Currently, the official name is the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (GU GS).

The GRU reports to the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense, and is engaged in all types of intelligence in the interests of the Armed Forces - intelligence, space, radio-electronic.

The structure and strength of the GRU is a state secret. Priority in the GRU is given to undercover work, obtaining classified materials, and foreign models of modern weapons. Military intelligence residencies are significantly inferior to residencies of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation in terms of numbers and funding, while they act more rigidly and purposefully.

CREATION
Created in 1918 by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Field Headquarters of the Red Army on the basis of a department whose functions included coordinating the efforts of the intelligence agencies of the Red Army units and preparing intelligence information for the Main Headquarters of the Red Army. The first official name is the Registration Directorate of the Field Headquarters of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RUPSHKA).

GRU special forces in Afghanistan in 1988. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

In 1950, the GRU special forces were created (a brigade for each military district or fleet and a centrally subordinate brigade). The main task of these units at the first stage was to fight the main enemy - NATO countries that possessed mobile nuclear weapons. GRU special forces units played a huge role in the Afghan war and in operations on the territory of the Chechen Republic.

HEADQUARTERS
The headquarters of the GRU is located in Moscow, on Khoroshevskoye Shosse, in the Khodynskoye Pole area. The construction of the headquarters, which is an eight-story complex with a total area of ​​about 70 thousand m3, inside which there is a situation center, a command post, a sports complex and a swimming pool, was completed in the fall of 2006. The construction cost amounted to 9.5 billion rubles

"Sovinformsputnik"
CJSC Sovinformsputnik Founded in 1991. Number of employees: 107 people. Sovinformsputnik is an organization of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, whose tasks include the sale of unclassified images taken by GRU satellites. It became famous in April 2000, when American journalists discovered among the images distributed by Sovinformsputnik photographs of a top-secret US military base, also known as Base 51.

GRU CHIEF
Semyon Ivanovich Aralov (1918-1919)
Drabkin, Yakov Davidovich (1919, June-December)
Georgy Leonidovich Pyatakov (1920, January-February)
Vladimir Christianovich Aussem (1920, February-June)
Jan Davydovich Lenzman (1920-1921)
Arvid Yanovich Zeybot (1921-1924)
Yan Karlovich Berzin (1924-1935)
Semyon Petrovich Uritsky (1935-1937)
Yan Karlovich Berzin (1937)
Semyon Grigorievich Gendin (acting September 1937 - October 1938)
Alexander Grigorievich Orlov (acting October 1938-1939)
Ivan Iosifovich Proskurov (1939-1940)
Philip Ivanovich Golikov (1940-1941)
Alexey Pavlovich Panfilov (1941-1942)
Ivan Ivanovich Ilyichev (1942-1945)
Fedor Fedotovich Kuznetsov (1945-1947)
Nikolai Mikhailovich Trusov (1947-1949)
Matvey Vasilievich Zakharov (1949-1952)
Mikhail Alekseevich Shalin (1952-1956)
Sergei Matveevich Shtemenko (1956-1957)
Mikhail Alekseevich Shalin (1957-1958)
Ivan Alexandrovich Serov (1958-1963)
Pyotr Ivanovich Ivashutin (1963-1986)
Vladlen Mikhailovich Mikhailov (1986-1991)
Evgeny Leonidovich Timokhin (1991-1992)
Fedor Ivanovich Ladygin (1992-1997)
Valentin Vladimirovich Korabelnikov (1997-)

GRU structure

Throughout the history of its existence, the structure of the GRU has experienced several reorganizations. In its current form, according to data available in publications, the structure of the GRU consists of 12 main directorates and 8 auxiliary departments and directorates. Basic Controls:
First Directorate - European Commonwealth countries
Second Directorate - Americas, UK, Australia, New Zealand
Third Directorate - Asian countries
Fourth Directorate - African Countries
Fifth Directorate - Operational Intelligence Directorate
Sixth Directorate - Radio Intelligence Directorate
Seventh Directorate - NATO
Eighth Directorate - sabotage special forces
Ninth Directorate - Directorate of Military Technologies
Tenth Directorate - Directorate of War Economy
Eleventh Directorate - Directorate of Strategic Doctrines and Weapons
Twelfth Directorate

Auxiliary Directorates and Departments:
Office of Space Intelligence
Personnel Department
Operational and Technical Department
Administrative and Technical Department
Department of External Relations
Archives department
Information service

Special training for GRU officers is carried out at the GRU Academy (Military-Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Defense). Training is carried out at three main faculties:
Faculty of Strategic Human Intelligence
Faculty of Agent-Operational Intelligence
Faculty of Operational-Tactical Intelligence

The Academy runs adjunct courses and Higher Academic Courses

These people prefer not to put their lives on public display. The GRU special forces do not even have their own designation or name. And the most interesting thing is their secrecy in their work. After all, special forces operate in all parts of our planet, and their representatives can be dressed in absolutely any clothing, including the uniform of the British army or other countries.

