Each state has its own special forces to carry out highly specific combat missions. In Russia, Vimpel special forces are rightly considered such a unit. Today, as in Soviet times, fighters hide their faces under masks, and receive awards behind closed doors. Even their relatives do not know about all the details of the “specialists” work. For over twenty years, the Vympel detachment has been defending the interests of the state and is considered one of the best Russian special forces.
About Russian special forces
A special-purpose detachment is an elite of troops, which not only the best, but the best fighters can get into. There are several units in Russia whose tasks are very similar. The fight against terrorism is considered their main function. Nevertheless, each of the units is characterized by its own characteristics. According to military experts, the most effective of them are the Vympel and Alpha units. Since these structures have much in common, it is easy to confuse them.
About the first anti-terrorism unit
In 1974, the first category “A” anti-terrorist squad was formed in the Soviet Union . The unit was called "Alpha" and was in the department of the USSR State Security Committee. Using special tactics and means, the fighters carried out counter-terrorist operations: they searched and neutralized (or eliminated) criminals, released hostages and occupied buildings, took part in hostilities in hot spots and prevented terrorist attacks. This special-purpose detachment was used to resolve military conflicts in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Alpha became the departmental unit of the Federal Security Service. The officers and soldiers of this unit have the highest physical and military training and are ready to perform the most difficult tasks.
About illegal intelligence of the MGB
According to experts, the formation of Vympel was not carried out overnight. The long-term path of creating the group was hard and thorny. In the post-war years, the NKVD unit, controlled by the MGB, operating outside the Soviet Union, had to be curtailed. Instead of the employees of this department who were engaged in the elimination of accomplices of fascists and bandits, in the 70s the 8th special department of the K Department of the KGB began to perform this function. According to experts, the liquidation of Bender was carried out by an employee of the fourth Directorate of the MGB. However, the Soviet leadership decided that shadow operations were not practical. The 8th special department has become the new information and research intelligence agency, whose employees, using various operational means, tracked their NATO colleagues. In addition, the illegal intelligence of the State Security Committee was preparing a reserve outside the Union.
ABOUT
In 1968, the KGB department created special courses for the improvement of officers (KOS). For officers serving in the territorial bodies of state security, in case of a possible war, mandatory special training was provided, after passing which the soldiers could easily cope with any reconnaissance and sabotage tasks. Subsequently, these people became the basis of the Zenit, Thunder, Cascade and Alpha groups.
About the Vympel Special Forces
The initiators of the creation of the group were the chairman of the KGB of the USSR Yu. V. Andropov and the head of the First Main Directorate “C” of the State Security Committee Yu. I. Drozdov. The Vympel detachment was formed by a resolution of the Council of Ministers and the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in August 1981. At a closed meeting, it was decided to create a top secret detachment, the powers of which would extend beyond the Union. The fighters had to act both in special periods and in peacetime. Their main task is to defend the interests of the country in the world. On August 18, after the signing of the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, a separate training center of the State Security Committee (OTC) was created. Such an official name was received by the Vympel detachment.
Headed the special forces group (GOS) Hero of the Soviet Union E. G. Kozlov. The mentor of the Vympel special forces was Yu. I. Drozdov. Employees of the group received the definition of "special forces intelligence". On the chevrons of the soldiers flaunted the inscription: "Serve and protect." Initially, the Vympel special forces anthem was the song “Fight Silent at the Blown Up Bridge” by Yu. Kirsanov. In 2005, P. Boloyangov wrote a new anthem for the detachment. The song was called "They don’t know us in person." The initiator of the changes was the Chairman of the Board of the All-Russian Fund of Employees and Veterans of the Vimpel-Garant Special Forces Valery Kiselev. Since 2006, the song of P. Boloyangov has been officially approved as the anthem of the squad.
Group Officers
The special forces of the KGB of the USSR “Vympel” included officers who served in the territorial bodies of state security, “special officers” of the GB committee and border troops. Also, the group included officers who passed Afghanistan from the Zenit and Cascade units. In 1979, employees of these units successfully stormed Amin’s palace and other government facilities in Kabul. Before enrolling in the Vympel detachment, they had undergone a special training course for the improvement of officers (KOS). Initially, only the operational staff of the KGB was selected at Vympel. Of the applicants, even very experienced professionals, not everyone was in the squad. The bar during the selection was so high that out of twenty people took only two. As a result, after the first selection, the group did not exceed 1 thousand fighters. Subsequently, the ranks of special forces were replenished by border guards and army men.
On the preparation of special forces "Pennant"
According to experts, training a fighter unit cost the country a quarter million rubles. In those days, it was an impressive amount. For example, a Soviet citizen spent at least 8 thousand rubles on maintaining a corporate apartment; Volga could be bought for 10 thousand. Instructors took the training of Vympel employees seriously. Fighters must be proficient in two foreign languages and have operational experience. For mountain training, the best Soviet climbers were involved. Diving and the development of underwater diversion techniques were taught to the "pennants" in the Black Sea by specialists of the Main Intelligence Agency.
Judging by some sources, the characteristic feature of the Pennant fighter was a constant desire to learn new skills and learn from experience. During joint exercises with colleagues in Vietnam, the pennants mastered the art of camouflage and swimming with short breathing tubes. For the fighters of the Cuban special services, the Black Wasps, the Soviet “specialists” adopted the technique of silent movement in the jungle. High intellectual and physical training provided the Vympel fighters with awareness of the customs of the countries in which they needed to work, mastery of the special tactics of warfare in a variety of conditions. In addition, each employee must be able to drive a car and any military equipment, use all types of weapons, and master the art of hand-to-hand combat.
