; any miscalculation can result in death in real life.
Every soldier chooses his criteria for the accomplishment of the tasks ahead, with the main focus being put on speed and accuracy. Depending on the situation, the soldier will either shoot from a 9mm pistol or a Kalashnikov assault rifle. From first glance, these don’t look like regular Kalashnikov rifles: that’s because they have been heavily modernized to improve their battle characteristics. Competing for first place are 150 soldiers from 30 Spetsnaz divisions from Western Russia all the way to Vladivostok. However, the leaders are considered soldiers from special divisions Alfa and Vympel. Spetsnaz divisions from St. Petersburg are not taking part in the competition. Although some of the scenarios might look like they are from an action flick, whether the hero will live or die in real life will not depend on the scenario, but on his skills and preparation.
Слава Украине! Glory To Ukraine! 