Spetsnaz is an elite unit of the military forces of the Russian Federation. Many films are made about special forces soldiers, books and articles are written about their hard work for the glory of their homeland. True, the cinematic presentation is most often either embellished or undertold. Only the best of the best are worthy of service in the GRU, which is why very strict selection rules have been created for them. And the most banal training day can shock an ordinary person who has nothing to do with serving in the country’s law enforcement agencies.

On TV or on the Internet they will never talk or write about real special forces operations; most often the noise is made because of failure, but, fortunately for everyone, this practically never happens.

What is GRU

Each country has its own military structures, and it just so happens that foreign intelligence plays one of the most important roles in protecting its state. In the Russian Federation, such functions are performed by the GU GSH VS, which means the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. However, the predecessor of this name was the Main Intelligence Directorate. This is exactly what the GRU transcript will sound like.

Initially, it conducted its reconnaissance and sabotage activities in the interests of the Soviet Union, and was also the central organ of military intelligence.

Intelligence under the Tsar

Even before the overthrow of the monarchy, under Tsarist Russia, sabotage and reconnaissance groups operated. These were specially trained military units. If we recall the reign of Ivan the Fourth, then in the 16th century he was the founder of the guard service, which consisted of Cossack detachments. All warriors were checked for physical health and excellent skills in using weapons (bladed and firearms). Since in those days the Tatars constantly raided Moscow, the main purpose of these detachments was to monitor the surrounding territories to prevent an attack.

At a later time, Alexey Mikhailovich revealed the Secret Order to the country. The order's intelligence officers collected and structured all messages and information reports about possible enemy attacks and the activities of countries in the neighborhood.

In 1764, Suvorov and Kutuzov put forward the idea of ​​​​creating special detachments of rangers. Their operations were carried out in parallel with the main royal army. The rangers staged raids and ambushes, and also attacked the enemy in the mountains, forests and other difficult terrain. These were the so-called beginnings of special forces. And in 1810, Barclay de Tolly established the Secret Affairs Expedition.

History of the GRU

When the workers' and peasants' Red Army was formed in the USSR, after the famous revolution, the need arose for the formation of a special unit that was supposed to take on intelligence functions. On this occasion, in 1918, the Bolsheviks came to the creation of the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Council. One of the components of this headquarters was a special department for registration, collection and processing of information obtained by intelligence officers. As a result, counterintelligence activities were completely transferred to the shoulders of the Field Headquarters.

In 1921, the Intelligence Department of the Red Army Headquarters was formed; it was engaged in reconnaissance not only in difficult and wartime times, but also in peacetime they were one hundred percent covered in reconnaissance work. In Soviet times, human intelligence was carried out. In countries neighboring the Union, special partisan detachments were created that carried out subversive operations.

In 1934, intelligence management was transferred to the People's Commissar of Defense. There were successful missions during the Spanish War, but even such a high-ranking structure as the country's intelligence service was affected by the tragedy of repression. And by the beginning of World War II, half of the intelligence service was shot. Since 1942, we have known the Razvedupr under the familiar name GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate).

The first special forces units in the USSR

In 1950, a secret decree was issued on the formation of special groups whose task was to conduct sabotage operations on the side of the enemy. All military districts of the Union were equipped with such units; in total they created forty-six companies, each consisting of one hundred and twenty soldiers. And it was they who were the basis for the creation of special forces in 1962. After 6 years, a special regiment was formed to train employees.

The initial purpose of creating such units was to carry out sabotage actions in the war with NATO and the confrontation with the United States in the Cold War. The pattern of these actions was the collection and delivery of all information from the enemy rear to the GRU headquarters, sowing panic in populated areas where civilians live, undermining important infrastructure, and large-scale actions to destroy enemy headquarters. Weapons of mass destruction were strategically important; special forces destroyed missile silos, airfields used by enemy long-range aviation, launchers, and bases with submarines.

The Afghan war was fought with the active participation of GRU agents, and special forces also played an important role during the unrest in the North Caucasus. Moreover, Tajikistan and Georgia also did not go unnoticed by elite units during their military operations (the last war with Georgia in 2008). At the moment, the Syrian war is taking place with the participation of Russian special forces.

Now the GRU command gives orders to act not only by force, but also by information.

The renaming from the Soviet name occurred in 2010. Everyone who is in the service of the GRU (decoding - Main Intelligence Directorate) celebrates their holiday dedicated to military intelligence officers on November 5th.

Management Goals

The GRU is not only a foreign intelligence agency, but also controls other military organizations in Russia, and also appears as an executive military force.

The goals of Russian intelligence can be divided into three points:

• The first is to provide all information intelligence data first of all to the President of our country and then in order of seniority of “roles” (Ministry of Defense, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Security Council) on the issue of protecting the borders and internal integrity of the Russian Federation. This information is necessary for conducting domestic and foreign policy, and so on.
• The second is to provide suitable conditions for the smooth implementation of political actions in the field of defense and security.
• Third, intelligence contributes to the rise in the economic sphere, scientific and technical developments and military security of the Russian Federation.

Headquarters

The first GRU headquarters was located on Khodynka. The new one was built 11 years ago and is a large complex of different buildings. The headquarters area is huge - approximately seventy thousand square meters. For physical Security forces training inside even has its own sports complex with a swimming pool. The construction of such a grandiose project cost the country nine billion rubles. The special forces complex is located on Grizodubova Street.