From operational disciplines, during training, much attention was paid to recruiting, working with informants, masking skills, organizing communications and hiding places. According to Vimpel employees, each soldier underwent psychological training. Its essence was that during training, instructors, setting a task for the student, did not provide him with an algorithm of actions.
For example, as one of the “specialists” recalls, having received the task of climbing out onto a rock, the group started to do it, although until that moment they had no idea how to do it. Without theory and prior training, students faced various difficulties. The purpose of this technique is to develop the ability of the unit's fighters to overcome their own weaknesses and doubts. It took five years to study.
About goals and objectives
The team members performed the following functions:
- They carried out illegal intelligence activities on the territory of various states.
- Created agent networks.
- The hostages and the buildings and other objects seized by the terrorists were released.
- Filtration networks were formed.
- Introduced into special services and military organizations of other countries. The main purpose of such events is espionage and the further physical elimination of persons posing a threat to the USSR.
- Organized coups and the overthrow of political regimes.
- Conducted sabotage at strategic sites for the enemy. Vympel employees also engaged in rearrangement and sabotage.
About service during the years of the USSR
The detachment was originally created specifically for the Cold Wars. However, the division fell to work in hot spots. Afghanistan, Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America became the arena in which the Vympel special forces carried out their operations. The emergence of puppet regimes funded by the United States, sometimes carried out with the involvement of American "specialists", convinced the leadership of the State Security Committee that you should always be ready to participate in a hybrid war or a color revolution.
An example is the events of the Prague Spring, when a Western coup was organized by Western intelligence agencies to deprive the USSR of its most important ally. Then the Department of Internal Affairs of Czechoslovakia conducted a large-scale and expensive military operation "Danube". It was possible to stabilize the current situation, but, as experience has shown, with a serious approach to business, the overthrow of the regime is possible through small forces.
In 1990, Vympel employees and Cuban special forces conducted joint exercises to eliminate a conditional junta in a conditional country. Also, Soviet "specialists" conducted training events in the territory of the Union with the destruction of "terrorists" and the liberation of important military and industrial facilities. After the exercises, each fighter prepared a report, which was later used to eliminate the deficiencies in the facility’s security system.
In order to destabilize the situation in Bulgaria and the Soviet republics of Transcaucasia, the NATO command conducted a special operation Arch Bay Express under the cover of military maneuvers in Turkey and Greece. In response to the actions of the Western special services, the little known Chesma operation was carried out there by the “pennants”. According to Soviet experts, having inherited in the region, NATO provided the KGB with rich material to create the closed film “According to Received Data”, which was intended for the committee of the USSR Armed Forces. The members of the committee were asked by state security operatives to prevent a possible kindling of a hearth in the south of the Soviet Union. However, at that time, the percentage of adherents of the idea of perestroika was very large, and the warnings of the operatives were ignored.
After the collapse of the Union
In 1991, the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation attempted to impeach B. Yeltsin. Troops were brought into Moscow. On the opponents of the president, seated in the White House, fire was opened from tanks. The White House was ordered to storm the Vympel and Alpha special forces.
The pennants refused to fulfill the command, as they understood that they would form a new civil war by their actions. In 91, the group became a security agency of the Ministry of Security. Since 1993, Vympel became subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The group was renamed Vega. As a result of such changes, many fighters transferred to foreign intelligence (SVR), the federal counterintelligence service and the Ministry of Emergencies. In 1995, the President of Russia signed a decree on the return to the detachment of its former name and its transfer to the FSB.
Our days
According to experts, the fighters of the TsSN FSB Vympel no longer conduct shadow operations in other states. The unit’s employees counter terrorism in Russia. Bright examples are Dagestan and Chechnya.
Together with the “specialists” of “Alpha”, the “pennants” acted in Beslan and Dubrovka. Today, employees of the unit provide security on the territory of the Crimean peninsula.
About the heroes
The highest award of Russia - the title of Hero of the Russian Federation - was awarded posthumously to the following special forces:
- Colonel A. Balandin
- Majoram Dudkin V.E. and Romashin S.V.
- To lieutenant colonels Ilyin O. G., Medvedev D. G., Myasnikov M. A., Razumovsky D. A.
- Lieutenant Turkin A.A.
Also, the title of Hero of the Russian Federation was awarded to Colonels Bocharov V.A. and Shavrin S.I.
To fight terrorism
In Soviet times, the Vympel squad was a very secret organization. Not every security official knew that such a group existed. For this reason, most of the documentation on the activities of this unit is still classified. According to experts, the requirements for the physical training of the "pennants" are exactly the same as for the Alpha fighters. Both units oppose terrorism.
However, there are differences between these services. For example, Alpha is more focused on the fight against domestic terrorism, and Vympel employees primarily operate outside the country. The latter also work at facilities with a high degree of complexity, such as nuclear power plants, dams, various plants.
"Alpha" consists mainly of people related to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This detachment is focused more on protecting the interests of the state. At Vympel, they are recruiting soldiers who carry out sabotage and reconnaissance tasks and protect the interests of the civilian population. Determining which of these special forces is the best is difficult. Undeniable is the fact that both units are very important for the country.