Bat

Probably everyone has seen in photographs or in the news the patches on the GRU uniform in the form of a bat. Where did this animal come from in the GRU emblem? According to some sources, one of the Yekaterinburg journalists during his service decided to draw an emblem for his squad. This happened in 1987, and the bat inside the globe was so liked by the bosses and colleagues that it was immediately printed on all special forces uniforms.

Flower theme

To understand what the GRU is today, you can look at the meaning of the modern emblem. At the moment (since 2002) the bat has been replaced by a red carnation, it means perseverance and devotion. The GRU emblem is the personification of an unyielding decision to achieve a set goal. The Three Flame of Grenada is explained as a badge of honor with a historical past, it was awarded to the best military among the elite units.

True, in the new headquarters the mouse, laid out on the floor, remained adjacent to the flower.

What does it consist of?

Information about the structure of the GRU and its special forces units at the moment is as follows:

• Western Military District with the second brigade.
• The tenth mountain brigade operates in the North Caucasus.
• The special forces who participated in the Afghan and Chechen campaigns were from the fourteenth brigade of the Far East.
• The Western Military District has the sixteenth brigade; it also participated in the Chechen wars and in protecting the OVO in Tajikistan.
• The southern military district is defended by the twenty-second brigade. Has a guards rank after the Great Patriotic War. The twenty-fifth special forces regiment is also stationed here.
• The Central Military District is equipped with soldiers from the twenty-fourth brigade.
• A unit of the 346th brigade is located in Kabardino-Balkaria.
• The fleet in the Pacific Ocean, Baltic, Black and North Seas is equipped with its own special reconnaissance units.

What is the total number

For a better understanding of what the GRU is, it is worth paying attention to the absolute secrecy about the number of its fighters. Since the activities of special forces are inaccessible to mere mortals, there are no reliable sources about the real size of the GRU headquarters. Some claim there are six thousand, and some say the figure is fifteen thousand.

Moreover, in addition to the existing special forces units, general military units are also subordinate to the GRU, and their number is approximately twenty-five thousand soldiers.

Training centers

At the moment, you can train to become a special forces soldier at higher educational institutions in Ryazan and Cherepovets. The Ryazan Airborne School trains specialists for sabotage activities. There is also a Military Academy of the Ministry of Defense in the Russian Federation. It has three faculties: strategic human intelligence, tactical and human-operational intelligence.

You can apply only if you speak several foreign languages ​​and pass a special list of requirements.

Selection of fighters

What is required of candidates entering such serious institutions to study? Passing the entrance tests is a very labor-intensive process, but with the help of personal patience and accumulated knowledge, as well as physical strength, you can do it.

Absolute physical health is an absolute requirement for all applicants. But a future special forces soldier does not have to be two meters tall and have a lot of muscle mass, because the most important thing in this matter is endurance. The raids carried out are usually accompanied by fairly heavy loads and can cover many kilometers.

The standards for admission, for example, include running three kilometers in ten minutes, doing twenty-five pull-ups, a hundred-meter dash must be done in twelve seconds, push-ups must be at least ninety, and the same number of times you must do abdominal exercises (given here just two minutes). One of the most important skills in the work of a special forces soldier is hand-to-hand combat.

This is followed by a very meticulous medical examination. A person must have unshakable stress resistance. His head must be in working order in any situation. For this purpose, trained psychologists are used, and after that the candidate is tested with a “lie detector”. The entire family and even distant relatives are checked by special state security agencies. Parents must write to the management about their consent that their son will serve in the special forces unit.

Preparation for service in special forces

Long-term hard training, training in proper hand-to-hand combat (it is believed that it strengthens the spirit and character of a fighter), fighting with the use of various objects (not only edged weapons), fights with initially stronger and more experienced opponents - all this awaits a recruit when training in such a serious division. It is at these moments that the fighter realizes what the GRU is.

From the first day of training, there is a program to instill in them that all of them, special forces soldiers, are the best not only among Russian military structures, but also in the whole world.

Some of the difficult tests that are given specifically to find out whether a person can survive his limit of physical potential are a long stay in a waking state, a load of exorbitant physical and psychological actions. And, of course, training in the use of small arms (all types).

After 1945, there were essentially no reconnaissance and sabotage units left in the army, because some of them were reduced and attached to other military formations, while others were disbanded. But they very quickly realized that special forces groups were the most effective way to combat the looming nuclear threat from NATO. Therefore, after a careful study and generalization of the experience accumulated during the war, in 1950 it was decided to create the first special forces units in the Soviet Union. As of the beginning of May 1951, 46 companies were created, each of which had 120 people. All of them were subordinate to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Army General Staff.

An excursion into Russian special forces

Those who think that the idea of ​​creating special forces is a thing of the recent past are mistaken. Formations with similar goals arose in Rus' a long time ago.
Russian military leaders Pyotr Panin, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov already in the 18th century raised the issue of creating special military units.
They arose in 1764 and were called Jaeger.
At the end of the 18th century, Catherine II initiated the rotation of Zaporozhye Cossacks to the Bug and then to the Kuban, where the tactics of “jaegers” came in handy - combat operations in mountainous areas, ambushes, reconnaissance, raids.
The motto of the units was “Fox tail, wolf mouth”, and the training was reminiscent of modern combat operations, a combination of human intelligence and power reconnaissance.
In 1797, Emperor Paul I introduced a new Charter, developed in the likeness of the Prussian Army Charter.
The year 1811 was marked by the creation of OKVS - the Separate Corps of Internal Guard, which was engaged in protecting or restoring order within the state.
Alexander I took care of the creation of mobile mounted gendarme rapid reaction units in 1817.
In the War of 1812, the Russian army gained enormous experience, which was widely used later.
In 1826, the influence of the Imperial Chancellery increased.
1842 Plastun battalions were created from Cossack battalions, on whose subsequent combat activities many generations of future special forces were trained.
In 1903, the Intelligence Department of the General Staff was created. A year later - in all military districts.
In 1905, the influence of the Tsarist Okhrana grew, and formations were created on the basis of the police, the goals and objectives of which resembled the mission of today's riot police.
In 1917, the Bolsheviks created the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs - the Main Directorate of the General Staff - GUGSH.
In 1918, military intelligence was created. In the same year, CHONs were created - special-purpose units subordinate to the Cheka - to fight all kinds of rebels and Asian Basmachi.
In the 1930s, an airborne assault force and sabotage units were created in the Red Army.

Milestones of history

The tasks facing the new formation were serious: organizing and conducting reconnaissance, destroying any means of nuclear attack, identifying military formations and conducting special missions behind enemy lines, organizing and conducting sabotage actions, creating rebel (partisan) detachments behind enemy lines, fighting terrorism, searching and neutralizing saboteurs. Other tasks include interfering with communications, disrupting power supplies, eliminating transport hubs, and causing chaos in the military and government administration of the country. Most of the tasks sound, at least, fantastic, but the GRU special forces could easily cope with them: they had at their disposal the appropriate technical means and weapons, including portable nuclear mines.

The training of special forces fighters was highly intensive and was carried out using individual programs. For every 3-4 soldiers, 1 officer was assigned, who monitored his students day and night. And the officers themselves were trained according to such a rich program that after several years of training, each of them could independently replace an entire combined arms unit.

Needless to say, the special forces were more classified than the nuclear developments of the USSR. At least everyone knew about the presence of nuclear missiles, bombers with nuclear warheads and nuclear submarines, but not every marshal and general knew about the GRU special forces.

Also, one of the tasks of the special forces was to eliminate prominent figures from enemy countries, but then this task was cancelled. (Unless they classified it even deeper).
The first manual for special forces - “Instructions for the combat use of special forces units” was written by Pavel Golitsin, the ex-chief of intelligence of the Belarusian partisan brigade “Chekist”.

But not everything was so good. Already in 1953, the Armed Forces began to be reduced and 35 companies were cut. There are only eleven special special forces companies (orSpN) left. It took the army special forces four whole years to correct their shaky positions after such a blow, and only in 1957 were 5 separate special forces battalions created, which in 1962, along with the remnants of the old companies, were joined by 10 special forces brigades. They were designed for peacetime and wartime. According to the peacetime regulations, the brigade did not have more than 200-300 fighters; during the war, the ObrSpNb consisted of no less than 1,700 soldiers and officers. By the beginning of 1963, the USSR special forces included: 10 framed brigades, 5 separate battalions, 12 separate companies in the Leningrad, Baltic, Belarusian, Carpathian, Kiev, Odessa, Transcaucasian, Moscow, Turkestan, Far Eastern military districts.

In the same year, the GRU conducted the first major exercises, but, despite the excellent results of training fighters, already in 1964, after a new reorganization, the special forces lost 3 battalions and 6 companies, and the army special forces were left with 6 companies, 2 battalions and 10 brigades. Separately, it should be said about the units that, in addition to standard special forces training, were trained for special tasks. Thus, the soldiers of the 99th company, which was stationed in the Arkhangelsk Military District, were oriented to operations in the cold Arctic conditions, and the soldiers of the 227th Special Forces, located in the North Caucasus Military District, trained for survival in mountainous terrain. Further intensification of work on the creation of special forces strike groups began only in the late 60s.

Personnel training

In 1968, on the basis of the Ryazan Airborne School, they began to train professional special-purpose reconnaissance officers. It was then that the legendary 9th company appeared. The 9th company held its last graduation in 1981, then it was disbanded. Also, special forces officers were trained at the Frunze Military Academy and at the intelligence department of the Kyiv Higher Educational Institution, however, in their specialization they were more likely to be military intelligence officers. In 1970, a training company was formed, then a battalion, and then a regiment stationed in the Pskov region.

When in 1985 (6 years after the start of the war!) it became clear that soldiers before Afghanistan needed special training, a training regiment was created in the Uzbek Chirchik.

Operations abroad

The special forces' first major overseas operation occurred in 1968, after which it no longer had to prove its worth. It was this year that the countries united by the Warsaw Pact sent their troops into Czechoslovakia. To begin with, our plane requested an urgent landing from the capital of the country due to engine failure. Within a few minutes, our special forces captured the airport, to which an airborne division was very soon transferred. At this time, the units that had previously arrived in Prague took control of “stations, newspapers and telegraphs,” that is, all key positions. After seizing the government building, special forces took the country's leadership to Moscow.

In total, Army Special Forces sent troops to two dozen countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. They also had to deal with American commandos. Only many years later did the Americans find out who really defeated their elite units in 1970 in Vietnamese Son Tay, and in 1978 in Angola. Often their intelligence services had no idea about the operations being carried out by our soldiers. Here is a vivid illustration.

In 1968, 9 of our soldiers carried out a classic raid on a top-secret helicopter camp in Cambodia, located 30 kilometers from the Vietnamese border. The American military sent their reconnaissance and sabotage groups from here to Vietnam, and from here they flew out in search of their downed pilots. The camp was guarded by 2 light helicopters, 8-10 heavy transport and 4 Super Cobra helicopters. A new modification of the fire support “turntable” with on board guided missiles and the latest target guidance systems was the goal of our paratroopers. It took our special forces only 25 minutes to hijack one and destroy the three remaining helicopters under the noses of American commandos.

Afghan company

There is still very little free information about the combat operations of Soviet special forces in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Cuba and Vietnam.

Much more data on the ten-year Afghan war. It began with a complex special operation to eliminate ruler Hafizula Amin. Until now, historians consider the capture of Amin’s fortress and its destruction to be a pure adventure, however, it was a success. In addition to the existing KGB special forces “Grom” and “Zenith”, the future “Alpha” and “Vympel”, the GRU special forces took part in the operation. About six months before the significant assault, the Muslim battalion, the so-called “Musbat” or 154th separate special forces detachment, was created, which included GRU soldiers from among Soviet Muslims. It was staffed by Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmen who served in tank and motorized rifle units. Most of them spoke Farsi. Shortly before the assault, this detachment was secretly introduced into the palace security. The assault itself lasted only 40 minutes. 7 special forces soldiers were killed in the palace. This unit, apart from a short respite after this operation, until 1984 conducted combat operations using special forces tactics, staged raids and ambushes, and carried out reconnaissance in Afghanistan.

At the end of 1983, the army began to create the “Curtain” border zone along the entire length of Jalalabad - Ghazni - Kandahar. With its help, it was planned to block two hundred caravan routes through which the rebels delivered ammunition from Pakistan. But for such a grandiose plan in Afghanistan there were not enough special forces, so in 1984 the 177th special forces detachment was transferred here, followed by the 154th special forces. In total, the personnel of the special forces of the GRU General Staff in Afghanistan was about 1,400 people. Since this also seemed not enough, the formation of additional special-purpose military units began in the USSR.

Among the memorable operations, many can be named. For example, in January 1984, reinforced by a tank platoon and two companies of the Afghan army, Company 177 was supposed to find and capture a caravan in the area of ​​​​the village of Vakha, where, according to information, the weapons and ammunition of the dushmans were supposed to arrive. However, the enemy was not detected, and after lunch our detachment found itself surrounded. And after a difficult battle, with the support of aviation and artillery, the detachment left the danger zone.

In 1989, the structure of the 15th and 22nd Special Forces brigades was radically changed. Armored military equipment, grenade launchers, communications controls, including space ones, were removed from the brigades as inappropriate for their tasks - that is, the ongoing anti-sabotage fight and military reconnaissance. The 10-year confrontation between special forces and the enemy was recognized as an “atypical case of use”...

However, in 1990, when the 15th brigade arrived in Baku to fight the country’s Popular Front gangs, the equipment was returned to them. Then the special forces made 37 flights on Il-76 VTA aircraft and delivered more than 20 units of armored military equipment, vehicles, and communications equipment from Tashkent. The presence of soldiers and officers who knew more than just words about the fight against saboteurs allowed the brigade, which at that time was under the department of the KGB of the USSR, to complete all assigned tasks. And upon returning home, despite numerous requests from the unit’s command, all military equipment and communications equipment were simply confiscated.

Chechen company

During the first Chechen war 1994-1996. Russian special forces have been present in Chechnya since the entry of troops in separate and combined detachments. At first it was used only in reconnaissance. Due to the poor training of ground units, special forces soldiers took part in assault groups, as happened in Grozny. 1995 brought very high losses in special forces units - the battles of this year were the most tragic in the entire history of special forces in Russia and the USSR.
But despite everything, the special forces began to work according to their traditional tactics, especially excelling in ambush operations. After the signing of the Khasavyurt agreement, after which the North Caucasus temporarily entered a period of shaky peace, it was clear that the conflict had not yet been resolved. Therefore, with the beginning of fighting in Dagestan in confrontations with armed formations of militants, international and Chechen terrorists, the task of the special forces was to provide the troops with intelligence data regarding the defensive structures and positions of the Wahhabis. I had to fight with “old friends” from the Afghan company from among Arab, Pakistani and Turkish mercenaries and instructors. Ours could recognize many of them by their inherent characteristics of mining, evading pursuit, radio exchange, and choosing places for ambush. The GRU special forces were in first place among other units in combat training and fulfillment of assigned tasks, acting 10 times more efficiently than others.

Separate and combined detachments were from brigades of the Siberian, Moscow, Ural, Transbaikal, Far Eastern, and North Caucasian military districts.

In the spring of 1995, there were no detachments left in Chechnya; the last one, a separate special forces detachment assigned to the North Caucasus Military District, returned to Russia in the fall of 1996.

Troubled times

The years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union were the most difficult for the army in general and special forces in particular. In a series of reforms and reorganizations, the army special forces suffered damage that they did not suffer even during the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya. After the war in Afghanistan, some brigades returned to their previous locations, while others were disbanded. From time to time, units of the brigades were sent to places of armed clashes with various illegal groups. Thus, the 173rd detachment participated in the elimination of unrest in Baku and Ossetia, when it was necessary to intervene in the Ossetian-Ingush conflict, and fought on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Detachments of the GRU of the Moscow Military District supported the constitutional order in Tajikistan. Soldiers of the 12th Special Forces Brigade of the Transcaucasian Military District fought in Tbilisi and Azerbaijan, then, since 1991, in Nagorno-Karabakh and North Ossetia. The 4th Brigade (Estonia) was disbanded in 1992, before which the special forces brigade was withdrawn from the Soviet Group of Forces of Germany. The Pechersk special forces training regiment was also disbanded.

After the collapse of the Union, the 8th, 9th and 10th special purpose brigades became part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and here the 8th was reorganized and turned into the 1st parachute regiment, the other two were disbanded. Belarus received the 5th special forces brigade, Uzbekistan - the 15th special forces brigade, the 459th special forces company, and one training regiment.

So how many GRU special forces units are there today?

It is not possible to fully clarify this issue. Partly due to the secrecy of information, partly due to the constant reform of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - in other words, reductions. But if we analyze the available information, we can calculate that today there are at least 9 special forces brigades and two battalions “West” and “East”. There are a number of military formations whose fighters undergo training identical to that of the special forces. Although it is not a fact that these units are part of the GRU system - they may well end up in the department of the 45th separate reconnaissance regiment of the Airborne Forces, individual reconnaissance units, the Navy, GUIN, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs or FSB structures.

There is a new chief in the GRU - General Igor Korobov (biography raises many questions)

Lieutenant General Igor Korobov was appointed head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.This was reported to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“The corresponding decision has been made, Igor Korobov has been appointed head of the GRU,”- explained the representative of the Ministry of Defense.

“On Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented General Korobov with the personal standard of the head of the GRU. General Korobov was introduced to the generals and officers of the military intelligence headquarters. The ceremony took place at the Glaucus headquarters. On Friday, Korobov will take up his new office,” the source said.

According to information from the military department, the GRU seriously feared that a security officer from other structures (for example, from the Federal Security Service or the Foreign Intelligence Service) who had not previously encountered the peculiarities of working in military intelligence could be appointed as the new leader.

The Main Intelligence Directorate - GRU - is one of the most closed security forces: its structure, numerical strength, as well as the biographies of senior officers are a state secret.

The GRU is the foreign intelligence agency of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the central military intelligence management body in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It is the executive body and military control body of other military organizations (the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation).It is headed by the Chief of the GRU, who reports to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. The GRU and its structures are engaged in intelligence in the interests of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, including intelligence, space, radio-electronic, etc.

On November 21, 2018, after a long illness, Igor Korobov, Chief of the GRU of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, died. Appointed to perform his duties

According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Russian military intelligence system under the command of Colonel General Igor Sergun worked very effectively. She “timely revealed new challenges and threats to the security of the Russian Federation.” Military intelligence participated in the planning and implementation of the operation to annex Crimea to Russia in February-March 2014.

Since the summer of 2015, the GRU, together with the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, has been planning a Russian air operation in Syria.

In November 2015, the head of the GRU, Colonel General Igor Sergun, visited Damascus confidentially. The GRU prepared an open report at an international conference held in Moscow in the fall of 2015, which analyzed the goals and recruitment activity of the Islamic State in the Central Asian region and the republics of the Ural-Volga region and the North Caucasus.

Sergei Shoigu presents a personal standard to the Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Korobov. Photo: Twitter of the Russian Ministry of Defense

The GRU, according to foreign sources, uses high-tech methods of search and data analysis to collect information. Thus, in January 2016, the German magazine “Spiegel” claimed that the hacker attack on the Bundestag in 2015 was initiated by Russian military intelligence. Similar actions by hackers took place in some other NATO countries.

Bloomberg indicates that GRU employees use disguises in cyberspace that the US National Security Agency is unable to reveal.Moreover, the level of competence of GRU specialists is so high that their presence can only be revealed if they themselves want it...

For a long time, the headquarters of the GRU was located in Moscow in the Khodynskoye Pole area, Khoroshevskoye Shosse, 76.After the construction of a new headquarters complex, which consists of several buildings with an area of ​​more than 70 thousand m² with a so-called situation center and command post, the GRU headquarters was moved to the street. Grizodubova in Moscow, 100 meters from the old complex known as the Aquarium.

Colonel General Igor Sergun, who previously headed the GRU, died suddenly on January 3, 2016 in the Moscow region due to acute heart failure at the age of 58.

As Ivan Safronov wrote earlier in the article “Intelligence Among Our Own”, posted on the portal of the Kommersant publishing house, competent persons first of all named one of his deputies as the new head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation instead of the deceased Igor Sergun .

Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Sergun’s family and friends, calling him a man of great courage. Expressing condolences to the general’s family and colleagues, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that it was under his leadership that “the Russian military intelligence system received its further development, functioned with proper efficiency, and promptly identified new challenges and threats to the security of the Russian Federation.”

Let us note that General Sergun headed the GRU immediately after the reforms of Alexander Shlyakhturov. The reform provided for a reduction in the number of special forces brigades, as well as the transfer of some units to the subordination of military districts. According to a General Staff officer, after the appointment of Sergei Shoigu as head of the military department, Igor Sergun carried out a structural reorganization of the GRU, rolling back some of the changes of his former chief.Already in February-March 2014, the special service played one of the main roles in the operation to annex Crimea to Russia.

Sources close to the General Staff note that the new head of military intelligence will lead an extremely effective and balanced department, the creation of which is “the merit of Igor Dmitrievich Sergun.” The head of the GRU, Sergun, has had at least four deputies in recent years, about whom little is known.

General Vyacheslav Kondrashov

in 2011, he was already deputy to the previous head of the GRU, Alexander Shlyakhturov; in May of the same year, he presented a report at the Academy of the General Staff on the tactical and technical characteristics of ballistic missiles in service in the countries of the Near and Middle East (including Iran and North Korea) .

General Sergey Gizunov

Before his appointment to the central apparatus of the GRU, he headed the 85th main center of the special service, and at the end of 2009 he became a laureate of the Russian Government Prize in the field of science and technology.

Igor Lelin

in May 2000, with the rank of colonel, he was the military attache of the Russian Federation in Estonia (he was mentioned in a report by a local publication dedicated to the laying of flowers at the memorial to liberating soldiers on Tõnismägi Square), by 2013 he received the rank of major general and worked as deputy head of the main department personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. In 2014 he was transferred to the GRU.

The fourth deputy of Igor Sergun was General Igor Korobov. There is no mention of his participation in any public events, Igor Korobov’s biography is a “closed seal” secret, but it was he who was called a “serious person” in the media and considered the most likely candidate for the vacated post.

What is reliably known about the new head of the GRU?

What details of Igor Korobov’s biography are still known?

He was awarded the Order “For Services to the Fatherland”, 4th degree, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of Courage, the Order “For Military Merit”, the Order “For Service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces”, 3rd degree and the Medal “For Courage”.

It is difficult to construct a detailed biography, but the key points can be outlined. Let's skip the school years. It is known that Igor Korobov graduated with honors from the flight department of the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation School of Air Defense Pilots and Navigators (1973-1977) and received the rank of lieutenant. To serve, he was assigned to the 518th Fighter Aviation Berlin Order of Suvorov Regiment (Talagi airfield, Arkhangelsk) of the 10th Separate Red Banner Air Defense Army.

Young pilots who arrived in the regiment from the Stavropol school - lieutenants Faezov, Anokhin, Korobov, Patrikeev, Zaporozhtsev, Syrovatkin, Tkachenko, Fatkulin and Tyurin - spent the first year retraining for new equipment in the third squadron of the regiment. After this they were assigned to the first and second squadrons. Lieutenant Korobov ended up in the second.

Two-seat Tu-128 long-range loitering interceptors (a total of five regiments in the USSR Air Defense Fighter Aviation were equipped with them) covered the areas of Novaya Zemlya, Norilsk, Khatanga, Tiksi, Yakutsk, etc. In those directions, there were “gaps” in the single radar field and there were very few alternate airfields, which made the “carcass” the only effective means of covering the country’s air borders.

Second squadron of the 518th Berlin Aviation Order of Suvorov Regiment. The squadron commander and his deputy are sitting. Standing on the far right is senior lieutenant Igor Korobov (between the pilots - “Korobok”). Talagi airfield, Arkhangelsk, late 1970s.

In 1980, a personnel officer from the central apparatus of the GRU came to the regiment, began to study personal files, and selected two SVVAULSH graduates from 1977 - Viktor Anokhin and Igor Korobov. At the interview, Viktor Anokhin refused the offer to change his job profile. Igor Korobov agreed.

In 1981, Igor Korobov entered the Military Diplomatic Academy with a specialization in military intelligence.

Then - in various positions in the GRU, he was the first deputy head of the Main Directorate, supervising strategic intelligence issues - all of the department's foreign residencies were under his jurisdiction.

In February 2016, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was appointed Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Apparently, the Ministry of Defense was inclined towards the option that would allow maintaining continuity in the work of the special service, which General Sergun had been building in recent years.

Sources in the military department told Kommersant that the new head of the GRU will be an active intelligence officer, and not someone from other law enforcement agencies. According to them, the candidacies of several deputies of Igor Sergun, who died suddenly on January 3 in the Moscow region due to acute heart failure, were considered as a priority.

According to Kommersant's information, the GRU feared that a security officer from other structures (for example, from the Federal Security Service or the Foreign Intelligence Service), who had not previously encountered the peculiarities of the work of military intelligence, could be appointed as the new leader.

The General Staff and the Ministry of Defense considered that continuity was necessary for the stable functioning of the department.

New headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate outside and inside

Currently, the GRU is actively involved in planning Russia’s military air operation in Syria, and also provides space, electronic and human intelligence data to the country’s top military-political leadership.

Given the importance of this work, it can be assumed that the new head of the GRU enjoys the full confidence of the Russian leadership.

GRU structure

It is difficult to judge the current structure of the GRU, but judging by open sources, the GRU includes 12-14 main departments and about ten auxiliary departments. Let's name the main ones.

The first Directorate includes the countries of the European Commonwealth (except Great Britain).

Second Directorate - the Americas, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Third Directorate – Asian countries.

Fourth Directorate – African countries.

The Fifth Directorate deals with operational intelligence.

Sixth – radio intelligence.

The Seventh Directorate works for NATO.

Eighth Directorate – sabotage (SpN).

The Ninth Directorate deals with military technology.

Tenth – military economy.

Eleventh – strategic doctrines and weapons.

Twelfth – ensuring information wars.

In addition, there are auxiliary departments and departments, including the space intelligence department, personnel department, operational and technical department, administrative and technical department, external relations department, archive department and information service.

General military training of GRU officers is carried out at the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School. Specialties:

“use of military reconnaissance units”

“use of special reconnaissance units” .

Special training for GRU officers is at the Military-Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Faculties:

strategic human intelligence,

agent-operational intelligence,

operational-tactical reconnaissance .

The structure of the GRU also includes research institutes, including the famous 6th and 18th Central Research Institutes in Moscow.

2018-11-22T21:22:11+05:00 Alex Zarubin Analysis - forecast Defense of the Fatherland Figures and faces army, biography, military operations, GRU, intelligence, RussiaThe GRU has a new chief - General Igor Korobov (biography raises many questions) Lieutenant General Igor Korobov was appointed head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This was reported to the Russian Ministry of Defense. “The corresponding decision has been made, Igor Korobov has been appointed head of the GRU,” explained a representative of the Ministry of Defense. “On Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented General Korobov with a personal...Alex Zarubin Alex Zarubin [email protected] Author In the Middle of Russia

GRU is the main intelligence department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Established on November 5, 1918 as the Registration Department of the Field Headquarters of the RVSR.

The head of the GRU reports only to the chief of the General Staff and the minister of defense and has no direct connection with the country's political leadership. Unlike the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, whom the president receives weekly on Mondays, the head of military intelligence does not have “his own hour” - a time strictly fixed in the daily routine for reporting to the president of the country. The existing system of "marking" - that is, the receipt by high authorities of intelligence information and analyzes - deprives politicians of direct access to the GRU.

Chief of the GRU, Deputy Chief of the General Staff - Korabelnikov Valentin Vladimirovich

Structure of the GRU during the USSR

First Directorate (intelligence)

It has five departments, each responsible for its own set of European countries. Each department has sections by country

Second Directorate (front-line reconnaissance)

Third Directorate (Asian countries)

Fourth (Africa and Middle East)

Fifth. Directorate of Operational-Tactical Intelligence (reconnaissance at military installations)

Army intelligence units report to this department. Naval intelligence is subordinate to the Second Directorate of the Navy Headquarters, which in turn is subordinate to the Fifth Directorate of the GRU. The directorate is the coordinating center for thousands of intelligence structures in the army (from district intelligence departments to special departments of units). Technical services: communication centers and encryption service, computer center, special archive, logistics and financial support service, planning and control department, as well as personnel department. Within the department there is a special intelligence department, which is supervised by SPECIAL FORCES.

Sixth Directorate (electronic and radio intelligence). Includes the Space Intelligence Center - on Volokolamsk Highway, the so-called “K-500 facility”. The official intermediary of the GRU for the trade of space satellites is Sovinformsputnik. The department includes special-purpose units OSNAZ.

Seventh Directorate (responsible for NATO) Has six territorial departments

Eighth Directorate (work on specially designated countries)

Ninth Directorate (military technology)

Tenth Directorate (military economics, military production and sales, economic security)

Eleventh Directorate (Strategic Nuclear Forces)

- Twelfth Directorate

- Administrative and technical management

- Financial management

- Operational and technical management

- Decryption service

The Military Diplomatic Academy (in jargon – “conservatory”) is located near the Moscow metro station “Oktyabrskoe Pole”.

First department of the GRU (production of counterfeit documents)

Eighth department of the GRU (security of internal communications of the GRU)

- GRU Archive Department

- Two research institutes

Special Forces

These units constitute the elite of the army, noticeably surpassing the airborne forces and “court units” in the level of training and armament. Special forces brigades are a forge of intelligence personnel: a candidate for the “conservatory” student must have the rank of at least captain and serve 5-7 years in special forces. Traditionally, the numerical ratio between the residencies of the GRU and the KGB (now the SVR) was and remains approximately 6:1 in favor of “pure intelligence.”